The Gossips of Rivertown

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Some News About Pocketbook Hudson

It's nice to share news about Pocketbook Hudson that isn't a complaint from the neighbors about parking or noise. This afternoon, Gossips received this press release:

Art Omi, the arts center that has called the Hudson Valley home since 1992, encompassing the 120-acre Sculpture & Architecture Park, international artist residences, and arts education, and Pocketbook Hudson Hotel and Baths, the recently opened hotel, restaurant, and cultural complex, have announced a partnership bringing together two of the region's most distinctive spaces. Launching Memorial Day weekend, the collaboration features a free seasonal Art Shuttle connecting Pocketbook Hudson Hotel and Baths to Art Omi and other neighboring art destinations, alongside afterparties hosted by Art Omi at Ether, the hotel's clandestine club. Partnership highlights include Shenanigans, a party celebrating Art Omi's summer openings on June 27, 2026, during Upstate Art Weekend.

This partnership addresses a longstanding access gap: the Hudson Valley is home to one of the most significant concentrations of contemporary art in the Northeast, yet most are miles from any public transit connection. Hudson itself is two hours from New York City on Amtrak, making it a natural entry point for visitors arriving from New York City and for locals without a car, but the institutions farther afield have remained largely out of reach. The Art Shuttle, free and departing from Pocketbook Hudson on select Saturdays, changes that for audiences traveling from New York City, the Capital Region, the Berkshires, and beyond. . . .

The inaugural shuttle takes place on Saturday, May 23, during Memorial Day Weekend, with service running every 30 minutes between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from Pocketbook Hudson to Art Omi. On Saturday, May 30, the shuttle route will expand to include Jack Shainman's The School in Kinderhook for the opening of Modus Operandi, before continuing on to Art Omi for the closing weekend of Onnis Luque | DOMINO: An Unfinished Visual Archive of Architectural Extractivism.

For more information about the partnership, visit pocketbookhudson.com and artomi.org.

But What About the Tennis Courts?

At last night's meeting of the HCSD Board of Education, the results of the budget vote and the vote for new members of the Board of Education were reported, but there was no word on the outcome of the exit poll which asked about adding pickleball striping to the historic tennis courts at M. C. Smith.

Gossips asked Mark DePace, BOE president, when the results of the exit poll would be made public. He referred the question to interim superintendent Brian Bailey, who has not yet responded, and told Gossips, "The board is not expecting to review or discuss the data until our next board meeting on June 16."

Parking and 11 Warren Street

The proposed agreement between the City of Hudson and Columbia County for on-street parking at 11 Warren Street was a topic of discussion at Monday night's informal Common Council meeting. In introducing the agreement, Council president Margaret Morris noted the contract was being amended to include the County's agreement to make the parking lot in front of the building available to the public during off-hours. She also noted that a handicapped parking space would created on the north side of the street, on front of Shiloh Baptist Church, to compensate for moving the handicapped space now on the south side of the street into the parking lot at 11 Warren.

In the discussion that followed, Councilmember Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) opined that all county parking lots should be available to the public in off-hours, suggesting that public use of the parking lots at 610 State Street could alleviate some of the parking issues around Pocketbook Hudson. Regarding the parking situation at 11 Warren, Merante suggested the employees should submit receipts for parking fees incurred and be reimbursed by the County.

Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) called the agreement "not a great solution" and promoted the solution she had proposed, which involved the County building its own parking lot for its employees at 11 Warren to be located on City-owned land on the west side of the Ferry Street Bridge. Belton maintained it would only cost the County $175,000 to build the parking lot.

The sharpest criticism of the proposed parking agreement came from Phil Forman, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, who lives across the street from 11 Warren Street. Forman spoke of the "stealthy acquisition of 11 Warren Street" and asserted the building had been sold "for purposes that could have been housed almost anywhere, but the County chose those purposes to be housed in our historic district and in our commercial street." He asked the Council to "imagine Kathy Hochul coming to New York [City] and saying she'd like to take part of Fifth Avenue to provide support for elections and probation, and, by the way, she was going to close down the street for parking for the people working there."

Forman called the acquisition totally inappropriate for Hudson's historic district and commercial street. The site, Forman asserted, "should have been housing, which Hudson needs. It should have been paying taxes, which Hudson needs. It should have been potential storefronts, which Hudson needs. And we got nothing that Hudson needs but just stuff that the County needs that didn't have to be on Warren Street."

Forman addressing the Council

Forman asked how parking for the building became Hudson's problem. "They knew very well going in their number of employees.…They knew very well the number of people who would be transient in and out of the space to do work there or provide services or pursue services there. And they knew that tiny parking lot in front was inadequate. And I would say they didn't give a damn. They made it the City's problem." Forman advised the Council, "When you get bullied once, you should try not to be bullied twice."

Forman's entire address to the Common Council and subsequent discussion can be heard here, beginning at 1:11:48 and continuing to 1:17:02.

The resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into the agreement is on the agenda for next Tuesday's regular Common Council meeting.

