Bungalow colony applications keep Fallsburg Planning Board busy

South Fallsburg, NY — The Town of Fallsburg remains the epicenter in Sullivan County for interest in developing and expanding bungalow colonies. Of the 14 items before the Planning Board Thursday night, 11 were related to the town’s seasonal Orthodox Jewish community. If approved, they would add more than 600 new units with more than 3,000 new residents.

The largest single project on the agenda was Walden Pond, a single and multifamily 350 town house development with 45,000 square feet of commercial space proposed for Woodbourne at Leins Road and Route 52. The Planning Board will send a letter to the Town Board that the developer has been “positively cooperating” with the planning process. The town has conditionally approved the rezoning to a half-acre.

Commercial developments were proposed for a medical arts building in South Fallsburg and an expansion of Fallsburg Bagel and Bakery across from its current location near the post office on Route 42 at the four corners.

Among the larger seasonal projects proposed is a 160-condominium unit at Edgewood Road between Route 51 and Route 52 in Loch Sheldrake, known as Royal Estates. The former Olympic Hotel could be turned into 141 bungalows on 187 acres at Route 53 and Wortzman Road in Fallsburg.

The proposed Country Garden Estates, which would comprise 62 bungalows on 31 acres on Murphy Road, has a slope with a grade of 15 percent, which is against town code. The developers are proposing to lower the steepness of the slope. That didn’t sit well with town planning consultant Robert Geneslaw, who warned against manipulating town zoning codes