Signs have gone up in the window at the Millerton Square Plaza advertising a grocery store is coming to the site soon. The North East Planning board continued the public hearing for the project until their next meeting at the North East Town Hall.
MILLERTON — The Town of North East Planning Board held two public hearings on Wednesday, March 12, to air plans for a new grocery market and a healthy fast-food restaurant, both in the Boulevard District.
Kim and Chris Choe, owners of the Sharon Farm Market, are developing a supermarket in an existing site in the Millerton Square Plaza which will offer meat and produce, a deli, bakery and outside dining.
Ray Nelson, of Earthwise Architecture in Millerton, represented the Choes.
Austin Cornell, a principal of the proposed Tallow restaurant slated to be located in the former McDonald’s site, fielded questions from Planning Board members on matters related to the facility’s septic system, its signage, entrance way and lighting arrangements.
Board member Leslie Farhangi noted that the comments received from the Dutchess County Planning and Development Department were “good.”
Cornell answered a question about plans for tree plantings.
Dale Culver, chair, requested that Cornell provide the Board with a copy of the site plan that reflects all lighting specified in the discussions with the Board, which then closed the hearing.
Culver informed Cornell that the Board would anticipate approval at its next meeting, which was scheduled for March 26.
A public hearing followed on the grocery store plan, and Nelson enumerated the features planned for the Town Gourmet Market, including a cafe out front, a greenhouse, a reduced parking lot for 85 vehicles and with an EV charger, along with changes to the facade of the building and added green space.
“The facility will be ‘dark-sky’ compliant,” Nelson said.
After some discussion prompted by a member of the public about sidewalk access and tree plantings, which didn’t seem to raise objections, the Board voted to keep the public hearing open until its next meeting, pending a report from the County Department of Health.
Millerton News
Legal Notice
Notice of Formation of Chapters & Charm LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on May 22nd 2026. Office location: Dutchess County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail process to: 16 Barton Street,
Millerton NY 12546. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
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08-20-26
Nathan Miller
MILLERTON — A proposed apartment renovation on South Center Street must now undergo a zoning board approval process over a lack of available parking space on the property.
Owner Alex Magalhaes appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday, July 7, after board chair Kelly Killmer said she requested the application come before the board, citing a Millerton News report on the proposal’s introduction to the Planning Board in June. Magalhaes plans to renovate an empty basement apartment to rehabilitate a currently-defunct fifth housing unit at 26-32 S. Center St., which sits across the street from the Dutchess County-owned parking lot used for access to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail.
“After I heard about the planning board meeting and read the article in the paper, I came here and requested that they come in front of us,” Killmer said. “Because the planning board doesn’t have the control of parking, the zoning board does.”
Board members voted to set a public hearing for the proposal on Tuesday, July 21.
Killmer opened the meeting by providing board members with a brief summary of the project and the approval process leading up to the Tuesday meeting. She explained the ZBA had to review the application because the property does not include enough space for parking at its current density, and could not support a fifth unit.
Under the Village of Millerton’s zoning laws, residential properties must provide at least 1.5 off-street parking spaces per housing unit. A five-unit property requires space for at least 7.5 cars, Killmer said. The property currently only has space for between three and four cars.
That means Magalhaes must seek a variance from the board, or at the least a determination that the property’s existing non-conforming status should be allowed to continue and expand despite its noncompliance with the village’s parking laws.
Board chair Killmer indicated the board is expected to deny the variance, citing village codes that stipulate variances cannot be granted if no off-street parking can be provided for an applicant. Instead, Killmer said the board’s refusal will likely acknowledge that Maghalaes’s proposal to rehabilitate the defunct fifth unit does not technically expand the existing nonconforming use, and therefore may move forward without a variance from the board because of its historic status.
In support of this idea, Magalhaes recounted the history of the property and his plans to renovate the empty apartment. He said a basement studio apartment was originally utilized and occupied but had been empty since he bought the apartment building in 2022. The apartment still has its original fixtures and cabinetry, he said.
“We’re not turning an old basement into an apartment,” Magalheas said. “It has a bathroom, it has a kitchen. The old cabinets are still in place, but it’s from the ‘50s and ‘60s.”