News of No News

The Register-Star reports today about Mayor Joe Ferris and his efforts to understand the current status of the transfer of properties in Hudson from the Galvan Foundation to Bard College: "Hudson mayor 'frustrated' with Bard's lack of clarity on Galvan gift."

There is not much new information in the article, but there is this:

Columbia Economic Development Corporation CEO F. Michael Tucker and other officials compiled an 86 properties [sic] in Hudson and Greenport owned by various Galvan legal entities.

There are three properties on the list of properties Galvan plans to continue to own, which include the historic houses at 14 and 16 N. 4th St., and the theater at 724-726 Columbia St. However, the rest of the properties are likely part of the transfer to Bard, Tucker said.

Of course, the two houses mentioned--14 and 16 North Fourth Street--are part of the whole Hudson Public Hotel complex, which extends from Warren to Columbia along North Fourth, so we can assume that Galvan is also keeping the buildings at Warren and Fourth and the building that was once Helsinki Hudson.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

HCSD Election Results

Exactly two hours and twenty-four minutes after the polls closed, the Board of Education finally made public the election results. A total of 1,345 voters--14.12 percent of the potential voters--cast 861 votes to approve the budget and 485 votes to reject it. The BOE candidate with the highest number of votes was Lou Zapp, who garnered 858 votes, followed by incumbent Michael Zibella with 830 votes.

Of the write-in candidates, none of whom actually campaigned, Peter Meyer received 28 votes, John Friedman received 19, and Jon Spampinato received 5. One person in Claverack wrote in Diana Doto, who is already on the school board, although her name is now Diana Howard.

And so it goes.

Before You Vote

The vote on the school budget is today. The polls opened about an hour ago, at 11:00 a.m.

Before you head for the polls, if you haven't done so already, you may want to read this article published by the Empire Center: "New York Schools Will Spend More and Deliver Less--Again." The following are quotes from the article:

New York has built an education system that spends at elite levels, staffs at near private-college ratios, and pays accordingly--yet delivers results that are, at best, middling. . . .

If New York outshone every state in education, we could have a deep discussion about how much education we can afford. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Right now, New York's K-12 system produces mediocre results at exorbitant prices, and, unless something changes, it is only going to get worse. . . .

Given New York's financial resources, we should have the best education system in the world. Sadly, we lead the world in spending, not achievement. Until something changes, New York's students will continue being robbed of opportunities their parents and taxpayers paid for.

The polls are open until 8:00 p.m. The polling places are:

Hudson Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street
Greenport, Stottville/Stockport, Ghent Greenport Community Center, 500 Town Hall Drive, Greenport
Claverack, Livingston, Taghkanic A. B. Shaw Fire House, 67 NY-23, Claverack

Dogs and the Environment

This past Saturday, a team of volunteers led by Alexandra Semchenko and Danielle Bissett of the Conservation Advisory Council planted seedlings that will grow into native bushes and shrubs at the Hudson Dog Park. Lance Wheeler was there to document their efforts. His video can be viewed here.

Monday, May 18, 2026

The Tale of the Tree

On Friday, the Register-Star reported that the white pine, ceremoniously planted last October and unceremoniously uprooted sometime this spring, had been turned over to Marilyn Cederoth of Cedar Farm in Ghent by the tree's rescuer, Lloyd Koedding. Although the article gave the impression that the exchange of custody was a fait accompli, it didn't actually happen.

Koedding had arranged to meet Cederoth at an agreed upon location on Thursday, but when Cederoth arrived at the appointed hour, prepared to take custody of the tree, Koedding and the tree were not there, nor did they appear within a reasonable time. So a new plan was made. On Saturday, Koedding would bring the tree to the Hudson Farmers' Market, where Cederoth is a regular vendor, and Cederoth would take it from there to her 25-acre garden, where the tree would be planted and cared for until it was healthy and strong and ready to be transplanted to a site in Hudson. The tree was seen by many on Saturday at the Hudson Farmers' Market, among them the Gossips reader who provided this picture.

As it turns out, Mayor Joe Ferris was one of the people who saw the tree at the farmers' market on Saturday and reportedly told Koedding that the tree was the property of the City of Hudson and not his to do with as he saw fit. As a consequence, the plan to turn the tree over to Cederoth was abandoned.

The next day, Sunday, the tree was found in Seventh Street Park. Koedding was nowhere in sight, so the people who found it took the tree to a member of the Conservation Advisory Council, in whose custody the tree currently resides. The tree will soon be examined by an arborist. Its future placement is yet to be determined.

Earlier today, Koedding issued the following statement. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

According to reports received by Gossips, the Hudson Police Department continues its effort to identify the vandal(s) who uprooted the tree and tossed it over the fence at Promenade Hill.

Happening Tonight

The first of Mayor Joe Ferris's second round of town hall meetings happens tonight. Tonight's meeting is for the residents of the Fourth Ward and takes place in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. The town hall meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to continue until 8:00 p.m.

