Board works through zoning update

WATKINS GLEN--With the new zoning laws now not expected to be put into place until January, the Watkins Glen board of trustees voted to amend the current zoning laws Tuesday, Nov. 16. At issue was a section of the zoning law Mayor Luke Leszyk said was preventing a project from going forward that would be allowed under the new laws.
"It may be January before everything is done and passed and put in place and we don't want to hold up construction for two months because (the project's owner) wants to get started now," said Leszyk. "So rather than have him waiting on us because we are behind on the new zoning laws, code enforcement asked to amend the current law so he could get his project moving forward."
The project is on 2nd Street and Leszyk said the owner wants to gut and refurbish it into a multi-unit dwelling but was prevented from doing so by zoning laws that would soon be outdated.
"The building on the property had a fire some time ago and sat vacant," Leszyk explained. "And because it sat vacant for over a year under old zoning rules it wasn't allowed to be rebuilt as a multi-dwelling unit. But the owner has contractors in place and the money to do it. It would be allowed under the new zoning laws."
The board also voted to extend a contract with Stantec Inc. regarding oversight of the new buildings put in place in Clute Park as part of a multi-million dollar project mostly funded through the state.
"Due to a number of issues, the construction at Clute Park took a little longer than expected," Leszyk said. "So if we want to have Stantec, who designed the buildings, to be able to monitor them during the winter to see how they react, we needed to extend the contract."
The contract has nothing to do with the warranty of the buildings, it only relates to monitoring how they perform during their first winter.
Parks and Events Center Manager Craig Bond informed the board the opening of the new ice skating rink in Clute Park had been pushed back to Nov. 27 due to mostly weather-related issues. Along with the ice skating rink, Bond told the board for the first time ever there will be a tree lighting ceremony at Clute and holiday decorations.