The intention of this petition is to gather support + positive comments to help Oodle Monkey Art, Inc. get zoning approval by the Village of Rye Brook Zoning Board of Appeals so we can open at 111 S. Ridge St., Suite 203, Rye Brook. Our business is not a danger to our proposed new location or to the community as suggested by the current Rye Brook zoning code that was assigned by the Village to Oodle Monkey Art, Inc. We provide a safe space for art education and social emotional well being. Please help us get back to safely inspiring, teaching, having fun and making art with creative and curious kids! 

UPDATE from Sept 8 Zoning Appeal meeting resulted in a request for more financial info to be considered at the next monthly meeting on Oct. 5. 
SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday, Oct 5 at 7:30pm
2nd Zoning Appeal Meeting
Village Hall, 938 King Street, Rye Brook
Zoning Chair: Don Moscato
Zoning Members: Steve Berger, Glenn Brettschneider, Joel Simon, Jamie Schutzer 
Administrator/Clerk: Chris Bradbury
Building and Fire Inspector: Michael Izzo
Mayor Paul S. Rosenberg
Trustee Susan R. Epstein
Trustee Stephanie J. Fischer
Trustee David M. Heiser
Trustee Jason A. Klein

There seems to be a major misunderstanding based on the code and disapproval we received that launched us into this whole appeals process. Our goal is to kindly help the zoning board members and the powers that be understand what Oodle Monkey Art is... 
WE ARE a safe, fun, welcoming, inclusive and nurturing space for artists of all ages to discover, learn about and make art, express themselves, be mindful and relieve stress, be social and make new friends. WE ARE a small business contributing to the local economy and paying taxes. WE ARE a supporter of community endeavors that help make our neighborhood a more vibrant and artful place. WE ARE using safe, child friendly, age appropriate, non-toxic, soap and water washable art materials like crayons, drawing pencils, markers, water based paints, paint brushes, scissors, hole punchers, glue sticks, masking tape, paper mache, air dry clay, modeling dough, beads, pom poms, twistees, yarn, fabric, paper, canvas, etc.  WE ARE simply a happy place to be creative and connected! 

In addition, we need to kindly help the zoning board members and powers that be understand what Oodle Monkey Art is NOT ...
We are NOT a negative impact on our community. NOT using potentially dangerous equipment like kilns/other heavy duty equipment. NOT using or storing threatening toxic solvents or hazardous chemicals. NOT creating any noxious fumes. NOT creating noise or any other nuisance. NOT taking up neighborhood street parking since there is an ample parking lot contained within the location. NOT even posting exterior signage at our hopeful new location 111 S. Ridge St., Suite 203, Rye Brook, NY. 

On behalf of Oodle Monkey Art and all of the creative + curious artists out there, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT + POSITIVE VIBES!!!
Stella Cotte
Chief Oodle Monkey, Mompreneur, Artist, Teacher and Rye Brook resident...among other things!