For the purposes of this chapter, the Village of Wappingers
Falls is hereby divided into the seven zoning districts listed below
in Table 1: Summary Table of Zoning Districts and as illustrated on
the Village of Wappingers Falls Zoning Map. Three overlay districts
are also hereby created. Within the overlay districts, all of the
underlying land use district regulations remain in effect, except
as they are specifically modified by the overlay district regulations.
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Table 1: Summary Table of Zoning Districts
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Zoning Districts
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Residential
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R
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Residential
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VR
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Village Residential
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Mixed-Use and Commercial
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RMU
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Residential Mixed Use
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VMU
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Village Mixed Use
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VC
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Village Commercial
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CMU
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Commercial Mixed Use
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B
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Bleachery
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OVERLAY DISTRICTS
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A.
The purpose of each zoning district is described in Table 2.
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Table 2: Purpose of Zoning Districts
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R – Residential
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The primary purpose of the Residential District is to preserve
the character of existing pedestrian-friendly, moderate-density, single-family
neighborhoods. Building height and front yard setbacks in this district
are consistent on each block face. Single-family homes have front
porches or stoops and are located on narrow lots. Streets generally
have curbs, sidewalks and street trees. While almost exclusively residential,
some civic functions and parks are also complementary to the character
of this district.
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VR – Village Residential
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The primary purpose of the Village Residential District is to
provide for pedestrian-friendly residential neighborhoods with a variety
of housing types, including single-family, two-family, three-family,
and townhouses, and some civic functions and parks. Lots in this district
are compact and narrow. Shallow front yard setbacks and a consistent
build-to line and building height on each block face serve to define
the public realm of the street and encourage walking. Most homes have
front porches. Streets with curbs, sidewalks and street trees define
medium-sized blocks.
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RMU – Residential Mixed Use
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The primary purpose of the Residential Mixed Use District is
to provide for a mix of clustered garden-style apartments and limited
commercial uses, such as professional offices, for the convenience
of neighboring residents. Front and side yard setbacks may be variable.
In the Channingville Road area, the intent is also to preserve significant
areas of open space, particularly along the road frontage, on lands
that are constrained by topography. Streets generally have sidewalks
and street trees.
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VMU – Village Mixed Use
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The primary purpose of the Village Mixed Use District is to
provide for pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods with a mix of housing
types and some small-scale commercial uses that primarily serve the
local community. Lots are compact and narrow, and building height
and front yard setbacks are consistent on each block face in order
to define the public realm of the street and encourage walking. Streets
with curbs, sidewalks and street trees define medium-sized blocks.
On East and West Main Street, the VMU District additionally serves
as a gateway to the Village, to slow traffic and provide a transition
between the large commercial uses on Route 9 and the walkable Village
center.
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VC – Village Commercial
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The primary purpose of the Village Commercial District is to
provide for a vibrant, walkable downtown with higher density mixed-use
buildings that accommodate a range of retail, service, entertainment,
and office uses on the ground floor, and apartments above or below
the ground floor. Infill development is designed to reinforce the
existing well-defined urban character of the Village's historic
downtown area. Streets have curbs with consistent street tree plantings,
relatively small blocks, and wide sidewalks that accommodate outdoor
dining while providing for comfortable strolling and easy view of
retail merchandise. Buildings are set very close to the sidewalk in
order to define the public realm, with frontage types that encourage
substantial pedestrian activity.
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CMU – Commercial Mixed Use
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The primary purpose of the Commercial Mixed Use District is
to redevelop the Route 9 corridor as a more contained sub-center with
shared entrances and parking; higher quality landscaping, signage
and architecture; sites that are upgraded with sidewalks, street trees,
internal service roads; and development that fills in the fronts of
large parking lots with small, closely spaced storefronts to build
a street frontage with courtyard parking behind. Development form
supports a high-quality commercial character, with one-story back
buildings in the rear of the lots, and two- to three-story mixed-use
linear buildings close to road frontages. Linear buildings conceal
parking lots, and include ground floor commercial uses, a uniform
setback, and wide sidewalks to increase pedestrian activity in the
area.
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B – Bleachery
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The primary purpose of the Bleachery District is to revitalize
the former Dutchess Bleachery into a vibrant contemporary market place
with small-scale artisan manufacturing, collaborative makerspaces,
startup or incubator businesses, recreation-based uses, craft beverage
manufacturing, and tourism-support businesses, through the adaptive
reuse of historic industrial buildings and construction of new architecturally
compatible buildings. Increasing waterfront access and recreational
opportunities in the district, and reestablishing the pedestrian connection
between the Bleachery and downtown, will attract tourism, encourage
private investment in new economic development and employment opportunities,
and support downtown businesses.
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B.
The purpose of each overlay district is shown in Table 3.
