The long running application involving 22 Jean Street gained approval at the November 17 Ellenville Planning Board meeting. First a lot line adjustment was approved, transferring 0.496 acres from a property owned by the Craft family to Paul Pinkerous’s property.

That gives them enough room to build a driveway with a grade that the planning board has accepted, and opens the route to the site at the top of the road that they intend to build their house on. In the original plan, a section of the proposed driveway would have had a grade of more than 16 percent; the village has a 10 percent grade limit on driveways.

This ended an application effort that had run for more than two years as the Pinkerous’s struggled to come up with a plan that would reduce the grade sufficiently to win approval from the board.

Two Residences, One Lot

An application from Samara Perez for a second residence on a single lot at 261 Canal Street was given its public hearing. During discussion of this application, Code Enforcement Officer Brian Schug noted, “We estimate there are more than a hundred illegal uses of buildings now” in the village. These can be things like rented bedrooms. “When we see a bedroom with a lock on it,” he added, that is an indicator of a potential violation.

The Perez application in the meantime brought some neighbors anxious about the septic system that is in place on the lot. Schug said that once the application was approved, the Perez’s would have to hook up that second building to village sewer and water. Schug explained that the second residential use would be for a single bedroom apartment of less than 600 square feet.

Discussion moved to the question of whether both residences on the site could be rented, since the main house is already rented. Schug said that Village Law requires one residence to be used by the owner of the property. The owners currently occupy the smaller, second residence on weekends, when they come up from New York City.

T.J. Briggs, from the audience, wanted to know how they could have gotten away with living in this second residence without a certificate of occupancy. Schug explained that the Village Building Department was understaffed and needed a second CEO, and beyond that enforcement was an issue.

Calling in remotely, Village Planner Dan Shuster suggested that the village law should have the term “occupy” written in more detail. Schug added that the Perez’s had been very cooperative in previous dealings with the village and there had been no complaints at all about their use of the second residential space.

The public hearing was closed and a special use permit allowing the second residence was approved.