The project known as Mid-Valley/Starbucks was approved by the Town of Newburgh Planning Board to be circulated to the Orange County Planning Department for review on Thursday, November 2. The project seeks the construction of a new Starbucks location and the painting of the old town water tower.

The proposed building is a 2,600 square foot Starbucks storefront that would feature an outdoor seating patio for the customers, along with a two lane ordering point that would convert into a one way drive-through. The town planning board had declared its intent for lead agency back in July.

At the meeting in August, the town planning board expressed frustration about the delay in the painting of the water tower. The tower’s painting had been intended to have been completed in 2023. The water tower overlooks Interstate 84 and serves as an entrance marker to the town itself and greater area.

Jack Rosencrans, Vice President of Redevelopment at DLC Management Corp, which owns the Mid-Valley Mall, appeared in August to address the issue and find a resolution. He returned and discussed with the board the updates on the tower painting before diving into the project itself on Thursday night.

According to Rosencrans, the project site plans and documents submitted again to the town planning board for review included a copy of the contract with a hired contractor to paint the water tower.

“They’re contractually obligated to paint it between May and July, next summer,” he said.

A deposit for the project has also been submitted to the contractor and the Mid-Valley management has also moved forward on sending out legal notices to cellular and communication tenants who have antennas and other equipment attached onto the tower.

Following Rosencrans, Steve Wilson of Bohler Engineering also returned Thursday night to provide updates on the plans. The new site plans include a sidewalk design plan that would see the installation of 700 feet of sidewalk. Proposed sidewalks and walkways would connect the proposed Starbucks site and the current KFC site with an additional path leading to the liquor store within the mall. New sidewalks have also been proposed and planned along North Plank Road and the planning board members were equally satisfied with the sidewalk plan. The request for sidewalks came up before to help address pedestrian traffic along North Plank Road.

Wilson also noted other updates which included the painting of the transformer in the rear of the site, the fixing of an existing site guide rail and new drive-through traffic control measures, which would guide vehicles away to avoid any difficulty with pedestrian traffic.

MHE Engineering has noted a submission of a parking analysis report that still provides adequate parking to the site, Architectural Review Board (ARB) approval will be required for the building, the design of the sanitary sewer pump station will be required and the building will be required to be sprinklered.

Engineer Patrick Hines also noted to the board that he was looking for clarification on the ARB approval of the water tower. Rosencrans said to the planning board members that discussions on the lettering of the tower and overall color selection are still being determined between them and the contractor. The recommendation on designs would be a possible future discussion with the town board.