The developers of the proposed Middleburgh supermarket and townhouse project are seeking a zoning change to have the entire 12-acre parcel be zoned commercial.
Current plans call for a supermarket between 14,000 and 16,000-square-feet and for up to 60 townhouses off of Middlefort Road and Route 30 in the village.
Sections of the land are currently zoned commercial, residential, and historical. Nick Laraway, representing developer Carver Laraway, asked village board members last week to have the entire parcel zoned commercial.
The parcel includes the former Valley Pharmacy building, which will be renovated, the former River Implement building, which will be removed, and two homes. One of the homes, on the corner of River Street and Middlefort Road, will remain.
"It's been pretty much commercial all long," Trustee Bob Tinker noted of the area. Even the home that will be taken down once housed a hair salon.
Codes officer Lloyd Stannard suggested that going with a planned development district would be an easier zoning option.
A zoning change also has to go to the county planning commission before it can be approved.
The issue is slated to go to the planning board this month, along with a request to demolish the former River Implement building, and the village board set a public hearing on a zoning change for their February 1 meeting at 7pm in the village hall.
Along with a zoning change, street superintendent Dale Nunamann noted that the village has to extend its sewer district.
The district has enough capacity, he noted.
The village may hire Delaware Engineering to conduct the study, which has to go through the state Department of Health.
The cost for the study may be paid for by the developers. Village board members are expected to select an engineering firm at their workshop on January 19.
Mr. Laraway noted last week that the engineers hired by the developers have already done some work on the study.
The store is proposed to be built across the road from the former Grand Union supermarket that flooded in 2011. The new grocery will share an entrance with the former Valley Pharmacy.
Developers are hoping to break ground in mid-June and have the store open by the end of the summer.
The store will be operated by Jim Eisel who owns the Great American in Prattsville.
The Middleburgh market will employ a total of 25 to 30 people, five or six of those will be full-timers, according to Mr. Eisel.
The 60 townhouses will be housed in 15 buildings with four units each. Each unit will have a garage and a storage unit. There would also be a 50-by-70-foot community center and gym on the site for residents of the complex.
The townhouses would be constructed on a build as they come basis.
The two-story townhouses will have porches and there will be period lighting on a new street planned for the development.
The build-out for the townhouses will probably be three years, according to developers.
An important feature of the development will be the construction of a new, 24-foot wide street off of Middlefort Road.
The new street would start at the entrance of the River Implement parking lot and would proceed to the new store and then turn right and exit onto Middlefort Road, paralleling the existing entrance for the former pharmacy.
The new townhouses would be built on either side of the street. A sidewalk would be built on the new street up to the store.
Different options are being looked at for the street, which would become a village street, developers said.
The developers are in the midst of negotiating with approximately six landowners, Mr. Laraway told board members last Monday.