Tusten planners address Main Street building delays

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

NARROWSBURG, NY — Town of Tusten officials are concerned about delays that have drawn out renovation work at one of Narrowsburg’s most visible buildings.

Stop-start work over the past year has left the building with some improvements, but empty window frames, boarded-up entryways and plastic sheeting have created an “eyesore” in the hamlet, planning board member Linda Slocum said at the November 15 meeting. In a letter from Tusten’s zoning board of appeals, ZBA Chairman Tony Ritter writes, “We are deeply concerned about the state of the former Kelly’s Building site. How did this come to pass?”

Work began in the summer of 2003 when owners Nick and Laura Santana of Long Island hired Modesta, Inc. to transform the three-story building at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets, as well as a smaller adjacent structure, into retail and restaurant spaces they intend to name Narrowsburg Mews. Interior demolition and renovations progressed in spurts, though the building has sat untouched for the past few months.

In a letter Modesta sent to the board, managers Anna Zaniewska and Czeslaw Chlebek explain, “We understand our neighbors’ frustration, and others should understand ours, especially when [the] owner does not have sufficient funds to speed up the construction process.”

“That is absolutely not true,” Laura Santana said in a telephone interview. “Everybody who has done work for us would never say anything like that.

“They’re looking for an excuse. But time has run out,” she said.

The Santanas have severed all ties with Modesta and hired new subcontractors to complete the work. Laura said renovations would resume the Monday after Thanksgiving and that the buildings would be ready for tenants by the spring of 2005.

Modesta is in possession of new windows and doors that Santana said she paid for in full.

“Right now I’m trying to get them back,” she said.

Tusten Code Enforcement Officer Stephen Stuart said interior work won’t continue until the windows and doors are installed. He said the Santanas’ building permit would remain valid until August 5, 2005, two years after it was issued.

Board Chairman Edwin Jackson said he would give the Santanas “the benefit of the doubt” but consider taking action if work doesn’t begin during the next month.

“I will take them at their word for a month,” he said.