Not so bad
Samantha Moranville, co-owner of Revolution Bike Shop on Main St., said her experience with the Review Board, which became involved when she and her husband purchased a residential building adjacent to their old shop and renovated it, was “fine.”
Resident Gary Rose said, “if the Historic Review Board does it right, it should cooperate with the businesses. It’s the Historic Review Board that makes the village fun and funky… Don’t abolish this board, make it better.”
Different types of boards
Alex Wade, who is in charge of special projects for the village, but was, at one time, the village’s code enforcement officer, said during his almost 20 years as the code officer there were three types of review boards. “Some did well and some not so well.”
One of the boards was driven by favoritism, Wade said. “There was uneven enforcement… and unreasonable people.”
Others were not so bad, Wade said. But when Review Board members became unreasonable, he added, then-mayor Bob Yerick tried to disband it.
Wade declined to classify the current board.
Historic district boundary
The proposal also includes the resolution of a dispute over the northern boundary of the historic district. The issue was raised when an application for demolition of 40 Partition St. was submitted to the Planning Board earlier this year. Members of the Historic Review Board asserted the house was included in the Historic District, which meant the board should have oversight over the demolition request. Eyal Saad, the village code enforcement officer, disagreed, saying the official village zoning map showed 40 Partition St. was just over the line.
The public dispute over the home’s historicity led would-be buyer Sawyer Savings, which intended to expand its parking lot and construct a drive-up ATM on the site, to withdraw its application.
Mirabellas’ owner Brandon Amodio, feeling twice-bit by the Review Board, said his parents are the owners of the home.
“If the village wants to save the house, why don’t they buy it,” he said.
Several members of the Review Board, including chair Richard Frisbie and Minch, have insisted the home was built during the Civil War era.
“My house was built in 1897,” said homeowner John Amodio, a retired builder. “When we changed windows on the home, where was the Review Board? When we put an addition on the back of the house, where was the Review Board? Our house has aluminum siding. Historic buildings don’t have aluminum siding.”
Amodio said there were now two options, as he saw it: The village could buy the home or he could stop paying the taxes and let it go, and it will become another Dragon Inn, referring to the abandoned old home on 9W, designated historic and perennially for sale.
“We can’t sell it because of the Review Board,” he said.
Mayor pleased
“This was what it’s all about,” Murphy said after everyone who wanted to speak had a chance. “This issue came up because it was brought to me by business people and board members. We want to fix something that we believe is not working right. Some Historic Review Board members might go over to the Planning Board if this law is approved, and maybe there will be more Historic Review Board members on the new board than there are from the Planning Board. And this is what it took to get everyone to air out their concerns.”
The following day he mentioned the guidelines Frisbie alluded to in explaining the grant award.
“One big factor that came out last night is that the HRB finally produced the book of guidelines that they have been working on for years, and now that we have it, that alone may solve many of the problems,” said Murphy.
Feedback
Before the Village Board votes, the Planning Board will issue recommendations on the proposal. That board meets on Dec. 10. The trustees will then vote on the law either at their Dec. 15 meeting or at one of their January meetings, Murphy said.
Written comments prior to Dec. 15 are encouraged. Send to the Village Board, 43 Partition St., Saugerties, NY 12477. Email to Village Clerk Mary Frank, [email protected].
What else is included
Other zoning changes include: adding Clovelea (the Dragon Inn) and its accompanying gatehouse and carriage house as historic properties; the creation of a new business/residential zone on Livingston St. that will allow residential use on the first floor of a business, which previously was prohibited; and changing the zoning of a property behind the Village Diner from residential to business to permit the owner of the diner to expand a parking lot.
A section dealing with weddings in residential zones was pulled from the proposed law to give trustees more time to “massage the proposal,” Murphy said.
