SOUTH FALLSBURG—The Town of Fallsburg is holding a public hearing to update its Planned Unit Development law, or PUD on June 5 at 5:50 PM. 

PUDs are zoning tools that enable towns to create customized zoning or planned communities that deviate from regular zoning designations.

Established in New York State in the 1970s, PUDs have provisions and processes for their formation. These developments consist of two components: the local law part, which includes specific zoning regulations and allowances, and the plan of development, a site plan jointly approved by the planning board and town board, according to Delaware Engineering Senior Planner Helen Budrock.

During the discussion at the Town of Fallsburg Work Session on April 3, Budrock highlighted the existing discrepancies between the zoning map and the zoning code. Specifically, the focus was on PUDs numbered one and 10, namely Lakeside Acres and Luxor Jr. Estates in Loch Sheldrake.

Some areas seemed wrongly zoned, leading to confusion among planners and officials.

To address the confusion surrounding PUD boundaries, the town plans to propose specific amendments, including boundary changes and renaming the PUD to Lakeview Estates. The remaining areas that were not part of Luxor Jr. Estates would revert to their appropriate zoning designation, HR (High Residential).

Furthermore, it was also discussed at the work session that there are other PUDs in the town that never materialized. One such example was PUD five, established around 2007, but no development ever took place.

To avoid complications and outdated zoning regulations, Budrock recommended extinguishing PUD five and reverting it back to the appropriate zoning designation, R (Residential).

The public hearing will begin at 5:50 PM at the Fallsburg Town Hall in South Fallsburg and will address the solutions involved in updating zoning boundaries, renaming PUDs, and reverting unused PUDs back to their original zoning designations. Resolving these issues would ensure clarity in zoning maps, prevent future confusion, and streamline the development process in the town, according to Fallsburg.