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Saugerties mayor has harsh words for marina project critics

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Lynch’s marina (photo by Doug Freese)

Lynch’s marina (photo by Doug Freese)

The citizens’ group Friends of Lynch Marina, citing concern about potential noise and traffic, say they do not support HITS owner Tom Struzzieri’s plan to revamp the Saugerties site for weddings and banquets. However, they do support turning the building into a restaurant.

To which mayor William Murphy, speaking at Monday’s village board meeting, replied with one word: “Bullcrap.”

“I’ve been listening to the village attorney all along on this application,” Murphy told local resident and group member Penelope Mulford. The site is zoned for commercial usage on the waterfront, he added.

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Saying that they are for a restaurant “is the biggest cop-out by the Friends …. If an application for a restaurant was presented, you would be against that too because in the end it’s just Tom Struzzieri you’re against,” Murphy charged.

He added that persons from the group has been against anything Struzzieri has tried to do in Saugerties, including the Diamond Mills hotel and restaurant of which Struzzieri is co-owner, and the HITS venue.

Murphy also said it’s gotten so bad with some members of the Friends group that one of them, who he refused to publicly name, had sent him a threatening email over the weekend. The email, according to Murphy, said that Murphy should “watch his back,” and that they “would get him.” Murphy would not identify the sender, and would not say whether he’s concerned for his safety or whether he contacted the police.

Local resident Mulford told the village trustees at their June 6 meeting that they would be liable if the special-use permit application for the building goes forward. “Because the project is against the law of the village,” Mulford explained.

She also warned of legal consequences for the members of the village planning board who were set to approve the permit this week, and any village official who was involved.

As she reads the zoning law, Mulford said, no building permit should have been issued for work to be done on the site until the special-use permit had been approved. All work at the site, such as cutting down trees on the site, spreading gravel for a parking lot, repointing damaged bricks inside the building and pouring a cement floor in the building should have waited to be done until the permit had been granted.

Friends of Lynch say they do not support the use of the site for weddings and banquets citing concern about noise and traffic from the venue. However, they do say they support turning the building into a restaurant, Mulford insisted that opposition to use of the site for weddings was “not personal.”

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There are 21 comments

  1. Jen Dragon

    Thank you Mayor Murphy for standing up to these bullies. The bottom line is that if you live in a community that is zoned for commercial/mixed use, don’t be crying when property that is zoned for commercial use is indeed developed for commercial use.

    1. Chester Hartwell

      Jen-

      I think you need to review this.
      EDIT-Village Zoning Map showing the Steamboat Dock(downloadable pdf).
      https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/SAUGERTIES-Village%20Zoning%20Map-Steamboat%20Edit_2016-612.pdf?token=AWx7uwsZI64_kwE4Rf8msXVor6l6R1n5QjQ7vdFYvjlGzqTS7W9KAqO7_3Oc31MEo2TCjtSK9wFbHAOZcsdgqkt0A9vW3WR3D7RpngaV6g0gP2d1KTBNQ9ty8ZbGuNDXkQ-XEFG7ZL_FuiQTEh2PJizl

      Online Saugerties Village Zoning Map
      http://village.saugerties.ny.us/content/Generic/View/8:field=documents;/content/Documents/File/122.pdf

      MAP PAGE-Saugerties Village Website.
      http://village.saugerties.ny.us/content/Generic/View/8

    2. Alex Wade

      Jen, Lynch’s Marina is likely the oldest active business in our Village, so zoning is a moot point. It is clearly Zoned PW/R-1W (The property spans both zones) allowing for waterfront uses. It has been used as such for nearly two centuries. Loudly proclaiming that it is residential does not make it so. In days gone by, they shipped explosives from this site. Now that would be something to justify complaints. As a member of the village tree commission, I can assure you that you can still cut trees on private property without a permit. As someone who has just completed the permitting process for another waterfront project, I can assure you that the Federal and NYS permits for a replacement bulkhead and dredging are daunting and time consuming. We should be thanking the new owners for their hard work.

      2. Chester Hartwell

        Alex-

        You seem to be referring to the sliver of property that was once the Rhinebeck Ferry dock as PW.

        That sliver of property marked PW does not make the rest of the property PW. The lines are clearly drawn on the Zoning Map.

        That being said-it does not preclude a use variance.

