New Paltz planners approve lodging facility proposed for village

A new hostel has been approved for 12 Plattekill Avenue to be used by the new owners of the Village Tea Room. (Photo by Lauren Thomas)

New Paltz Village Planning Board members, satisfied with changes made to a proposal to open a hostel at 12 Plattekill Avenue, approved the application at their August 6 meeting.

The new owner of the former Village Tearoom property wishes to convert the home on the New Paltz property to a “boutique lodging facility” dubbed The Vanderlyn. According to the application submitted on behalf of owner Claire Hussain to the Planning Board, there will continue to be a restaurant on the property.

The original application would have relied on restaurant employees in a different building on the same property to keep an eye on things, but there was no enthusiasm to approve lodgings with no more supervision than rooms rented out through an online brokerage site such as airbnb.com. Hussain will instead have to pay a staff person to be on the premises whenever rooms are rented. The house will have four rooms for rent, with the maximum stay for any one guest being two weeks.

Hussain’s approval also allows her to remove one of the rows of planters in front of the restaurant in order to provide parking for the new use. The copper beech tree which former owner Agnes Devereux protected with these planters will now have vehicles parked within its drip line, which compacts soil and prevents air, nutrients and water from reaching the roots, possibly killing it over a period of years. The tree appears to be outside the auspices of the Shade Tree Commission, which include certain trees within 20 feet of a public roadway. No one spoke at the public hearing for the application, for the tree or otherwise. ++