Tusten adjusts zoning to reduce density

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

NARROWSBURG, NY — The Tusten Town Board wants to prevent a trend of dense development that has resulted from zoning that allowed 200 feet minimums for road frontage and lot widths.

Richard Crandall, whose term as supervisor of Tusten concluded in January 2003, first introduced the idea in an exit memo to increase the minimum allowable lot size in the R1 and R2 districts from two to three acres and the minimum allowable road frontage and lot width from 200 to 300 feet.

The board unanimously approved the resolution July 12.

Crandall congratulated the board, saying, “I think you’ve done a good thing. We will all be glad 20 years from now for your foresight.”

“The pressure we’re seeing now is small by comparison to what’s coming,” Crandall said after the meeting.

The change will reduce the number of houses allowed along a given road and effectively mitigate the expense Tusten incurs when families join the community and send their children to the public school system.