The City Planning Board has unanimously approved an expansion and public access plan for the Hutton Brickyards site on North Street, but its owners pushed back against board members’ suggestions for more public access to the site.

During a special meeting on April 26 that lasted just over an hour, the board granted a permit allowing for additional hospitality amenities at the site at 200 North St. including additional cabins, a new spa, a restaurant and a new parking lot accessed from a new entrance off Lindsley Avenue.

Later phases of the project could call for dozens of more glamping cabins, a 100-guest room hotel and a 40-unit residential development.

During the site plan review process, the issue of how and when the public can access the site has been raised on more than one occasion. Perhaps as a result of that, an access point originally proposed to be open only to restaurant patrons and those with lodging reservations will be open to the public, California-based developer Kevin McManus said. The path will also provide access to the restaurant for people driving to the site and those walking on the Empire State Trail, he said.

The plan calls for the pathway from North Street to the river to be completed this fall, McManus said. Historical and or nature-related interpretive signage will be provided at the waterfront, he said. Improvements to a wood chip trail connecting Kingston Point to North Street will be pushed out to 2022.

Future plans call for an additional trail that would be only open to guests at first but could be opened to the public if retail locations were added in later phases, McManus said. A bulkhead and docks allowing for boats and ferries to dock are also proposed for the property. Access to the restaurant will be during hours the restaurant is open, McManus said. Future plans call for the restaurant to be open year-round, he added.

As for the Empire State Trail, city planning staff recommended that a stone-dust trail alongside North Street should be paved and widened to 10-feet from the present eight feet stone-dust path, City Planner Suzanne Cahill said.

McManus said while he understands the city's desire to have a paved trail to match the conditions of the trail further up in Scenic Hudson's Quarry Waters Park, widening the trail may require a realignment of North Street and might constrain stormwater runoff. He said right now Hutton is focused on improvements and creating permanent access to the current terminus at the crosswalk on North Street.

McManus said they could look into paving the path, but they were surprised such a request came up at this meeting.

Cahill said she would be satisfied with the developers paving an eight-foot path while planning to widen it to 10 feet at a later date. "Get that paved, it would go a long way towards defining the pathway, while serving as a sidewalk which would otherwise be required," she said.

Joe Euriel, the developer's attorney, told the board, "There would really need to be some interaction and cooperation from the city to make these things possible." This might involve ownership structure and an easement, he added. "Under the present circumstances we can't commit," Euriel said.

Board member Matt Gillis said he wants to see a firm commitment on building an asphalt path from the developers. He said he's walked the paved part of the path in Quarry Waters and it definitely feels different for folks on bikes and pushing strollers than the gravel portion that traverses the Hutton site.

Board Alternate Vincente Archer said he's walked the path and a grass median makes it feel even narrower than at the eight-foot entrance on North Street.

Alternate member Kevin Roach expressed concern about fencing along the trail that blocks views and wildlife from crossing the path. McManus said he’s listening to this concern and is working with the site's master architect to ensure wildlife can cross the trail.

A crushed stone parking lot with an entrance on Lindsley Avenue for valet parking will be constructed under the approved plan. McManus said developers worked to decrease the footprint, reducing the need for grading and cutting down trees. The grading was also changed so construction equipment will not cut into an area that was deemed to be archaeologically significant, he said.

But when asked about opening a trail connecting the lot to the rest of the site to the public by the board members, McManus said it's simply not feasible as this trail traverses a wooded area and is not "conducive to opening up."

Owned by Karl Slovin and incorporated under North Street Brickyards LLC, the Hutton Brickyards has played host to outdoor marketplaces and concerts including Bob Dylan, over the past few years under several renovated structures dating to the site's former use as a brickyard. Reservations are being taken for a number of “glamping” cabins on the site, which recently came under the management of Salt Hotels.

McManus said due to the ongoing pandemic, no big events are planned until at least the start of October. Weddings will start in June after the restaurant is opened. The developers plan to offer glamping as soon as they can.

"None of these require the treatment of Bob Dylan," he said.

Board Chair Wayne Platte Jr. cautioned that larger events or modifications to the development plans would be subject to additional planning board approvals. Platte said he wants the developers to have ongoing conversations with planners about what kind of events are going on there on a regular basis.

The board determined that the proposed lighting, signage and emergency access plans were in compliance with recommendations previously put forth by the Ulster County Planning Board while cautioning the developers that any signage on city rights-of-way will need to be approved by the Department of Public Works.

Addressing an inquiry by Platte regarding lighting at additional parking lots at the northern end of the property that will be only used for larger events, McManus said it would be limited to portable lighting fixtures brought in only for event nights.

Cahill cautioned the developers that they must wait for the appropriate building permits to begin any work, noting there have been a few issues with work going on at this site without all the required permits in place in the past.

"There have been some stop-work orders issued," Cahill said.