Does Amenia really need more retail space?

AMENIA — Commercial revitalization.

That’s what North East resident Stephen Perotti wants to bring to Amenia through the partial development of an 18-acre parcel on the west side of Route 22.

The parcel is, for the most part, flat with no wetlands and good drainage.

Under Amenia’s current zoning, 14 to 15 housing units could be built on each acre of the property.

Perotti thinks he could better serve the community by using the front side of the parcel for small retail, such as a department store, rather than houses.

The Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee (CPIC) recently submitted a draft comprehensive plan and zoning law to the Amenia Town Board.

Perotti’s property is currently zoned as residential.

He’s calling for all or part of it to be changed to commercial so he and his family, who own Lone Pine Farm in the town of North East, can provide commercial services to the people of Amenia.

Development of the parcel could also eliminate problems at the "dangerous" intersection of Route 22 and the entrance of Freshtown Plaza. In return for commercial rezoning, Perotti and his family are willing to reconfigure the intersection so an entrance of Cascade Road on the west side of the roadway comes directly out in front of the existing Freshtown entrance.

Perotti presumed that this would give the New York State Department of Transportation the opportunity to create turning lanes and a traffic light. Perotti said his family would be open to create an outlet road across the property that would allow for a safer exit from Cascade Road.

"Traffic moves pretty fast there," Perotti noted in an interview with The Millerton News this past Monday afternoon.

Perotti said people in Amenia have to drive about 45 minutes to an hour to get basic amenities, such as goods that can be found in department stores.

"For any type of specialty store, you have to go far away," he said, also noting that when Ames was located in what is now known as Freshtown Plaza, "people just hopped in their car and got what they needed."

Perotti hopes to create that type of service by developing the parcel, although he said a plaza a bit smaller than the one across the street is what he and his family have in mind.

"Small to medium size, like what Ames was," he said.

Perotti first brought the idea before the town roughly a year ago.

The town said "they were going to consider the idea," he said.

However, Perotti said, there’s a contradiction in the town’s logic.

It exists, in Perotti’s eyes, in a section of the plan that calls for the rezoning of the property now owned by Freshtown.

When grocery store giant Price Chopper wanted to put a store there, many residents protested the development of the land because of its close proximity to wetlands.

Perotti said the town turned a "blind eye" to Freshtown when approving its application.

He’s also not particularly pleased with a caveat in CPIC’s stream overlay that requires a buffer of 150 feet from the edge of streams.

"It’s excessive, but we’re more than willing to work with the town for the community, because it’s in their best interest," he said. "We need to encourage people to come into the community ... we’re local residents and we care about what happens to our community. We only ask for the people’s support."