Village wants site plan from Red Swan Inn developer before proceeding

WARWICK-The mayor and Board of Trustees will not proceed with the application for the Red Swan Inn without a site plan that shows the location and size of all buildings proposed for the development. Village officials also want to know if there will be condos or apartments, and if so, how many. In addition, the site plan must comply with the village's zoning. The village will give a deadline for the document. The people behind the Red Swan Inn project petitioned the board in April 2004, and have proposed to create a floating hospitality zone or a planned unit development. They want to build the new Red Swan Inn, resurrecting the original Red Swan Inn, which was built at the turn of the 20th century. It was located on the property where the Warwick Country Club now sits and was destroyed by fire in the 1950s. The new zone would contain residential housing, the inn, some commercial businesses and retail establishments. "We had a very conceptual outline but we don't know exactly what they are proposing," said Roger Metzger, deputy mayor and former Planning Board chairman. "If it is in the best interest of the village, we can create a new zone. "But we need to know what will be in it," Metzger said. Without a site plan, the village leaves itself open to what will be built there, according to village attorney Michael Meth. When the board sees a site plan, it can then decide what is impacted in the surrounding areas and how to mitigate it. The village does not currently have a hospitality zone. It is in the process of updating its zoning code. A committee recently finished comparing the zoning code to the village's accepted Comprehensive Plan. The Village Board hired planner Ted Fink, the town's longtime planner, to make the zoning changes. That process could be finished within a year, Metzger said. Demetroules, R.E., LLC is the company behind the Red Swan Inn. It is owned by Michael S. Demetroules, a lifelong Village of Warwick resident and direct descendent of Thomas Welling, who founded the Welling farm in 1750. The plan is to place this zone on the nearly 11-acre site, which once was the Welling property. "We are going to try to provide all information reasonably requested by the Village Board, to help the mayor and trustees better understand the proposed project," said Steven J. Spiegel, attorney for the project. "We believe that this is in everyone's best interest, and hope to work cooperatively with the Village Board towards the goal of open information and informed decision-making." "As you know, we have been committed from the start to openly providing information and encouraging community feedback and comments," Spiegel said. "We trust that the depth of thought and care that has gone into the project, even at this early stage, is evident in our Web site, www.redswaninn.com, and in our petition itself." "Once the Village Board has this requested information, we look forward to their zoning decision, so that hopefully we can move the project into detailed planning and environmental assessment before the Planning Board," Spiegel con