UPDATE FROM VILLAGE OF SOUTH NYACK:
In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, (The Village Of South Nyack have been holding our meetings via teleconference. Although these meetings have been in full compliance with laws, rules, orders, and regulations set forth covering such meetings and hearings during this epidemic, we recognize that many residents would prefer a visual meeting. The Board will be holding the May 12th meeting via RingCentral Meetings/Zoom Client. We welcome your attendance, please see details below:
Meeting ID: 148 097 1472
Phone Number: +1 (470) 869-2200
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:
https://meetings.ringcentral.com/j/1480971472
Our meeting will start promptly at 7:30 pm with the Nyack College presentation; the open session will immediately follow.
The Undisclosed Buyer Wants To Close On Or Before June 25
By Tina Traster
There’s a potential buyer for the Nyack College Campus but it will not move forward unless the buyer is granted a special permit to allow for residential use of the existing buildings.
Representatives from the law firm of Montalbano, Condon & Frank, P.C., representing Nyack College, will be giving a presentation to the South Nyack Village Board at the May 12th Board of Trustees meeting by teleconference.
The applicant is the College, which has secured a for-profit buyer that wants to close on or before June 25, 2020.
The college has an existing special permit for its use as a residential college. However a special permit is needed to alter that use to allow for anything other than what it’s been used for.
The application says “there are no plans to alter the exterior of any of the existing buildings or expand the footprint.” The application also says “this special permit amendment does not require any site plan development.”
The sale is contingent upon the college getting the special permit to allow for housing.
Although the village board has agreed to hear this application, the village code says that this matter belongs before the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The college has been for sale for more than a year. It has 22 parcels on 107 acres with nearly 4.5 million square feet of land area. Most of the college campus is situated in the Village of South Nyack but some of the campus sits on portions of Upper Nyack, Orangetown and Clarkstown.
Out of the 22 parcels, nearly half are currently being used as housing. The application claims that administrative offices can “easily be converted back to residential use.”
The application does not disclose who the buyer is. However Village of South Nyack’s Chapter 330 Article XVIII code has provisions requiring a contract purchaser to reveal its identity. The code says there’s a critical and compelling need for all applicants, including contract purchasers to disclose their identities. Other provisions within the code say that an application that refuses or fails to provide the information required shall be suspending pending compliance.
The Trustees will not be making a decision or voting at the May 12th meeting.
The Village has 62 days from the closure of the hearing to render a decision.
An audio recording will be available for public access on the village website the following day.
Meeting Details:
Board of Trustees Meeting
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 – 7:30pm
VIA TELECONFERENCE
Dial: 267-930-4000
Participants Access Code: 389-930-058