The Daily Catch

New Retail Gateway, Other Zoning Updates Approved for Village of Red Hook



The Village of Red Hook is ripe for a makeover with new zoning amendments approved Monday night (photo by Emily Sachar).

The Village of Red Hook will be ripe for a makeover after the four-member Board of Trustees unanimously approved a package of new zoning amendments tonight. 

The zoning updates envision transforming the Village’s eastern boundary in an area known as the Highway Business District by replacing it with the so-called Gateway Business District. The hope is to attract restaurants, movie theaters, and even hotels to a neighborhood currently dominated by auto-repair shops, sprawling parking lots, and several shuttered businesses.

“This takes us leaps forward,” Village Mayor Karen Smyth said after the new zoning plans were approved. “Now, if anyone runs a boutique hotel, let us know.”

Several major updates under the new plans also could help shore up more space for housing in the Village’s existing buildings. Now, landlords will be able to convert the second and third stories of their buildings into apartments. Where currently they are restricted to just one apartment per floor, landlords will now be allowed to have as many apartments as they please, provided each apartment is at least 500 square feet. The law would also give homeowners throughout the Village the freedom to convert accessory dwellings such as garages or large sheds into apartments. 

Seven properties along South Broadway and one on Elizabeth Street will also have their zoning changed to allow them to operate as both small businesses and residences.

But it will likely take time before many residents see a change. 

As Deputy Village Mayor Brent Kovalchik told The Daily Catch in January, passing new zoning maps alone cannot transform a village. “What we do is set the conditions for something to happen, then it’s up to the market and property owners.”  

Throughout the zoning process, Kovalchik stressed the need to update Red Hook’s zoning laws to serve a local economy powered by tourism, not I.B.M., which operated one of its largest U.S. factories in Kingston until 1994, when the plant shut down.

The new Gateway Business District runs roughly from Brigitte Bistro to Janelli Security and is bounded to the north by East Market Street and to the south by the Red Hook Community Center. Kovalchik described the former zoning for this area as a “cookie-cutter” product of 1970s urban planning, where car service shops and strip malls were placed on the outskirts of villages. Instead, he wants drivers entering Red Hook from the Taconic Parkway to know immediately they are entering a residential community. “We need more tourist traffic,” he said. 

In the Gateway district, the facades of new buildings must be closer to the street, to make the area more walkable and enticing for tourists. The neighborhood will also allow for apartments, hotels, and foodservice businesses, which were previously prohibited there. Kovalchick and Smythe hope these changes, which coincide with the construction of a new municipal sewer under active construction, will draw more investment and visitors to Red Hook. 

The new zoning changes go into effect immediately.  Read more about the amendments. 

6 responses to “New Retail Gateway, Other Zoning Updates Approved for Village of Red Hook”

  1. yoram gelman says:

    This article does not mention the traffic condition at the traffic light.

    Even now, with curbside parking at the intersection maintained, residents are often angry; visitors would also be discouraged from approaching/visiting Red Hook due to congestion at the traffic light.

    With curbside parking permitted, there is only one lane for vehicles approaching the light. If one vehicle has to wait before making a left turn, the whole line of vehicles must also wait. If curbside parking were eliminated, allowing another lane, traffic could flow more easily.

  2. adrienne truscott says:

    This explains so very much about the recent, sudden, ‘urgent’ passing of STR restrictions. Regardless of one’s stance on said restrictions, it’s utterly lacking in transparency on the Town’s part that they didn’t mention these new zoning intentions. It wasn’t like anyone chiming in wasn’t intelligent enough to know that there must have been an underlying reason for the velocity of the STR zoning. So much about a lack of hotels and short term accommodation was brought up by STR operators, businesses, etc. It’s gutting to have what you think is a genuine forum for feedback and transparency only to find out that people’s questions were intentionally left unanswered, although answers were available.

  3. Carmine Covelli says:

    I see. This is why the rush to shut down STRs in the 11th hour in December, 2021. Why not just disclose that that is your reasoning instead of making up an unfounded claim of “a housing crisis due to STRs in Red Hook”?

    There is no housing crisis in Red Hook due to STRs, period. The town board just wants hotels. That’s it. Baffling lack of transparency. Do better.

    • Emily Sachar, Editor says:

      Dear Carmine and Adrienne:
      I do want to clarify that the Village is governed by a different body than the Town of Red Hook. The Village is led by Mayor Karen Smythe. The Town is led by Supervisor Robert McKeon. The Village Board has passed no new laws on STRs as of this date.
      Best,
      Emily as Editor

    • George Karpel says:

      Confused here. I get the feeling that the Village wants to ENcourage tourism, while the Town is DIScouraging tourism by restricting AirBnBs.
      ~ Wondering if Karen & Brent are on the same page as the Town Board ?

      I live on the eastern “gateway”. Without tearing down a few existing buildings, I don’t see where any kind of “boutique hotel” could be built. Technically, The Red Hook Country Inn is listed as a ‘luxury $$$-rated’ accommodation, with their prices (and the Beek in Rhinebeck rates) driving visitors to look for a more reasonably priced alternate … like AirBnBs.

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