Woodstock Early Bird The Early Bird Gets the Worm: earlybirdtips@gmail.com

VDRB’s Jim Mills, Jane Soule, Benjamin Pauley, Randy Mayhew consult a survey map with Zoning Administrator Michael Brands

We had a visit from the Chairman of the Woodstock Village Development Review Board, Jim Mills, this morning who wanted to talk about the issue of wheelchair ramp access.

Following Wednesday night’s meeting, Mills and his Board wanted Woodstock Early Birds to not jump to the wrong conclusions based on WEB’s first post about its decisions.

Mills wanted Early Birds to know that  its decision concerning a wheelchair ramp for Brenda Benoit-Blakeman’s building is not a set-in-stone decision overall.  From the VDRB’s point of view, a wheelchair ramp is still possible, just not in the way it was presented this first go-round.

While the Village Development Review Board said it could not support the specific plan that was presented, Benoit-Blakeman is free to offer up new options for a wheelchair ramp and go through the Design Review process again.

Here is the letter from VDRB Chairman Mills — with approval from Woodstock Zoning Administrator Michael Brands —  that explains specifically the action that was taken on Wednesday night:

“We did not deny a request to put in a wheelchair ramp. What we did was deny the proposed location of the ramp and more specifically, the pathway to the ramp. It was found through testimony and a site visit, that the proposed pathway would utilize a shared residential right-of-way.

At a certain point where this path passes between two residential buildings, approximately half of this pathway is on her neighbor’s property.

We also saw physical encumbrances that could jeopardize ADA compliances and equally important, safe usage. I encourage Brenda to continue her pursuit in designing an appropriate handicap access for her business.

Jim Mills

VDRB Chair