11 September 2026
Beacon Council Back to Business Creekside zone hotel Parking East Gateway district Short-term rentals HR director Edgewater
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City tackles zoning, parking, rentals
While meeting for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday (Sept. 8), the Beacon City Council worked its way through a packed agenda.
The council held a public hearing on zoning amendments that would allow hotels in the Fishkill Creek Development District. The district encompasses only a handful of properties, but the owner of the former Tioronda Hat Works Factory at 555 South Ave. hopes to build a hotel. Bed-and-breakfasts and inns, which must have 10 or fewer rooms, are already allowed in the zone.
Residents addressed both sides of the issue. Kevin Byrne, a Planning Board member who said he was speaking as a resident, said the draft language could allow "any and all uses" as accessories to a hotel, including undesirable ones. While a "certain size" hotel could benefit the city, Byrne envisioned a scenario in which a developer, unable to get a project off the ground, could ask for a variance to build apartments instead.
Another resident, Nate Schilling, supported allowing hotels. He said that when hosting people in Beacon, "you run into a ceiling. There just isn't capacity." Schilling described having colleagues come to Beacon and "they stayed in Fishkill, which was a little embarrassing." The city has seen significant housing growth, but "we need to balance that with more large-scale commerce," he said.
The council will discuss the proposal on Sept. 21; the public hearing was adjourned to Oct. 5.
A public hearing was held on proposed parking restrictions. If approved, parking would be banned on the west side of Tioronda Avenue for 20 feet in both directions from its intersection with Van Nydeck Avenue and 25 feet north of its intersection with Vine Street. Parking would also be eliminated on the west side of Tioronda from Vine Street to Wolcott Avenue.
On the east side of the street, there would be no parking from 140 feet from Main Street to Wolcott. On West Main Street, the parking limit would expand from 30 minutes to 2 hours along sections where a mixed-use development is under construction.
Byrne, who lives on Tioronda, said the changes would prevent parked cars from crowding both sides of the busy street.
Margaret Watkinson, who owns PlayTivity Early Learning on West Main, said that "as soon as you have two-hour parking there's going to be no parking for the people that are dropping kids off or picking them up or running into Brett's [Hardware] for a screw."
As with the zoning amendments, the council will discuss the parking proposals on Sept. 21 and resume the public hearing on Oct. 5.
Drawing on the Fishkill Avenue Concepts Committee report, the city may create a mixed-use zoning district in the corridor.
The draft zoning regulations for what the city is calling the East Gateway District (to avoid confusion with the Fishkill Creek Development District) would permit four-story buildings, as the committee recommended. New principal buildings would be oriented to maintain a continuous "street wall," while "maintaining flexibility for pedestrian spaces, landscaping, existing site constraints" and other design considerations, City Planner Natalie Quinn wrote.
Council Member Sergei Krasikov questioned whether allowing four stories would be wise, because tall buildings on narrow parcels in the corridor could appear like a "big, big mass," obstructing views and overwhelming neighboring homes. Mayor Lee Kyriacou said it's a "pretty logical approach" to allow a fourth story if the city's goal is to transform the strip into a residential area.
Streetscape provisions for sidewalks, landscaping and street trees would be established. Design standards would restrict development from visual impacts on the forthcoming Beacon Rail Trail, while the Planning Board would have to consider impacts to three designated Mount Beacon viewsheds.
Additional measures would attempt to balance "reasonable redevelopment" of the area while protecting the residential neighborhood on and around Mead Avenue.
Pam ...
While meeting for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday (Sept. 8), the Beacon City Council worked its way through a packed agenda.
The council held a public hearing on zoning amendments that would allow hotels in the Fishkill Creek Development District. The district encompasses only a handful of properties, but the owner of the former Tioronda Hat Works Factory at 555 South Ave. hopes to build a hotel. Bed-and-breakfasts and inns, which must have 10 or fewer rooms, are already allowed in the zone.
Residents addressed both sides of the issue. Kevin Byrne, a Planning Board member who said he was speaking as a resident, said the draft language could allow "any and all uses" as accessories to a hotel, including undesirable ones. While a "certain size" hotel could benefit the city, Byrne envisioned a scenario in which a developer, unable to get a project off the ground, could ask for a variance to build apartments instead.
Another resident, Nate Schilling, supported allowing hotels. He said that when hosting people in Beacon, "you run into a ceiling. There just isn't capacity." Schilling described having colleagues come to Beacon and "they stayed in Fishkill, which was a little embarrassing." The city has seen significant housing growth, but "we need to balance that with more large-scale commerce," he said.
The council will discuss the proposal on Sept. 21; the public hearing was adjourned to Oct. 5.
A public hearing was held on proposed parking restrictions. If approved, parking would be banned on the west side of Tioronda Avenue for 20 feet in both directions from its intersection with Van Nydeck Avenue and 25 feet north of its intersection with Vine Street. Parking would also be eliminated on the west side of Tioronda from Vine Street to Wolcott Avenue.
On the east side of the street, there would be no parking from 140 feet from Main Street to Wolcott. On West Main Street, the parking limit would expand from 30 minutes to 2 hours along sections where a mixed-use development is under construction.
Byrne, who lives on Tioronda, said the changes would prevent parked cars from crowding both sides of the busy street.
Margaret Watkinson, who owns PlayTivity Early Learning on West Main, said that "as soon as you have two-hour parking there's going to be no parking for the people that are dropping kids off or picking them up or running into Brett's [Hardware] for a screw."
As with the zoning amendments, the council will discuss the parking proposals on Sept. 21 and resume the public hearing on Oct. 5.
Drawing on the Fishkill Avenue Concepts Committee report, the city may create a mixed-use zoning district in the corridor.
The draft zoning regulations for what the city is calling the East Gateway District (to avoid confusion with the Fishkill Creek Development District) would permit four-story buildings, as the committee recommended. New principal buildings would be oriented to maintain a continuous "street wall," while "maintaining flexibility for pedestrian spaces, landscaping, existing site constraints" and other design considerations, City Planner Natalie Quinn wrote.
Council Member Sergei Krasikov questioned whether allowing four stories would be wise, because tall buildings on narrow parcels in the corridor could appear like a "big, big mass," obstructing views and overwhelming neighboring homes. Mayor Lee Kyriacou said it's a "pretty logical approach" to allow a fourth story if the city's goal is to transform the strip into a residential area.
Streetscape provisions for sidewalks, landscaping and street trees would be established. Design standards would restrict development from visual impacts on the forthcoming Beacon Rail Trail, while the Planning Board would have to consider impacts to three designated Mount Beacon viewsheds.
Additional measures would attempt to balance "reasonable redevelopment" of the area while protecting the residential neighborhood on and around Mead Avenue.
Pam ...