Brewster Theater clears Planning Board hurdle, heads to ZBA 

The Brewster Theater Company has cleared another hurdle in its effort to establish a permanent home in Carmel Hamlet, with the Planning Board agreeing to send the proposal to the Zoning Board of Appeals after concluding the nonprofit had largely addressed its concerns about parking and accessibility.  

The theater company hopes to renovate the former Florrie Kaye's Tea Room at 69 Gleneida Ave. into a 100-seat performance venue, relocating from its longtime home at Drew Methodist Church. While board members continued to raise questions during the July 22 meeting, they expressed broad support for the project and agreed it should move forward while remaining technical issues are resolved.  

"It will be a nice addition to the town to get a performing arts theater," Building Inspector Ed Spadaro said during the meeting.  

Parking has been the primary obstacle throughout the Planning Board review. Town code requires 57 parking spaces for the proposed use, while only 11 are available on the property, necessitating several variances. 

Since appearing before the board in June, however, theater officials assembled a detailed inventory of nearby public parking and negotiated agreements with neighboring property owners to supplement the site's limited parking supply.  

BTC treasurer Bob Dumont told the board the company has secured agreements for 20 spaces in the nearby Wenco parking lot and another 15 spaces from Putnam Housing Corp. Combined with on-site parking and dozens of nearby public spaces within a short walk, he argued there would be more than enough parking to accommodate theater patrons, whose performances are generally held on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons, when downtown parking demand is lower.  

Planning consultant Pat Cleary said the theater company had completed "a fairly thorough inventory" of available parking and had made "a considerable amount of work to demonstrate how the parking conditions work in that area."  

Board members generally agreed the applicant had made a convincing case, though town attorney Joe Charbonneau said the proposed parking agreements with the neighbors will still need legal review to ensure the spaces are genuinely available and not already committed to other nearby businesses. Board members also asked the theater company to consolidate its parking documentation into a single, updated submission before the ZBA review.  

The Planning Board also continued discussing accessibility. 

Because the building sits above a rear parking lot connected by stairs, architect Stephanie Fox explained that patrons with disabilities would instead use designated parking spaces on Gleneida Avenue directly in front of the theater entrance. Board members agreed that plan appeared more practical than directing disabled patrons to the rear lot, although they noted any use of on-street handicap spaces would ultimately require approval from the Town Board and police, not the Planning Board.  

Another unresolved issue involves the rear gravel parking lot. Town code generally requires commercial parking lots to be paved, but doing so would trigger stormwater permitting requirements and significantly increase project costs. Several board members indicated they favor allowing the theater to defer paving until after it begins operating and generating revenue rather than requiring the improvement before opening.  

By the conclusion of the discussion, Planning Board Chairman Craig Paeprer said the board was comfortable allowing the application to proceed to the ZBA while the remaining paperwork is finalized. 

"I think in parallel to that, the board's in agreement. We could probably send you to the Zoning Board now," Paeprer said. "We don't want to waste any of your time."  

The Zoning Board of Appeals will now consider requests for parking, loading and lot-width variances before the application returns to the Planning Board for final site plan approval.