Restaurant sits on railroad property

By TOM KANE

NARROWSBURG — The Whistle Stop Cafe on Kirk Road features railroad memorabilia along with special foods with railroad names.

Now, it’s been learned that the railroad has more of a role in the restaurant than just memorabilia. It owns part of the ground the restaurant is built on.

This all became apparent when Steve Daley, the owner of the building where The Whistle Stop Café and the attached convenience store are located, went before the Tusten Zoning Board of Appeals, (ZBA) seeking a variance because he wants to subdivide the property and sell the building to two different people.

Both are attached but are separate businesses. A town ordinance states that separate buildings must be 30 feet apart. That’s why  the variance is needed.

“About a year ago, I learned that the survey I had when I bought the property put the property lines in the wrong places,” Daley said.

Daley had purchased the property from his brother, Bob—known as Catskill Bob—Daley who  built another convenience store in Beach Lake.

When Steve Daley began preparing to sell the two establishments, he needed a new survey. That’s when he discovered the 25-foot discrepancy between the old survey and the new one.

“My brother didn’t know about the error in the survey either,” Daley said.

He then went to the Norfolk and Southern Railroad seeking a lease so his restaurant could remain where it was.

“They were very reasonable about it and gave me a ten-year lease which, they said, could be renewed for another 10 years,” he said.

The ZBA told Daley he needs an affidavit from his lawyer stating that he didn’t know about the erroneous survey.

“It will all be solved, I hope, in a few weeks when I go before the ZBA,” Steve Daley said.