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Table 3: Purpose of Overlay Districts
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AWP-O – Aquifer and Wellfield Protection Overlay
District
The primary purpose of the Aquifer and Wellfield Protection
Overlay District is to preserve the quality and quantity of the Village's
water resources to ensure a safe and adequate water supply for present
and future needs.
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H-O – Historic Overlay District
The Historic Overlay District is coincident with the Wappingers
Falls Historic District, which is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places, and it also includes any locally designated historic
districts in the Village. The Wappingers Falls Historic District includes
within its 90 acres extensive historic resources that reflect the
development of a significant Hudson Valley industrial community over
more than two centuries from 1730 to 1940. The Village retains significant,
well-preserved examples of industrial and commercial buildings, working-class
houses, stylish residences, and public structures and parks directly
linked to the Village's historic industrial economy. The primary
purpose of the Historic Overlay District is to promote the general
good, welfare, health and safety of Village residents by providing
for the protection, enhancement, perpetuation, and use of buildings,
structures, and features of historic or architectural significance
within the Wappingers Falls Historic District, and any locally designated
historic districts, to link the community to its heritage and contribute
to the aesthetic character of the Village.
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MH-O – Manufactured Home Overlay District
The purpose of the Manufactured Home Overlay District is to
promote orderly planned development of manufactured home parks through
designs that foster a pleasant, attractive, safe environment while
preserving the benefit of relatively low-cost housing traditionally
associated with manufactured homes. The regulations are designed to
preserve and protect the residential character of the district, and
to ensure compatibility with adjacent neighborhoods.
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A.
The location and boundaries of the zoning districts hereby established
are shown on the attached map[1] entitled "Official Zoning Map of the Village of Wappingers
Falls" (referred to herein as the "Zoning Map"). Said map, together
with all explanatory matter thereon and all amendments thereto, is
hereby adopted and declared to be an appurtenant part of this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: A copy of the Zoning Map is included as
151 Attachment 1 of this chapter.
B.
The Zoning Map shall be kept on file in the Village Clerk's
office at Village Hall for the use and benefit of the public. Certified
copies of said map shall also be on file in the offices of the Planning
Board and the Village Building Department at Village Hall, and on
the Village website.
C.
Regardless of the existence of purported copies of the Zoning Map
that may from time to time be made or published, the Zoning Map that
is on file in the Village Clerk's office shall have final authority
as to the current zoning status of any land in the Village.
D.
The Village Clerk shall maintain copies of superseded versions of
the Zoning Map for historical reference.
A.
The precise location of any zoning district boundary line shown on
the Zoning Map shall be defined by the rules of this section.
(1)
District boundary lines are intended to follow centerlines of streets,
highways, rights-of-way, or watercourses or be parallel or perpendicular
thereto, unless such district boundary lines are fixed by dimensions
as shown on the Zoning Map.
(2)
Where district boundaries are indicated as approximately following
lot lines, such lot lines are construed to be such boundaries.
(3)
Where district boundaries are indicated as approximately following
the Village boundary line, they shall be construed to be coincident
with such Village boundary line.
(4)
Where a district boundary divides a lot, the location of any such
boundary, unless the same is indicated by dimensions shown on the
Zoning Map, is determined by the use of the map scale shown thereon.
(5)
Where district boundaries cannot be determined by the Code Enforcement
Officer through the use of center lines, existing property lines or
by the Zoning Map, the Zoning Board of Appeals, upon hearing, shall
determine and fix the location of such boundaries upon consideration
of the purposes set forth in this chapter and all relevant evidence.
A.
Where a lot of record existing at the time of enactment of this chapter
is divided by one or more district boundary lines, the following shall
apply:
(1)
Each of said divisions of the lot shall be subject to the regulations
of the district in which it is located.
(2)
The regulations for the less restricted portion of such lot may,
at the owner's discretion, extend not more than 25 feet into
the more restricted portion, provided the lot has frontage on a street
in the less restricted district, and provided that all other requirements
of this chapter, including extraordinary setbacks or buffers which
may be required between certain land uses, are wholly met.
(3)
For the purposes of this section, the "more restricted portion" shall
be deemed to be that district subject to regulations which:
B.
Where portions of a lot lie in two or more districts or municipalities
and the area of the lot within any district or within the limits of
the Village (as the case may be) does not comply with the provisions
of this chapter, the Code Enforcement Officer shall nevertheless issue
a building permit, provided that the total area of the lot and the
proposed setbacks comply with the most stringent zoning provisions
applying to any part of the lot. However, where the area and/or setbacks
do not so comply, the Zoning Board of Appeals, on direct application
to it, may, after a public hearing, grant a variance to modify the
area and setback requirements of the portion of such lot within the
jurisdiction of the Board in such fashion and to such degree that
the zoning requirements shall be affected to the minimum extent necessary.
