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Children’s Tea to debut at library
Apr 16, 2025
Having grown from a novelty to a tradition, the Amenia Library Tea Society met on Saturday, April 12, to enjoy teas and finger foods from Japan. The April meeting featured green tea and Senoha, served along with Dango, Moohi, Onigiri rice balls, melon seed cookies, and more. The May meeting will feature the fare of South Korea. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Photo by Leila Hawken
AMENIA — Building on the success of the monthly Library Tea Society, the Amenia Free Library is inviting children to dress up and attend the first-ever Children’s Tea Party on Saturday, April 19, at noon.
Children of ages 3 through 8 are invited to dress up in their best outfits to enjoy a fun tea party. Children must be accompanied by a caregiver.
As there are only 8 spots available, registration in advance is required. To register, call 845-373-8273 or email programs@amenialibrary.org.
Program assistant Hope Bruzzi will host the event in the library children’s area.
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Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
Photo by John Coston
AMENIA — Continuing the process of developing subdivision plans for the Keane Stud acreage, the Planning Board heard a report from the planning engineers detailing a few plan changes at its regular meeting on Wednesday, April 9.
Representing Rennia Engineers, Senior Planner Peter Sander detailed plans for the parcel that stands in two zones: Rural Agricultural and Rural Residential, both requiring minimum lots of 5 acres.
Sander reported that two parcels have been removed from the planning, reducing the acreage from 704 to 605 total acres. The number of lots has been reduced from 27 to 23.
“We’ve enhanced the building envelopes,” Sander noted, having considered concerns about protecting the viewshed. Accordingly, 90% of each parcel will be reserved for conservation; 10% will be able to be built upon, Sander said.
The plans include a no vertical build zone in the area visible from Delavergne Hill, Sander said, adding that deed restrictions will limit the scale of development on each parcel.
Commenting on the plan changes, planning board engineer John Andrews asked that the plan drawings detail the outlined changes to agree with written submissions.
Sander said that the developer is asking for board input as well as comments from George Janes, the town’s visual resources consultant.
One of the visible impacts is the greenery or vegetative screening around each future home, board member Jamie Vitiello commented.
Covenant requirements are important in each instance, Andrews responded, citing lighting, building materials, and plantings that can be specified.
“The visuals flow from the deed restrictions,” Andrews said, noting that each building site plan will need to be considered by the planning board.
Board member Ken Topolsky asked about the permanence of the deed restrictions.
Andrews replied that when properly done, the restrictions run with the land, unless there are agreed-upon amendments. He added that the town will be a party to any such agreement.
“We want to listen to the Planning Board,” said owner-developer Juan Torres. He added that a footprint guide has been sketched on the plans for each future home with the height of each home restricted to between 21 and 28 feet, a protection against visibility. Plans have also specified a maximum amount of impervious surface on each sketched lot.
“If a future buyer wants to build a home, they will need to come before the Planning Board,” Torres noted. “This will help to ensure that the land remains agricultural into the future,” Torres added.
The Planning Board will continue discussion of the revised plans at its next meeting on Wednesday, April 23.
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Amenia Town Hall
Photo by John Coston
AMENIA — Following an initial presentation by planning consultants, the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee decided at its meeting on Tuesday, April 8, that the logical first step will be to invite broad public comment through a community-wide meeting likely to be scheduled in June.
“It’s about the engagement of the public,” said Tiffany Zezula, Deputy Director of the Land Use Law Center at Pace University in White Plains, as she reviewed the process involved in helping the town to develop comprehensive planning objectives and steps toward meeting those objectives.
The town is undertaking a review and update of the comprehensive plan, last updated in 2007. Experts usually recommend such updates every few years, Zezula said.
“We will work to convert public input into planning lingo,” Zezula said, describing the coordination between the Pace University center and Nexus Creative Design of Mt. Kisco, with specialty in community planning.
“Planning is one of the most important goals of local government,” Zezula said, noting that changes in local legislation and particularly local land use regulations need to agree with the comprehensive plan and its goals, objectives and strategies.
“The comprehensive plan gets used; it is your instruction manual,” Zezula said.
Modern planning has evolved, Zezula pointed out, from a silo approach of distinct issues such as housing, transportation, and the environment, to a more interrelated understanding of such topics and how one affects another.
Promoting public engagement will be the role of Nexus, as described by Anastasia Guadron, Principal in the Community Planning arm of Nexus. She reviewed various methods of widening community input, including input meetings, surveys and additional ways of “widening the net.”
A suggested calendar for the information gathering aspect, outlined by Zezula, might see a branding of the project and spreading the word happening from April to July, with public engagement sessions scheduled in June.
Other engagement tools such as surveys and pop-up info booths at town events provide options that could be initiated in June and July. August becomes the target month for town goal refinement.
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Priscilla Waterman Pavel
Apr 16, 2025
WEST CORNWALL — Priscilla Waterman Pavel of West Cornwall was born on April 19, 1938, in Johnston, Rhode Island, and passed away on April 5, 2025. She was the wife of Asher Pavel, daughter of the late Walter and Annie Waterman, sister of Walter (Brud) Waterman III (Leah), sister of Deborah Riccio (Alfred), stepmother of Lee Pavel (Traci), Jill Pavel, Alan Pavel, and Amy Shanler (Michael), and loving step-grandchildren, step-great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Priscilla graduated from Classical High School, the University of Rhode Island, received her master’s degree from the University of Tennessee and was a professor at the University of Syracuse.
She taught English in Germany, worked at Concord Fabrics and Wamsutta in New York, co-founded Chapel House Fabrics with her husband, Asher Pavel, and worked in real estate for Bain Real Estate and then E. J. Murphy Realty. She served as a Selectman in Cornwall for three terms and volunteered for countless committees.
Her family will host a celebration of life in the summer.
To honor Priscilla’s memory, the family requests donations to The Cornwall Library, 30 Pine St., Cornwall CT 06753 or to The Little Guild Animal Shelter, 285 Sharon Goshen Turnpike, West Cornwall CT 06796, where her beloved Banjo is now awaiting a new home.
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