PARKSVILLE –– At Monday’s Liberty Town Board meeting, Supervisor Frank DeMayo announced that they were the recipients of an $800,000 Restore NY grant, which will assist with the Parksville Revitalization Project.

“It’s huge,” said DeMayo of the grant, “and will continue to generate more and more excitement in Parksville.”

Grant monies will be utilized to renovate/rebuild three buildings on Main Street in Parksville. At 29 Main Street, Marlowe and Eddie’s Community Market plans to renovate the entire building to rent out multiple sections for food vendors and groceries. At 30 Main Street, Jitterbug Sights and Sounds requires total demolition and reconstruction, with the intended use being for a retail toy store.  Also, at 39 Main Street, Parksville Pharmacy requires significant renovations to the roof, foundation and the interior and the intended use of that space will be for retail and apartments.

Those three buildings are round six recipients of the Restore NY grant, joining two other Parksville properties (32 Main Street and 857 Parksville Road), who were round five recipients and also have projects in the works.

Nick Rusin, confidential secretary to Supervisor DeMayo, has taken the lead in the Restore NY grant effort. He told the Democrat that he couldn’t have done it without the support of DeMayo, the Town Board and Parksville community.

DeMayo, who along with Rusin meets with community group, Parksville Priorities, monthly, said about 60 percent of the buildings on the hamlet’s Main Street have recently changed hands with owners who have the resources to fix them. That private investment, he says, makes them better and more successful applicants for grant programs like Restore NY. 

In addition to the Restore NY grant funds, the Town also received a $400,000 Golden Feather Award through Sullivan Renaissance and NYS Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther’s Office in late 2022 for a project that includes paving the rail trail entrance from the trailhead at Fox Mountain Road in Parksville to meet grade at the old rail bed, making it handicap accessible. It is the first phase of eventually connecting the Parksville and Livingston Manor’s sections of the O&W trail. 

Zoning discussion

A committee consisting of Planner Peter Manning, as well as some members of the Town’s planning and town boards, have been meeting to discuss a possible zoning change that would establish the parameters for schools and houses of worship in certain areas of the Town.

Thursday’s discussion included the pros and cons of whether service/commercial districts, residential zones, or perhaps an overlay district was a better option.

Some pros mentioned for service/commercial were that it was already geared for high traffic, has easy access for emergency personnel, as well as the infrastructure to support a school. 

A pro for residential is that it wouldn’t impede business in the service/commercial districts due to schools/places of worship needing to be within a certain distance from establishments that serve liquor (in accordance with State law), such as restaurants. A con with residential, however, is that certain areas may not accommodate or welcome structures the size of schools, or have the water and sewer to support them.

Councilman Dean Farrand stressed, however, that he was not willing to put any change in the code without a list of special use regulations that would give the planning board direction when projects came before them. 

While no action was taken at Thursday’s meeting, discussions are expected to continue on the matter.