Roasters wants to add tables

Sewage capacity remains an obstacle for new coffee shop

By JANET NOBLE

NARROWSBURG, NY — The Tusten Planning Board faced a full house and a busy night on September 18.

The biggest question concerned Roasters, the new coffee shop on Main Street. At present, it is classified as a retail space. The renters, Will Geisler and Grady Avant of Milanville, PA, want to change that classification to a restaurant, so they can put in 14 chairs and some tables for patrons. But board member Dick Crandall said, “Roasters is caught between a rock and a hard place.”

The trouble revolves around the adequacy of the septic system for the whole Mews complex of stores, which still has not been settled. The types of stores being operated there will have an impact on the sewer system.

As attorney for the town Jeffery Clemente put it, “This is a magic place. It never stays the same. The store below the restaurant 15 Main was supposed to sell furniture. Now, maybe it will be another restaurant. This store sells coffee; before it was to be shirts and ties.”

Board members agreed that, based on the potential of the building complex, the board will suggest that on the advice of their engineer, another 2,500 gallon septic tank be installed to serve the complex. They also agreed that a time limit should be set for installation.

In the meantime, the Roasters space will remain classified as retail.

The board also addressed a matter brought up by Frank Holmes, who owns a small lot on Third Avenue and Lake Shore Lane in the Luxton Lake area. He’s owned it and paid taxes on it for 45 years. He wants to build a small house there now, as a legacy for his grandchildren. The problem is that zoning laws have changed and many aspects of the property are no longer in compliance. The most serious situation concerns the well and septic system. The board decided that if Holmes’ engineer gets approval from the Board of Health in Monticello regarding the proposed septic, they would allow him to proceed.

Ed and Doreen Kraus also came before the board. They want to place a new trailer on the property next to their house in the flats where the previous one stood until it was destroyed by the June flood. Permission for a new trailer had initially been denied. The board passed a motion to allow the couple to install a new trailer and stipulated that the new standards regarding tie-downs and elevation must be adhered to.

Also on the agenda was a property on Cackletown Road being considered for development. It was reported that the parcel was bisected by a travel way for rattlesnakes with two possible dens on the land. Because rattlesnakes are endangered and protected, their presence makes any development there impossible.

“The job’s dead,” said Ed Jackson, planning board chairman.