The Town of Wallkill master plan review committee and town board members are seeking public comments on the proposed changes to the town’s guiding land use policy.
A public hearing on May 29 kicked off the multi-week public comment period on the master plan proposal.
According to review committee chair and town council member Eric Johnson, the recommended updates were prompted by the committee members’ desire to maintain the existing way of life for residents as the town navigates an evolving development landscape.
“The idea, mainly, is to keep the town moving forward in such a way that we preserve the character that we all like and respect,” Mr. Johnson said during a presentation on May 22.
“Businesses are important, revenue is certainly important, but the residents can’t take a backseat to those,” he added. “This committee is looking out for the residents of the Town of Wallkill first.”
As warehousing development heats up in town, the committee recommends limiting such projects to the vicinity of three major interchanges along Route 17.
Several code changes need to occur to facilitate the idea, including only allowing warehousing and distribution facilities in the enterprise zone, rezoning properties falling out of the desired area into the enterprise light zone, and removing distribution centers as a permitted use from the office and research zone.
The town has had an effective warehouse moratorium since November 2022 and plans to rescind it upon the codification of new warehousing rules, according to a town work session on May 22.
Construction-related overlay and floating zones are recommended to be eliminated, as they can alter the face of surrounding communities, Mr. Johnson said.
The town currently allows for planned residential development overlay districts, which were adopted in 2009 to encourage creative and flexible neighborhood-like development; it also permits an affordable housing floating zone, according to town codes.
“[The committee] felt that allowing the overlays [are] potentially spot zoning,” Mr. Johnson previously told The Epoch Times. “Whenever you deviate from the zoning parameters that are allowed within a zone, you basically can change the character of the neighborhood.”
For the same stated reason, the committee also suggests removing conservation subdivisions, which were adopted in 2005 and subsequently amended in 2009 to allow for flexible building layouts for land preservation purposes per town codes.
In addition, the committee recommends stripping mobile home parks from the suburban residential zone, removing cemeteries from two residential zones over concerns of groundwater contamination, and subjecting tourist homes to special use permits.
For economic development, the review committee suggests creating a new town position to coordinate the zoning, planning, and building departments to drive the desired growth.
“We should be forward thinking and recruiting businesses that will possibly lead to jobs for our young people,” he said during the presentation. “Not just warehouses, but businesses that are stars so that people can live and work in the same town.”
The committee also suggested creating a new town engineer position, allowing mixed commercial and residential uses to help small businesses succeed, and rezoning a strip along Route 17M to a highway commercial district to encourage development.
A sunset clause that allows a maximum of three planning board approval extensions is also recommended.
“I want to say big thanks to the members of the review committee that worked tirelessly on this,” Mr. Johnson said during the presentation. “It is all volunteer work and takes several meetings a month, plus time in between discussing stuff and visiting sites.”
Public Comments
Concerned parties and residents can submit written comments to the town board or speak in person at work sessions on Wednesdays and town board meetings on Thursdays.During the May 29 public hearing, an attorney representing the New Jersey-based developer RDM Group requested that several parcels where his client has made significant investments be grandfathered in and spared the warehousing-related zoning changes.
Another attorney representing a warehousing developer and a cemetery developer suggested at the hearing that the review committee involve stakeholders early in the review process so that they are aware of potential changes and can make informed investment decisions.
Town resident Jean Schultz suggested the town take a hard look at allowing mixed-use development to minimize any adverse effects on surrounding residential areas.
“We are going to keep the [public comment period] open to listen to what the public has to say,” Town Supervisor George Serrano said at the public hearing. “This is going to take months. We will do all due diligence to try to do what is best for the town.”
The town hadn’t set a deadline for the public comment period as of press time.
