Tusten holds hearing on comprehensive plan

Open space, cluster housing, school use discussed

By FRITZ MAYER

NARROWSBURG, NY — A large majority of the residents of Tusten want to protect open space and retain the rural character of the town. Those facts were among the findings presented at a public hearing on the town comprehensive plan at the town hall on July 9.

After 18 months of working on a new draft of the town’s comprehensive plan, which will serve as a guide for future zoning and subdivision laws, the Comprehensive Plan Committee presented a set of proposed goals that will most likely be included in the plan when it is formally adopted by the town board.

Among the goals discussed was one that would “encourage conservation subdivisions” for new developments. Conservation subdivisions, also known as cluster development, require that new homes be grouped more closely together than in a traditional development, thereby preserving open space in the rest of a given parcel and facilitating less road footage. For instance, on a 100-acre parcel, 25 homes might be placed on 50 acres, with the remaining 50 acres being left undeveloped.

The subject elicited comments from resident Chuck Hoffman, who said that such developments had an uneven history of success, and questioned the need for them.

Bill Pammer, the director of planning for Sullivan County, who was deeply involved in the creation of the plan, said that the planning board should be able to choose from a broad menu of options when considering subdivisions to best achieve the stated resident goal of preserving open space and protecting the finances of the town.

Another subject that brought comment was the ultimate disposition of the Narrowsburg School, which was closed in 2005. The plan calls for public officials and interested citizens to “create a task force to research the feasibility of converting the Narrowsburg School to senior housing … or other possible use (hotel, catering hall, workforce housing, college extension).”

Narrowsburg resident Kevin McDonough called the school issue “the elephant in the room,” and with others in the audience requested more specifics on the plan for the school.

Plan committee member Helle Henriksen said the Sullivan West school district was prevented from disposing of the school for several years, but the decision on what to do with the school was ultimately up to the school board and not town officials. The task force would be created in a proactive stance to generate ideas of possible uses, if the school district were to decide to liquidate the asset.

The comprehensive plan addresses a wide array of topics, including parking on Main Street in Narrowsburg, the promotion of mixed-income development in the town and the goal to “pass an outdoor furnace law to avoid conflicts with owners and neighbors.”

Supervisor Ben Johnson said the town board would not vote on adopting the plan until September at the earliest. The plan and the list of goals and priorities can be accessed online at http://www.tusten-narrowsburg.org. In addition, CDs of the Draft Town of Tusten Comprehensive Plan and its' appendices are available from the librarian at the Tusten-Cochecton branch of the Western Sullivan Library on Bridge Street in Narrowsburg.