MILLERTON — A new restaurant was granted site approval by the Town of North East Planning Board on Wednesday, March 27.
Austin Cornell, a co-founder of the new eatery, has been before the Board, detailing plans for the restaurant, which will be located at the site of the former McDonald’s on Route 44.
The site has been vacant for more than eight years.
At Planning Board meetings, Tallow has fielded questions from members that ranged from sewage arrangements to soffit lighting intensity, as well as lighting and landscaping treatments.
On Wednesday, after submitting a final set of site plans and answering questions about signage light, dimmers, parking-lot lighting and tree-island width, Cornell’s application was unanimously approved.
“Please come,” he said to the Board. “We’re having an opening on April 26.”
Grocery application
A public hearing that commenced on March 19 for an application to develop a supermarket in an existing site in the Millerton Square Plaza was reopened.
Ray Nelson, of Earthwise Architecture in Millerton, who represents Kim and Chris Choe, owners of the Sharon Farm Market, informed Planning Board members that the printouts of updated site plans that he planned to present to the panel were still coming out of his printer.
Nelson briefed Board members on the changes to the site plan that were incorporated following the last presentation, including sign-lighting details.
The new market will offer meat and produce, a deli, a bakery and outside dining and an EV charger.
Chair Dale Culver noted that the Board couldn’t take any action without a final, printed site plan. The public hearing was closed, and Nelson agreed to return — possibly later in the evening — if the printed output was ready.
Otherwise, he would await the next meeting of the Planning Board on April 9.
Nelson didn’t return before the meeting was adjourned.
Public hearing
Rob Cooper, president of Associated Lightning Rod Company Inc., appeared before the Planning Board with an application for a minor subdivision and lot-line adjustment for property at 6020-6024 and 6044 Route 22.
Cooper plans to erect two commercial buildings on the land.
A public hearing was held, yielding no comment, and the Board unanimously approved the application with little discussion.
Cell tower discussion
Sandra Oberhollenzer, of White House Crossing Road in North East, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting about a planned 150-foot cellphone tower to be located on the east side of Route 22 just north of the intersection with Cattalino Road in Ancram.
Oberhollenzer said she understood that the project is outside the confines of North East, but noted that the tower, in Ancram’s Scenic Corridor Overlay Zone, is expected to be visible by North East residents.
Oberhollenzer commented on what she described as a lack of need assessment, issues related to the coverage map and a lack of a technology assessment.
A balloon test to provide visibility data has been postponed more than once due to adverse weather conditions.
The Planning Board thanked Oberhollenzer for her comments.
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
Fall storage crop harvests amid soil building cover crops at Adamah Farm in Falls Village. Janna Siller 
