The Village Hall parking lot filled to overflow Thursday evening as residents came from all corners of Sloatsburg to attend a special Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. The agenda item of popular interest was a use variance request from Martin Lichtman, a Highland Mills, NY resident and owner of 100 Sterling Mine Road. When the meeting came to order, the board politely silenced the crowd and then explained that, due to a postal processing error, all properties within 200′ of the the Sterling Mine Road warehouse had not been notified by certified mail of the hearing and zoning change request.
The board began reading through a list of property owners. If present at the meeting, they were asked if they had received the notice. When several owners failed to respond, the board moved to postpone the Sterling Mine Road request until Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m.
According to a Journal News article, Lichtman wants to rent space to Joel Stern, owner of Guilt Free Gourmet, a Monsey-based business that involves the preparation, cooking and packaging of low-carbohydrate foods, which are sold in Orange and Rockland Counties. Lichtman believes the interior layout of his warehouse has somehow prevented tenants from renting the space, and seeks a use variance. Sloatsburg’s law prevents food processing within the village, including food cannery, slaughterhouse and stockyards.
The Sterling Mine building was built in 1970s and has had a variety of tenants throughout its 40 year history.
Sloatsburg Village Board Trustee Pete Akey said the laws were enacted to protect residents and the environment. As a rule, village board members, as well as the mayor, do not attend zoning board meetings to prevent the appearance of any undue influence on the appointed zoning board members and proceedings.
The Rockland County Department of Planning already disapproved Lichtman’s use variance request, stating in an April 5 letter that Lichtman failed to demonstrate “unnecessary hardship” exists without the use variance. The county recommended Lichtman take his appeal to Sloatsburg, where local law determines zoning use.
Lichtman said he didn’t know about the zoning restriction when he bought the property.
“I wasn’t aware of it. When I got the denial from the town, I did not believe my eyes,” he said, referring to his initial request for the use variance in August, which was denied by Sloatsburg building inspector Ian Smith.
“I will try to make sure that the tenant is going to do the most to have the least impact on any of the surroundings, meaning no odors or any input in the sewers,” he (Lichtman) said Tuesday.
“The problem is a combination with the zoning and the layout of the building,” he said.
Source: Mareesa Nicosia, LoHud
Sloatsburg’s Zoning Board of Appeals set the date of Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. for the new public hearing for the 100 Sterling Mine Road use variance request.
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Food Processing Plant Proposed in Sloatsburg — Zoning and land use rules can be murky. But this particular situation comes down to how the residents of Sloatsburg, through their elected officials, view land use in the village.
