17B frontier would be gateway to western Sullivan

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

BETHEL, NY — If Sullivan County is a community-planning experiment, then the Town of Bethel is certainly one if its leading subjects.

The writers of a proposed new comprehensive plan for Bethel are well aware of the town’s potential to influence surrounding communities, given its diverse population, central location and much-anticipated identity as the home of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (Bethel Woods).

“No other town is so connected to the rest of the county, so affected by county patterns of development or so influential in establishing those patterns,” assert the writers of the new plan.

The main road that runs through Bethel, Route 17B, serves as the principal highway connecting eastern and western Sullivan County. 17B is also the gateway leading metropolitan residents into the rural recesses of the Upper Delaware River corridor. Bethel borders nine other towns in the county.

Currently under review by officials and residents, the comprehensive plan proposes establishing a new zoning district along Route 17B with four sub-zones that would allow increased commercial development, by degree, after the highway exits state-protected agricultural lands in western Bethel.

One sub-zone, the Gateway District, is intended to promote “an attractive gateway into the heart of Bethel and complement the performing arts and agricultural districts,” according to the plan, generated by the Shepstone Management Company, in cooperation with the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Community Development.

A $3 million municipal sewer extension, currently under environmental review, would link the blooming 17,000-seat Bethel Woods with the town’s central communities and create the possibility for concentrated development within this gateway.

“I think you will see commercial growth. That’s where we want to promote it, between Route 55 and Bethel Woods,” said Bethel Supervisor Vicki Vassmer Simpson.

The proposed plan also sets out goals and objectives for encouraging new development to strengthen White Lake and Kauneonga Lake as town centers.

Standards to protect “high-quality conservation areas within the town by requiring very large lots in selective areas or mandating the use of the conservation subdivision technique to cluster housing and preserve valuable open spaces” would serve as contrasts to increased development in the central hamlets.

The plan stresses the development of “non-gaming tourism businesses compatible with the town’s natural and working landscape character.”

Following are details of the proposed new zoning district sub-zones:

• The R-17B Rural District would aim to preserve the rural character of 17 B from western Sullivan County into Bethel.

• The G-17B Gateway District would aim to blend commercial elements (recreational and resort-related uses) into the working landscapes of both the existing natural landscape and the environment being created within the new performing arts district. Signage would be “strictly limited,” utilities would be placed underground and residential density would be maintained at a “moderate level.” Listed as principal uses in this sub-zone are agriculture, cemeteries, churches and synagogues, essential services, nurseries and greenhouses, one-family detached dwellings, parks and playgrounds and public/private schools. Listed as special uses are bed and breakfasts, campgrounds and RV parks, community buildings, hotels, motels and resorts, light retail uses, professional and business offices, recreation and restaurants (except drive-in).

• The H-17B Hamlet District would aim to create higher-density residential development, utilizing the water and sewer services, throughout White Lake and Kauneonga Lake. The town would encourage density to strengthen this sub-zone as a neighborhood as well as start-up housing. New pedestrian linkages would be encouraged. With access to the public sewer, the minimum lot size would be 0.25 acres.

The C-17B Commercial District would aim to create an area in the town for larger, more intensive commercial uses along the eastern stretch of the highway. It would create a transition from the hamlet area to the Town of Thompson. The sub-zone would be a location for auto-related uses and similar activities demanding high levels of traffic and visibility.

Bethel Code Enforcement Officer Tim Dexter, who participated in drafting the proposed new plan, stressed that the new Gateway District would allow commercial growth “that is compatible with the residences that exist.” Dexter added: “We’re not looking for high-intensity growth.”

During a recent public hearing, Bethel resident Kevin Colston said the new sewer extension should run further west than proposed. He also expressed concern that it seemed Bethel Woods was controlling the scope of the project.

“It’s a curve to think they determine it,” Colston said.

The infrastructure plan shows the new main line running from Bethel Woods to 17B, intersecting with the highway about 200 feet east of Hurd Road, the access road to Bethel Woods.

Simpson said the town board could change the track of the proposed sewer line if members thought such a revision was justified.

“It’s our project. We’re going to be doing the bonding on it,” Simpson explained. “We’re working with Bethel Woods because they’ll be the largest payer.”

However, Simpson said that while the board is working on including more properties in the district, the board is not leaning towards extending the proposed sewer line.

“We’re not leaning that way,” she said. “We don’t want to venture further into that agriculture district than we should.”