The first piece of legislation, allowing apartments above businesses on Canal Street in the business district, has been in discussion for over two years as the Village's Planning and Zoning Boards considered and ultimately rejected the idea. Their reasoning was that allowing a “mixed-use” (business and domestic) building in the downtown area would cause serious problems with parking, snow removal, law enforcement as well as possible child safety issues.

The law has very specific language in it that the Board feels will help this experiment be successful. As it is written, each apartment can be no larger than 500 square feet and have only one bedroom. If the apartment is larger in total area (500-600 square feet) the owner must appear before the Village Planning Board for approval. If the total area exceeds 600 square feet, the owner must seek a variance from the Zoning Board. The idea behind these restrictions is to create apartments suitable for one or two adults, limiting concerns of children running loose on the busy street.

In addition, building owners who wish to create a mixed have a mixed-use building must apply for a rental permit that will be reviewed on a yearly basis. If the owner is found not to be in compliance with various building codes, the owner's rental permit could be revoked.

The legislation, which will go into in about three weeks, will override the zoning laws that were passed in the mid-1970s that denied mixed-use buildings on Canal Street. It is unclear as to why legislators of that period singled out Canal Street and allowed buildings on Center Street to maintain their mixed-use status.

The reaction by those who had heard about the Board's decision were mixed. Area businessman, Ray Matthews of Matthews' Pharmacy said that while he would support owner occupied apartments above stores or even having store owners living above their stores as tenants of a landlord, he could not agree with the Board's decision to allow normal renting privileges to the second floors of buildings on Canal Street. “I would oppose that because those people have no vested interest in maintaining or caring for the property.” Mr. Matthews went on to question the relevance of such committees as the Planning Board and Zoning Board if they would be overruled by the Mayor and his Trustees. “I am a little disappointed to hear that that is going through because the Planning Board was against this, the Building Inspector was against this - so why do we have a Planning Board, why do we have a Zoning Board?

A brief discussion with Matthews' neighbor, Everett Joray, revealed that he was in favor of the law.

The second piece of legislation the Village Board passed continues to expand the Village's attempt to market itself as an “arts-friendly” community. This local law would now allow artist loft space in the downtown and industrial areas of Ellenville. The loft space would allow an artist to have living space as well as make allowance for work space and even retail space.

And while there is no language that states just how big one of these loft spaces could be, the law does stipulate that the residential space would be limited no more than 25% of the whole space, or 500 square feet.

Another, more curious restriction deals with the qualifying process to even get into the loft space. The law reads, “The individual is engaged in the fine arts, not the commercial arts, including but not limited to painting, sculpture, choreography, filmmaking, theatrical production, and the composition of music”. It begs the question as to who in the Village will be making the decision as to what qualifies is fine art.

So how did this all start, Village Manager Elliott Auerbach explains, “It really started, interestingly enough, with impetus by Shelly Stein who bought Marvin's Millworks. And one of Shelly's grand ideas was to convert the Marvin Millwork's building into an artist work and living space. It was an interesting, out-of-the-box thought for a community that never entertained that idea.”

Mayor Jeffrey Kaplan added, “This legislation, along with another local law permitting accessory apartments in the business district, will galvanize the relationship between residential and commercial properties”.

Mr. Vallone would like to use this building, at the corner of Bruyn and Canal Streets, as the offices for his depot should he be allowed to purchase Bruyn Street from the Village. This lot, located at the corner of Bruyn and Center Streets, would be part of the depot that would hold Mr. Vallone's fleet of 14 buses and 14 vans.

• The Board agreed to seek an appraisal for Bruyn Street, a small street that connects Canal Street to Center and divides the parcel of land where Ellenville Lumber is located; the land is owned by Mr. Phil Vallone who wishes to purchase Bruyn Street and make it a private driveway for a fleet of fourteen buses and fourteen vans.

• A law was passed that prohibits parking on the south side of Backman Avenue.

• James Barry submitted correspondence on behalf of the Super Seven Deli requesting that there be uniform parking times throughout the two blocks of Center and Canal Street. The Board agreed to have the Ellenville Police Department visit every business within those two blocks of both streets and deliver a letter informing business owners that the matter would be revisited on July 24. The Board is considering a uniform parking measure that would allow parking on Center and Canal for up to one hour between the hours of 9AM and 5PM.

• There was an update provided by Mr. John Burns concerning the Recreation Program. Currently, the program's enrollment numbers are down from last year's but Mr. Burns stated that there were new registrants coming in every day - registration ends Friday, July 14.

• Contract Bids were opened for the Hunt Memorial Building's roof replacement. The bids were due by noon on Monday, July 10. The Village received three: 1) Precision Roofing of Southfield, NY offered a total bid of $98, 560, 2) International Contractor's Corporation of Neversink, NY offered a total bid of $77,400 and 3) Vanguard Organization offered a total bid of $127,481.

• The Board decided to require individuals who use the local fire companies to fill their pools must fill out an application prior to doing so. The application, which will cost nothing to fill out and will be located in Village Hall, is meant to provide the Village with enough time to notify area residents whose water use may be affected by the filling of pools.

• The Board reached a lease agreement with Mr. Rivan Krieger to use his parking lot. The agreement is a 5-year term with an annual fee of $2,000.

• The committee organizing the Gus Macker tournament, a three-on-three basketball tournament that takes place all over the country, announced that it will be postponing the event until the weekend of September 30 and October 1. Though this was not explicitly stated, the postponement seems to be due to low enrollment numbers. The Board offered its encouragement and offered any support it could to make the event a success.

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