        Link to the cropped blow-up of the sliver of land being discussed;

        https://www.facebook.com/186153028201787/photos/a.188581777958912.1073741825.186153028201787/652433488240403/?type=3&theater

    3. Michael S. Smith

      Jen, Fact Check on Alex… Connie Lynch bought land unused and overgrown from the heirs of Henry Corse in 1951. As an active business it could be grandfathered for only the pre-zoning use of a marina. The variance issue is for the current zoning which is totally within single family residential waterfront. The occupancy of the infinitesimal PW bit of the property is 90 plus apartments in The Mill and multiple residence co-housing on Cantine Island. That is the Planned Waterfront usage prescribed in the zoning. The rest of the neighborhood is residential, on both sides of the creek. These are the voting citizens represented by the “loudly proclaiming”. Not to nitpick but the powder magazine was on the other side of the creek and there were strict laws governing it, and it wasn’t there after 1850. Planning considerations even then would never have allowed the magazine to exist near the mills that had many hundreds of employees in them. Finally, why aren’t “we” being equally thankful to those on the other side of the creek that put in beautiful bulkheads. Combined they pay many, many times the taxes that this business could possibly pay and I’d bet the bulkheads it’s trying to get permitted don’t end up nearly the same quality, if the material sitting down there is any indication.

  3. Leatrice Wallach

    I think saugerties needs to wake up and realize if you don’t grow you die….we are coming on taxes….living with increased drugs and violence….so I say how has turning down every single project helped us?? Grow and become something!! I applaud the developer!!!

  4. William Hung

    I don’t get it…. There is an epidemic of drugs flowing freely in our streets, there have been 2 murders, there have been plenty of drunk and disorderly arrests but the main squabble in the Village Town Hall is over permits and a possible noisy restaurant? Some people need to get a life! Instead of fighting amongst each other about this and that, try comming to terms with what this town actually needs to make the town a better place. Leave all the squabbles to the playgrounds and monkey bars.

  6. Michael S. Smith

    Let’s go back to when the current mayor was an impressionable youth of thirteen or so. Saugerties brandished an x-rated movie theater and a topless bar in an era when these were still regarded by decent folk as indecent. What did we do about it? We made a National Register Historic District and zoning and forced a dormant Saugerties to be a place decent people wanted to live in. ALL that was done as the initiatives of citizens groups. Now we have this guy that thinks his duty is to protect a businessman from the very citizens groups that made Saugerties a place he can have a business in that makes money. I think the Mayor should get over his infatuation with the wild “scene” atmosphere of his youth and stop posturing like we never grew up.

  7. Chester Hartwell

    I recall reading that the structure has an occupancy rating of 90, but the Diamond Mills link advertises up to 300. Something does not add up.

    Some residents have concerns about parking and noise. This concern has not been addressed.

    Previously the mayor stated that the owner had (meaning already) rebuilt the bulkhead. The bulkheads remain in disrepair.

    I like the idea of a restaurant and marina.

    What of the water sanitary facilities of this structure ?
    Are there to be sprinklers in this wooden and brick structure?
    Where does the water come from ?

  8. Michael S. Smith

    The town and village were cited by the state two years ago for not having adequate information for citizens published physically or on their web site. It appears that the first commenter here is responding to hearsay which is what this is all about. Unless there is a more current zoning map published, the one for the village on the web site is the official document. It shows this property as R1W, single family waterfront residential, not commercial. It is also in the zoned historic overlay. This is the status of the property the citizens of Saugerties are aware of and Ms. Milford (not Mulford) is perfectly right that a lawsuit based on noncompliance with a lawful document will be the outcome. It has nothing to do with who is the developer. No mayor or board is above the law.

  9. Chester Hartwell

    Mayor Murphy:
    “I’ve been listening to the village attorney all along on this application,” Murphy told local resident and group member Penelope Mulford. The site is zoned for commercial usage on the waterfront, he added.

    Chester Hartwell:
    Fire your attorney.

    The Saugerties Village Zoning Map shows it as R-2.

    That map is available on the Saugerties Village Website (and had better remain there!).

    http://village.saugerties.ny.us/content/Generic/View/8:field=documents;/content/Documents/File/122.pdf

  11. Chester Hartwell

    “The citizens’ group Friends of Lynch Marina, citing concern about potential noise and traffic, say they do not support HITS owner Tom Struzzieri’s plan to revamp the Saugerties site for weddings and banquets. However, they do support turning the building into a restaurant.

    To which mayor William Murphy, speaking at Monday’s village board meeting, replied with one word: “Bullcrap.””

    Chester Hartwell-now you are emulating a presidential candidate ?

    Murphy for President (LOL)!
    https://www.facebook.com/186153028201787/photos/a.188581777958912.1073741825.186153028201787/652268831590202/?type=3&theater

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