EYE ON ROSENDALE
by Bond Brungard
According to the vision stated on the website of the Williams Lake Project, developers want to build a sustainable resort than honors the former Williams Lake Resort and the family’s history of land stewardship in the town.
The project, a mixed-use project with a hotel, cabins and condominiums in a clustered community along Binnewater Road, was approved many years ago. Now, hammers can be heard on an early morning workday from the re-routed rail trail that passes through the property and along a long line of abandoned limekilns.
“It’s a big project,” said Jeanne Walsh, Rosendale’s town supervisor. “It’s really an ideal project.” Ulster County has its unique communities and towns, and Rosendale is no different. Rosendale has historical and recreational assets as it straddles the northern Shawangunk ridge with the Rondout Creek running through. “Every town has its own character including ours,” said Walsh.
Rosendale became famous for the natural cement that was discovered in the early 1820s during the construction of the D&H Canal. For more than a century lime was mined and cooked in now abandoned limekilns seen throughout the town. It was pulverized and packaged for use in the construction of much of New York’s rapid 19th century growth, and used in numerous national monuments and structures, including the Brooklyn Bridge.
The mines closed when blended cement made natural cement obsolete, and the canal closed when the railroad made it obsolete. Today, the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, on the bed of a former railroad that ceased operations in 1977, is a very popular recreational corridor in town that connects to Kingston going north and New Paltz going south. In Rosendale it travels over a high trestle high above the Rondout Creek and Route 213, and can readily be seen looking west from Rosendale’s Main Street.
Main Street was once a throughway of bars and bordellos for the miners back in the day. But now, it’s easy to have a nice dinner and a drink on one of several options along Main Street, and attend the Rosendale Theater with its films and live performances. In July, Main Street is host to the town’s Street Festival buzzing with an abundance of free music. “People come to Rosedale because of its recreation,” said Walsh.
Becoming an increasingly popular destination, as well as a growth in short term rentals to accommodate the growth, the town to recently pass laws earlier this month to ensure the safety of STRs. These include fire and safety inspection rules and a limit to two individuals per bedroom. “They do serve a purpose,” said Walsh, of the short-term rentals.
At that same March 6 meeting, a law was also passed for the construction of new Accessory Dwelling Units, which will enable property owners to build apartments and separate dwellings within the property footprint and setback of property lines, for families and workforce housing.
Aside from small retails shops, the town has virtually no industry, aside from a small plastics factory (USHECO), and Iron Mountain which stores records in the abandoned mines. It also has limited space for new housing, so it is hoped the ADUs will help increase the town’s scarce housing stock.
“We’re a town that already has a number of multi-family residences,” said Walsh, and more housing is currently planned in Tillson. The site of a former school recently demolished will make way for new housing units.