Killmer explained that the board has the authority to issue an opinion that acknowledges a site’s pre-existing conditions, allowing historic nonconforming properties that existed before the adoption of Millerton’s zoning code in the ‘70s to continue without issue. She and other board members acknowledged that Magalhaes’s property has historically hosted five housing units, and that the village has an express interest in promoting more housing development.
Board members said they didn’t believe the lack of parking onsite for the additional unit would place a significant burden on the village, citing the availability of street parking adjacent to the property and an understanding that many tenants in downtown Millerton do not own cars at all, including at least one of Magalhaes’s current tenants.
Amid the discussion over Magalhaes’s apartment building, board members recalled the effort at the end of 2025 and early 2026 to amend Millerton’s parking rules for properties in the general business district. In January 2026, the Village Board of Trustees adopted a local law that exempted properties along Main Street from having to find more parking if undergoing a change of use.
Magalhaes’s property is in the R10,000 residential district, which was not covered under the January 2026 local law. ZBA members indicated they would like to pursue similar legislation for the high-density residential district, to further ease approval processes that are often marred by debates over available off-street parking that sometimes stall proposals indefinitely.
Parking rules in the village have been hotly contested in recent years, with a growing number of people advocating for relaxing the rules to encourage more housing and business development in the village’s downtown. Killmer said on Tuesday that nearly 90% of the properties within the village are in violation of zoning regulations in some capacity, with most properties failing to provide adequate off-street parking.
Millerton News
The Amenia Garden Club’s 2026 Real Gardens of Amenia Tour attracted a steady stream of gardening enthusiasts to five local gardens on Saturday, July 11. Owner Maxine Paetro welcomed visitors to Broccoli Hall. Close examination of the photo shows local gardener Liz Faulkner about to pass through the same garden entrance.
The Amenia Garden Club’s 2026 Real Gardens of Amenia Tour attracted a steady stream of gardening enthusiasts to five local gardens on Saturday, July 11. Owner Maxine Paetro welcomed visitors to Broccoli Hall. Close examination of the photo shows local gardener Liz Faulkner about to pass through the same garden entrance.
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Millerton News
Home Help Needed. Part Time. Sharon. 407-620-7777.
PUBLISHER’S NOTICE: Equal Housing Opportunity. All real estate advertised in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1966 revised March 12, 1989 which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color religion, sex, handicap or familial status or national origin or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. All residential property advertised in the State of Connecticut General Statutes 46a-64c which prohibit the making, printing or publishing or causing to be made, printed or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or:rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age, lawful source of income, familial status, physical or mental disability or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
1Bd/1b apartment in Amenia. $900 a month. 860-309-4482.
2 Bedroom House. Millerton, NY. Quiet. 4 miles from town. $2500 monthly, plus utilities. 518-567-8277.
MT RIGA LAKEFRONT CABIN. Private beach, canoe, kayaks, fishing. $1,275/week. 585-355-5245
Millerton News
Millerton’s 175th anniversary celebration is officially underway—and this weekend was just the beginning. Throughout the week, the village is hosting parades, concerts, fairs, tournaments, and even a drone show to mark the milestone.
Which Millerton 175th festivities have you most enjoyed?
Send your responses to social@lakevillejournal.com by Monday, July 20 at 10 a.m. or comment on Facebook or Instagram.
We’ll publish a selection in next week’s paper.
Millerton News
Those of us fortunate enough to live in the area benefit greatly from the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. Over the past thirty years, it has become a wonderful community asset.
While the trail is widely enjoyed by cyclists, joggers, dog walkers, and pedestrians, the mixture of users can occasionally create safety concerns. Specifically, there is an ongoing issue with cyclists traveling at high speeds who disregard others.
Common courtesy dictates that riders approaching from behind should slow down and announce themselves, but unfortunately, many do not. This is a frequent complaint among trail users and can have serious consequences; last year, a trail user startled by passing cyclists, fell, and fractured her neck. Recently, I was closely passed by an individual on an e-bike traveling at an estimated 20 MPH. While e-bikes themselves are not the issue, reckless riding poses a significant danger to everyone on the trail.
While it isn’t possible to monitor the entire trail, posting a set of rules at major entrances that reinforce acceptable trail use could help. Smaller signs posted along the trail requesting riders slow down while passing could also serve as a helpful reminder.
I can only hope this letter reaches the right people. Preventing just one unnecessary accident would be well worth the minimal cost for signage.
John Walters
Millerton
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