Towners Inn 
 

ARCHITECTURE
 

In 2020 a local and respected developer, Pete Monteleone, who had previously worked with the Planning Board on a number of commercial properties in the Industrial Park at Commerce Drive, approached the Town Supervisor/Planner, Rich Williams, and a member of the Planning Board and president of the Historical Society, Ron Taylor, about his desire to build an upscale hotel complex on a property near the interstate along Route 311 in Patterson.

 

Recognizing the importance of adhering to the Architectural Standards outlined in the Town Code, Monteleone aimed for a design that would not only meet these standards but also stand out for its attractiveness.
What ensued is a particularly striking example of the collaboration between an applicant and the Planning Board in the development of architectural plans. In subsequent meetings Mr. Monteleone and his architect, Herbert Lackner (recently retired from the New York City Board of Architectural Review), conferred with Mr. Taylor at the office of the Patterson Historical Society so that Mr. Taylor could illustrate a brief architectural history of the Town spanning from the colonial period to the twentieth century with pictorial examples of historic architecture that had been built in the Town 
 

Borrowing ideas from some of these examples (Figs 1-5), Herb developed a Victorian-Style design that suited the needs of the hotel-banquet hall (Fig 6). Further meetings between Herb and Ron filled out the design and ironed out the details. Herb's success in meeting the Architectural Standards can be judged from the subsequent review prepared by Mr. Taylor for the Planning Board. The Architectural Standards also require landscaping for an attractive streetscape but a landscape plan hasn't yet been finalized. 
 

The name "Towners Inn" was selected as the name for the complex since it recalled the historic name for that section of Town and the colonial-era family that had settled there. The original member of the family settled in the town in the 1760s; the last residential member was Albert Towner who served during WWI in France in the Veterinary Medical Corps and received a Silver Star for "bravery under fire serving the animals". He had a veterinary practice in Patterson for many years.  

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DISCUSSION

Once approved, the hotel will take approximately two to three years to complete and will include a restaurant, a banquet hall with wedding and event opportunities, and a total of 120 rooms, including 20 suites. Additionally, there will be a small accessory retail complex housing a bank, a drive-through coffee establishment, and several shops that will complement the hotel's offerings. Eleven of the 17 acres on this site will be set aside for open space, wetland protection and hiking trails. The site will be heavily landscaped with native trees, a wildflower meadow, and an aesthetic pond designed for stormwater practices. 

The hotel will provide an opportunity for visitors seeking accommodation while enjoying the many recreational opportunities within the Town including skiing, hiking, and biking along the greenway bike trail, canoeing on the Croton River, participating in activities at Liberty Paintball, and taking excursions in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. Overall, this hotel will be quite unique for Putnam County and be another positive attraction for the Town.

This hotel will generate over 100 jobs, produce nearly half a million dollars in tax revenues each year for the Town and County, and require no Town services (other than fire and EMS protection, which will be paid for at a higher rate than for Town residents). It will also not add to the Town public school population.

 
The onsite sewage treatment plant will manage all wastewater created by the hotel and related businesses, ensuring no discharge into any stream or wetland system.  The fully treated water will be returned to the subsurface on site. Water testing has verified that the site has more than enough water resources to provide for the hotel's operations and will not affect any local private wells in the area. Furthermore, due do its very close proximity to Interstate 84, local traffic will not be significantly affected as most visitors will enter and exit the hotel site from the interstate.
 

There have been some concerns from a few local residents that this hotel will negatively affect residential property values of nearby homeowners. While this may not satisfy such a concern for some people, there is a positive response to this question. The site on which this hotel is to be constructed has been zoned industrial at least since 1964, well before most residents occupied their homes in this area. And while the site has remained unaltered for all this time, it cannot be expected to stay that way indefinitely. Besides a hotel, an industrial zone would permit other, more negatively impactful, commercial enterprises such as gas stations, warehouses, distribution terminals, substations, and other operations that arguably are less attractive than this hotel. We submit that this hotel will be aesthetically pleasing, beautifully landscaped, provide positive services to Town residents, create preserved open space, and, in fact, increase local property values. 

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