On a night when the planning board approved several projects long in the works – including an ATV dealership – the revival of a Farmhood Fields attraction whose approval had expired was big news.

Engineer John Fuller told the board the family of the late Zeke Alenick wants to continue the development of a planned agri-community on hundreds of acres in the Thompson Ridge section of town. They are seeking a special use permit for a six-unit bed and breakfast development along with the repurposing of a house on the property into a caretakers’ residence with a kitchen and dining area for guests.

Alenick, the businessman and farmer behind the agri-community, saw the proposed B&B as a place where prospective investors in the community could stay and try out the lifestyle, including helping with farm chores. Guests would stay in six free-standing cottages to be built on a 10-acre parcel assembled on the western side of the farm and approached via Boyle Road, a private drive that serves several landowners.

Farmhood Fields was designed as a gated community aimed at high net-worth investors. Early promotional material envisioned beekeeping, cheesemaking and the possibility of a farm stand open to the public. When first proposed it had the full support of the town board, whose members saw it as a valuable asset to the town.

After the B&B was approved the project was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, Alenik died in April, 2024 at the age of 60 after a long illness.

Fuller, wanting to put the project back on track, said that it was fully engineered and no changes are proposed, with the possible exception of revisions to the design of the cottages, he said.

Linda Zwart, the planning board chair, told Fuller that the whole process of getting a permit would have to start from scratch and include another public hearing. Getting approval for the B&B, however, should go faster than the first time around because the engineering work has been done.

At its July 24 meeting, the board also approved an extension of the Farmhood Fields subdivision until November 17. The approval had been scheduled to expire August 18. The subdivision includes 30 lots where homesteaders would build their houses and one lot covering the existing farm. Homeowners would also own a stake in the farm which includes livestock and produce.

ATVs, Wraps and Warehouses

After a public hearing during which nobody spoke, the board approved the site plans and issued a special use permit for UC PowerSports, which will move from Wallkill to the former site of Thompson Ridge Nursery on Route 302 in the hamlet of Bullville. The final site plan involved moving a storage area to the rear of the building and reducing the vehicle display area.

Business owner Lori Webman and her husband, Paul, gave a brief overview of their plans before the board opened the hearing. UC PowerSports, a dealer in ATVs, UTVs, trailers and dirt bikes, was established in Ellenville and has relocated several times as the business expanded. For a while it was located in the hamlet of Pine Bush, so the Bullville location marks a homecoming for Crawford. Paul Webman said the business is primarily focused on the sales and service of ATVs.

The arrival of UC PowerSports coincides with the opening of the new Bullville firehouse and scheduled landscape and lighting improvements to Bullville’s Five Corners intersection, part of the town’s plan to revitalize the hamlet. The town has also changed zoning regulation in an effort to attract more business to the intersection.

Additional Businesses Approved

The board also approved a request by Emma Paige Properties to allow a car wrap business on Route 17K east of the Five Corners intersection in Bullville. The site had once been approved for a beauty parlor. The approved site plan also allows for office space and additional parking. No one spoke for or against the project at the public hearing preceding the vote.

Stone Industrial, LLC received conditional approval for a two-lot subdivision on Stone Schoolhouse Road. The conditions include a final review of the project by the town engineer and a town attorney hired for the project, Ben Gailey. Gailey recused himself because of a conflict of interest.

The subdivision included a rarely requested open development area – a lot with no frontage on a public road. The subdivision cut off that frontage. A warehouse served by a private road currently sits on the ODA. The other lot is vacant.

The approval required the redrawing of the ODA to include the septic system that serves the warehouse. That system will eventually be eliminated because the vacant lot is supposed to include a septic system for the entire subdivision. Stone Industrial plans to eventually build multiple warehouses on the vacant parcel.