Beacon Targets 18 Buildings To Be Designated Historic - Which Adds Zoning Controls - 9 Properties Object - Vote Is Tonight

July 6, 2021 Katie Hellmuth

Beacon’s City Council meets tonight (Tuesday, June 7, 2021) to vote on 15 of 18 buildings targeted by Mayor Lee Kyriacou back when he was a City Council member in then-Mayor Randy Casale’s administration. During public City Council meetings, they would talk about how they walked around the city, pointing at homes and buildings they thought should be designated historic. Some building owners seek out historic buildings for the tax benefits and access to grants they bring. Others avoid them for the visual restrictions and additional bureaucratic steps needed in seeking approvals for many changes. In Beacon, buildings with historic designations have additional business allowances regarding what kind of business can operate at that location.

That was during the height of the “anti-development” movement in Beacon, spurred in part by the completed 344 Main Street and other large development projects around Beacon. At that time, a regular caller into City Council meetings, Stosh Yankowski, would chant “No More Four” in reference to no more four-story buildings.

While Mayor Kyriacou is an advocate of preserving history, the protections and restrictions that a historic building receive can also impact neighboring buildings that are not historic, as explained here in the Highlands Current. Mayor Kyriacou feels so strongly about the historic designation, in fact, that during one public City Council meeting, he offered to make it easier for buildings with historic designation to build a fourth floor.

To show an example of when a non-historic building is impacted by its historic neighbor, take a look back to when the large and very old building at 475 Main Street wanted to build apartments onto the back of it. The Howland Cultural Center objected with support of the community, as they said that the new apartment build-out would block the light that the Howland’s architecture relies on for illuminating the inside of their building, which their building is famous for. The Howland Cultural Center is a historic building on the National Register.

“About 280 homes and structures are already in the district, which prevents them and neighboring buildings from being altered in a way that the city believes will harm their historic value,” according to the Highlands Current.

However, when building owners purchased these buildings, some did so with the intent that they were not of historic designation. As stated in an objection letter, building owner Vincent Satriano of 25 East Main Street expressed: “These owners rightfully enjoyed the freedom from restriction to develop their properties as we hoped and expected someday to have same, and feel otherwise would be greatly unjust.”

While Mayor Lee Kyriacou has stated during public meetings that conforming to historic restrictions isnot difficult, often citing his own restorations of his Victorian home on Wolcott and of the building at 554 Main Street, the building that currently houses Melzingah Tap House, he has offered to make it easier to follow the requirements by removing certain “triggers” that would require a change, as he stated during the 2/18/2020 Public Hearing. Mayor Kyriacou’s goal was to limit it to a major alteration of the exterior that is viewable by the public, for instance.

The interior of proposed historic buildings was also debated. One main objection from the attorney representing the Beacon Hebrew Alliance at 331 Verplanck Avenue was that the interior not be required to meet standards, despite being accessible by the public. Mayor Kyriacou said he would consider that. The Hebrew Alliance’s building at 331 Verplanck Avenue is not on this first round of voting.

What follows below are pictures of the proposed buildings, and descriptions of what the City says qualifies them as being historic, as prepared by Beacon’s City Planner, John Clark.

City Council meetings where these historic designations have been debated include: 11/25/19, 2/3/2020, 2/18/20, 4/12/2021, 4/26/2021, 6/7/2021, 6/14/2021, 6/21/2021 and 7/7/2021. Read the letters from 8 of the 9 objections here.

Photo Credit: City of Beacon’s City Planner, John Clark’s, presentation.

Historic District And Landmark Overlay Zone

18 buildings nominated;
Includes properties in the Central Main Street District;
Proposed nominations are subject to the criteria in the Historic Preservation Chapter, Section 134-4 B Designation of landmarks or historic districts:
- Distinguishing architectural characteristics of period or style;
- Special value as part of the cultural or social history of the community;
- Eligible for State or National Register of Historic Places