Former bookshop to get makeover
Village planners OK redevelopment of McDonald’s on Water St.
The Daily Mail
June 24, 2009

CATSKILL — The Catskill Village Planning Board approved a site plan for the redevelopment of the former McDonald’s Book Shop at their most recent meeting.

The Hudson River Development Corporation has been working on plans for 125 Water St. in Catskill for months.

Village Attorney Alexander Betke presented his recommendations on the plan during the meeting, saying that the HRDC plan will revitalize a blighted vacant building along the Catskill Creek in a manner compatible with the neighborhood.

“[It will] really add to the downtown experience of the Village of Catskill,” he said.

The plan for the half-acre site includes a bistro accommodating more than 70 occupants, and will feature spaces designed for commercial and professional use, an outdoor dining area and a creekside raw bar.

The raw bar will include performance space and will be partially cantilevered over the shoreline.

Plans for the site also include docks and kayak launches along the shore. A red brick walkway, accessible to the public, will connect the dock and the launches. Park benches will be placed along the walkway.

Rene VanSchaack, with Community Nature Resource Solutions, said that although structural plans and a floorplan for the building had been submitted to the Village, plumbing and electrical schematics still need to be drafted.

He said the remaining drawing sheets will be submitted soon.

Betke said that only a portion of planned work can begin until a brownfield mitigation on the southern portion of the is completed.

Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. is funding and overseeing the remedial work.

The site plan resolution included language that allowed the Village of Catskill to decline an easement through the brownfield area if environmental conditions of constraints are not in the best interest of the Village. Such a decision will not jeopardize the project, Betke said.

Village President Vincent Seeley said he was pleased with the Planning Board’s action.

“The approval of this project, a key component to our waterfront revitalization, maintains the overall momentum we need for Catskill,” he said.

Before the board approved the site plan, it passed a negative declaration on the project. The board agreed that the plan will not present a health hazard, work on the project will not significantly effect the environment or surrounding natural resources and among other issues of consideration.

Planning Board Chairman William Zwoboda said he was convinced that the overall plan would benefit the area.

“Here, we are actually improving the environment,” he said.