UPDATED: February 1, 2025 at 2:43 PM EST
WOODSTOCK, N.Y. – Opponents of the proposed Zena Homes development will host a Feb. 4 virtual information session in advance of town Planning Board discussions on an application for an extension of Eastwoods Drive into the town of Ulster to accommodate a subdivision with up to 52 residential units.
The hourlong online meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4. Registration for the event can be done by going to the Stop Zena Development website, topzenadevelopment.org
Zena Development LLC received zoning approval in December to begin the process with the Woodstock Planning Board for a 1,423-foot extension of Eastwoods Drive. The road would also be brought up to state highway standards, which is needed before the Ulster Town Planning Board can begin reviews on allowing a 30-lot subdivision that would have 18 lots with one residential unit and 22 lots that could accommodate two-family duplex dwellings.
Woodstock Land Conservancy officials hope that opponents have not become exhausted by listening to technical arguments from developers and opponents’ representatives during the zoning reviews over the past five months. The conservancy is in partnership with Stop Zena Development and others seeking to halt the project.
“Now we’re getting back to … where citizen voice is going to be extremely important,” organization representative Keisha Hoerrner said. “A lot of people … went to the two ZBA meetings where the public could speak. It was hard to keep up with the delays (since September) and then the actual vote. So, we just want to make sure that everybody knows that this is still a continuing issue and there’s a great deal to be done.”
Woodstock Planning Board members do not have the issue listed for their Thursday, Feb. 6, session and have not posted an agenda for their Thursday, Feb. 20, meeting.
The issues involving a project that is proposed for the town of Ulster but must be accessed through the town of Woodstock have led to questions as to whether arguments by developers and opponents have been consistent. A lack of clarity began on March 26, 2024, when the Woodstock code enforcement office wrote the road needed to be improved as though the project were in Woodstock, which drew objections from the developers.
“As no division of any (Woodstock) parcel of land into two or more lots, plots or sites is proposed the Chapter 202 Subdivision of Land regulations should not apply,” wrote Alec Gladd, attorney for Zena Development.
However, Gladd sought during a zoning meeting in September to have the road allowed based on how Woodstock’s codes are written and contended that the project would be permitted.
“The use is equally permitted in both towns,” he said. “Both towns permit single-family dwellings and two-family dwellings. … The project is not barred in Woodstock. We could easily build 30 residential lots on the land that we have in Woodstock.”
Woodstock Land Conservancy officials had already contended that the project, and therefore the road extension, would not be allowed in the town.
“The project proposes lots as small as 1.38 acres (which is) well below the 3-acre minimum in the (Woodstock) R3 District,” conservancy lawyer Victoria Polidoro wrote. “Therefore, the project would not be permitted in the town of Woodstock and the road extension providing access to the project violates Woodstock’s Zoning Law and is not permitted.”