Newburgh Zoning Board approves multiple homeowner variances and grants RAM Hotels extension

The Town of Newburgh Zoning Board of Appeals approved a set of area variances on Sept. 25, 2025, allowing several homeowners to make additions, replace decks and formalize longstanding lot configurations while also granting a six‑month extension to a hotel applicant.

The approvals include variances for Jose Tipan Nuala of 5 Roy Place to add a full second floor to an existing nonconforming corner house; James Saffioti of 20 Jennifer Rose Way for a front‑yard foyer and covered entry; Dana Saintmire of 8 Oliver Drive to replace and extend existing decks; Jamie and Stoddard Hill for a lot‑line adjustment and relief for a preexisting accessory apartment and accessory structure height; and Robert Iacomacci for a garage and rear sunroom on a small lot. The Board also approved previously discussed, revised drawings for Iacomacci and approved RAM Hotels’ request for a six‑month extension on an approved site plan.

The board typically reviewed the five statutory area‑variance factors (whether the benefit can be achieved by other means; effect on neighborhood character; whether the request is substantial; physical/environmental impacts; and whether the difficulty is self‑created) and treated the projects as Type 2 actions under SEQRA where applicable. In most cases members concluded that benefits to property owners (additional living space or safety/repair of decaying structures) outweighed the regulatory nonconformities, particularly where plans did not expand footprints closer to neighbors or posed no new environmental risk.

Chairman Darrin Scalzo said of the Tipan application: "We're here because you're increasing the degree of nonconformity by going up." Carmen De La Cruz, the applicant's representative, told the Board the second‑floor addition was intended to accommodate a large family and that no expansion toward the streets was proposed.

Several applicants amended paperwork or clarified details following board questions. For example, during the Tipan hearing board member Donna Rein flagged an inconsistency on the SEQRA form about hazardous‑waste remediation; counsel David Donovan confirmed applicants could amend the form and the board proceeded with the hearing.

The Hills’ application included a newly measured height for an accessory garage that exceeded the existing permitted limit; the board accepted the corrected survey and approved variances for setback and height after the applicant presented historic context and the Planning Board’s prior referral.

Votes were unanimous or carried by the majority of sitting members in roll‑call tallies recorded by the board clerk. For the hotel extension, the board granted a six‑month extension to RAM Hotels’ site‑plan approval to allow the applicant to continue permitting and construction steps.

What’s next: several matters were held open for procedural reasons — notably Planning‑Board referrals and items awaiting county (GML‑239) responses — and will return to the ZBA in October. Applicants who received approvals must file any required amended documents with Town staff before permits will be released or construction may proceed.