HORTONVILLE – At their regular monthly meeting, the Delaware Town Board was introduced to its new Town Planner, Peter Manning. The Principal of Genius Loci Planning, Manning is taking over for the previous Town Planner Tom Shepstone, who has decided to step aside. 

Manning has 25 years’ experience in municipal planning and land use training at the local, county, regional, and statewide levels.

“Thank God we were able to find Peter and he is willing to take control of the planning board,” Town Supervisor Scott DuBois said. “We wish you luck.”

The town’s Planning Board Chairman, Warren Blumenthal, was also in attendance at the meeting as he and Manning got acquainted. 

“Thank you for the opportunity and you have my contact information if anyone has any questions,” Manning said to the board. “We will be in touch.”

During his report, Building Inspector Kris Scullion said that he had received a call from Zev Heisler, owner of PDG Building Consultants, regarding the Villa Roma Resort. New owners Fay Hospitality Catskills LLC have plans for renovation and potential development at the resort.

“He’s one of the people that is in the planning stages and developing some of the renovations that they are planning,” Scullion said. “They are planning on doing some big stuff up there, but I haven’t seen anything yet. They are moving some things around and [Heisler] said he’s going to be in contact very shortly. So we’ll see what they come up with for plans. I thought it was just going to be renovation, but now he’s talking new building too. So I don’t know what’s going to happen yet.”

In her report, Town Clerk Tess McBeath asked the board if they would agree to a six-month extension on the Callicoon Depot project for extra time to complete the project. Sullivan 180 had given the Depot a December 31 deadline for project completion, but McBeath said that they have about $40,000 remaining in their grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). 

“The DASNY paperwork was accepted for the Callicoon Depot Project,” McBeath said. “Now that the DASNY part is moving along, I know that they have another big expense with architectural drawings and stuff. I think they are going to spend down [the remainder of the grant] soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

The board agreed to the extension and McBeath said that they would have DuBois write a letter to Sullivan 180 to give a little more time for the project to be completed. 

Other business

Four resolutions were passed unanimously by the board at the meeting. First, they appointed Robert Lindquist as Upper Delaware Council (UDC) Alternate. McBeath noted that the town’s UDC representative, Harold Roeder, and UDC Executive Director Laurie Ramie both vetted Lindquist. Secondly, the board appointed Mark McLaren as the Delaware Scenic Byway Alternate. Third, they appointed Skylar Vairo-Hubbell as Assessor Clerk. Lastly, the board set their reorganizational meeting for Wednesday, January 8.