Brookmeade representative asks Rhinebeck board for collaborative zoning review of pavilion uses

Sean Kemp, speaking for the Brookmeade community at the Dec. 8 Rhinebeck Town Board meeting, asked town officials to collaborate on a zoning solution to clarify permitted uses at the campus pavilion so the space can continue to serve residents and community groups. The pavilion, part of a roughly 75-acre Brookmeade campus that also houses a 120-bed skilled nursing facility, a 26-unit assisted-living facility and 54 independent living units, contains a partitioned community room listed in the record at about 4,000–6,000 square feet and an associated commercial kitchen and café.

Kemp told the board the pavilion’s original planning-board approval granted an adult day-care facility and several accessory uses but left some accessory uses undefined in the town code. That ambiguity led to at least one zoning violation appeal and a later Zoning Board of Appeals resolution confirming the planning-board condition, Kemp said. “It’s almost like a restaurant experience for people that are living in the facility,” he said, describing the café as intended to serve residents and visitors rather than as a public restaurant. He added that the pavilion had been used for blood drives, voting and community events during and after the COVID pandemic.

Kemp urged a collaborative path rather than a unilateral text amendment. He asked the board to facilitate pre-application meetings with planning staff and the planning-board chair, and recommended inviting Brookmeade and its engineers to clarify acceptable uses and operational guardrails so the facility can host community groups such as Rhinebeck at Home and senior lunches. “I just wanted to see if there was a way that it’s such an asset,” Kemp said, noting the campus’s public-service role.

Board members acknowledged the complexity of zoning amendments and indicated the matter would be discussed with counsel in an attorney–client session and brought back to the public process. The board committed to convene with attorney Michael Barfield and the village engineer as needed to determine whether the Monroe balancing test or a formal exemption would apply for intergovernmental projects near sensitive environmental areas along the Hudson River. The board told Kemp it would follow up and offered to coordinate next steps, including exploring a zoning amendment or other mechanisms to clarify permitted accessory uses.

The meeting record shows that the town’s planning and zoning officials, including the planning-board attorney and the zoning administrator, had previously reviewed the pavilion’s approvals and that the town and Brookmeade had engaged engineers and counsel during the appeal and review process. The board did not make a final zoning decision at the Dec. 8 meeting; it directed staff and counsel to continue consultations and to report back in a public session.