Upstate House

New Paltz: Charm Meets Change

By Anne Pyburn Craig  |  David McIntyre  |  Fall 2025   |  Community Spotlight

New Paltz is considering whether or not to unite its village and town governments, a perennial question that has arisen every few years, and deputy mayor Alexandria Wojcik says public input is being collected on the possibility. “We’ve done the studies, and now it’s in the community engagement phase, and we hope to hold a referendum sometime in 2026,” she says. “And if the voters come out full force and say ‘No way,’ hopefully we can finally put the issue to bed.

The self-described “gonzo woman in politics” says her own views on the question have evolved with time. Originally swayed by the “vibes” folks who believe that a united town will lack the charm and mojo of the village, she now believes that the practical issues in play should be given at least as much weight.

“I’m the housing rights person on the Village Board, so I get dozens of emails for help every single week. When I ask people if they are village or town residents, they’re often not even sure and we need to figure that out first, because I’ll do my best to help town residents but I technically don’t even represent them, and the laws protecting tenants’ rights are different in the town and village.”

Village Mayor Tim Rogers, a strong advocate of unification, is standing for election to the office of town supervisor. And along with the murky understanding of town/village boundaries, Wojcik sees a clear advantage in putting together volunteer boards. “How many volunteers does it take to keep one small mountain university community running?” she says. “Right now we have planning boards and zoning boards of appeals for two municipalities, 10 volunteers that we have to appoint for each. That doesn’t even get into the environmental policy boards, the other committees and commissions. We’re lucky to have a lot of smart people willing to help, but it’s a heavy lift, keeping all that together.

Some of the tenants’ rights provisions in the village, such as barring landlords from demanding first and last month’s rent and security, have resulted in landlords simply upping other demands. “Housing remains a big struggle here,” says Wojcik, “but in the past five years, we’ve increased our housing stock by about 25 percent and we have a couple of huge projects going online in the coming year. It’s not solving the whole housing crisis, but hopefully it can help balance things out.”

The New Paltz Scene

Wojcik says a number of projects close to her heart are moving forward, among them a planned skate park downtown and an LGBTQIA+ community center, a brick-and-mortar base for a coalition birthed in response to a December 2020 episode in which a town police officer posted a transphobic rap video and was suspended, reinstated, and ultimately fired. She’s hoping other current controversies—like the divide between supporters of Israel and the Women in Black anti-war vigil that’s been held since the Iraq War era, who face off across Main Street each Saturday—will ultimately bear the sweet fruit of mutual understanding.” Tensions have been high,” she says, “and Mayor Rogers and I have been asked by residents and visitors whether we might ask them to move it elsewhere, but that’s where you get into First Amendment questions. As long as no one is getting hurt, they can be wherever they want.”

On the other end of Main Street, down at Water Street Market, Jane Liddle’s dream of her own bookstore became real when she and Robin Minkoff opened the doors to Literally Books on July 15. She’s having a blast. “So far, it’s exceeding expectations,” she says, noting that the decision to focus on new works was made to avoid duplication of Barner Books, which sells used volumes, and her former employer Inquiring Minds, which sells both. “With three bookstores, I’m hoping the town becomes even more of a destination for readers,” she says. “And it seems like every other person I meet has either recently moved up here from the city or is thinking about it.”

Though she does read local news and stay up-to-date on official doings and local controversies, Liddle’s focused on greeting customers; within the village-within-a-village that is Water Street Market, all is well, and likely to stay that way even should it become a village-within-a-town—or not.

The New Paltz Real Estate Market

Barbara Korabel of Four Seasons Realty says that those looking to relocate should be able to find places to settle without too much hassle. “New Paltz is a buyer’s market right now, with demand below supply, which is a shift from neutral a year ago,” she says. “Even so, community feedback suggests lingering upward pressure: There are few listings under $600,000, and we still encounter heavy bidding and over-ask offers, especially in commuter towns nearby.”

The median sold price last summer was $539,000, a 13.5 percent increase year-over-year. A snapshot from June indicates that there were 98 active listings, up 27 percent from the previous month, and that homes were averaging 100 days on the market, a considerable year-over-year increase from last year’s 52 days. June saw 13 homes either sold or pending; of the sales, 77 percent were below asking price and 23 percent above, with not one selling for exactly the listed price.

At press time, a two-bedroom condo on Huguenot Street had been reduced $30,000 to $210,000; a listing that had been viewed over 20,000 times in the previous month amid a selection of condos priced between $200,000 to $300,000. A freshly listed four-bedroom just south of the village, with mountain views, hardwood floors, stone fireplace, and outbuilding, was offered for $349,000. A 3,000-square-foot contemporary on a dead-end street with just over five acres, a light-filled open floor plan, in-ground pool and full basement was priced at $975,000. And a farm on Springtown Road, with Shawangunk Mountain backdrop, 71.8 acres, four-bedroom farmhouse and established distillery was being marketed as an investment opportunity at $1.7 million.

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