Since the meeting is happening in the Fourth Ward, a concern likely to be aired is the impact on the neighborhood of Pocketbook Hudson. The topic is also the subject of an article today in the Times Union: "Luxe Hudson hotel and spa sparks noise, parking complaints from neighbors."

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Last week at this time, we were wondering if the temperatures would ever struggle out of the 60s, and today, for most of the day, it was 90 degrees. Tomorrow is expected to be a tad warmer, and Tuesday warmer still. In the meantime, here is what's happening.

On Monday, May 18, the Common Council holds its informal meeting at 6:00 p.m. There is a lot of interest on the agenda for the meeting, including a resolution authorizing the sale of the Dunn warehouse to Hudson Brewing Co. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

Also on Monday, May 18, Mayor Joe Ferris holds a town hall meeting with residents of the Fourth Ward in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to continue until 8:00 p.m.
On Tuesday, May 19, the Hudson City School District holds its annual budget vote and board member election. The budget voters are being asked to approve involves a 5.8 percent increase in the tax levy. There will also be an exit poll to gauge community support or opposition to adding pickleball striping to the historic tennis courts at M. C. Smith. The polls are open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The polling place for residents of the City of Hudson is the Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street.

On Wednesday, May 20, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meets at 6:00 p.m. At the meeting, it will no doubt be announced that the Planning Board will hold a special meeting on Thursday, May 28, to review the design for HHA's proposed redevelopment. The meeting of the HHA board is a hybrid, taking place in person in the Community Room at Bliss Towers and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

Update: The HHA meeting, which actually was to take place at The Spark of Hudson, has been postponed.

Also on Wednesday, May 20, at 6:00 p.m., the Zoning Board of Appeals holds its regular monthly meeting. On the agenda for the meeting is a public hearing on the area variances required to build the new structures proposed for 309-311 Union Street--a two-family house facing Union Street and a garage with an apartment above facing Partition Street. The meeting takes place in person only at City Hall.

On Friday, May 22, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
On Saturday, May 23, Memorial Day Weekend begins. The weekend ends with the parade and ceremony on Monday, May 25. The event begins, as it always does, around 9:oo a.m. at Seventh Street Park. The parade down Warren Street to the Columbia County courthouse steps off at 10:00 a.m. The ceremony takes place immediately after the parade arrives at the courthouse.

About 11 Warren Street

The parking lot at 11 Warren Street is currently fenced off, with signs indicating access is restricted to construction vehicles only.

Last week, Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, issued this update:

"We're making very good progress--I'm very pleased with the renovations and construction work that's been going on," reports Ron Knott, Stuyvesant town supervisor and chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Department of Public Works committee, on the steps being taken to turn 11 Warren Street into a building housing county offices.

Shortly, 11 Warren Street will become the new home of the Board of Elections, the Probation Department, the Public Defender's Office, and the Conflict Defender's Office.

The Board of Elections will be moving from 401 State Street to 11 Warren, while the others move from 610 State Street. The latter building has [been] deemed surplus by the Board of Supervisors and will be up for sale in the near future. . . .

The plan is to hold off on relocating the Board of Elections until after the primary on June 23, which also includes early voting from June 13-21. . . .

Following the primary, the "equipment that's out for it will be moved to 11 Warren, so we don't have to move it twice. The staff will move down probably that last week of June or the first week of July," [said Ray Jurkowski, Public Works Commissioner]. . . .

Looking ahead, Commissioner Jurkowski pointed out, "there's also a second portion to 11 Warren, which is the exterior. That's been on a parallel path to the construction phase. A couple months back the county entered into contract with LaBella Associates, and we've started programming the vision for the building's exterior."

Plans are to have the architects prepare three separate concepts, followed by meetings at which the public will be invited to critique those concepts. "We're trying to figure out what the public is looking for," said Commissioner Jurkowski. "By creating these charrettes, we feel we'll be able to get the input we've been looking for."

"This is a great project for the county," said Austerlitz Town Supervisor and Count Deputy Chairman [Robert Lagonia]. "For one, the Board of Education [sic] will finally have a great working space. I'm very excited to see it's all coming to fruition."

There is no indication if the plans for the exterior renovation will go before the Historic Preservation Commission for a certificate of appropriateness, which they should since the building is in a locally designated historic district. If the project does not go before the HPC, it will be just another example of the disdain county government has for the City of Hudson, its laws, and its concerns.

On another 11 Warren Street-related topic, at the Common Council Legal Committee meeting last Thursday, an "Intermunicipal Agreement" between the City of Hudson and Columbia County was introduced for on-street parking for county employees at 11 Warren Street. There are 27 parking spaces in the parking lot in front of the building, which readers will recall was originally designed to be a strip mall, but the County is seeking 18 more parking spots for the exclusive use of county employees from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Of those 18 spaces, 14 would be on Warren Street and 4 on South First Street, adjacent to the building. Not only would the spaces be dedicated to county employees, but those employees would not be expected to pay parking fee. For this, the County would pay the City $18,006.30 in the first year. The agreement is for five years. Here is how the amount was calculated. (The following is quoted from the proposed agreement.)

The annual parking fee paid to the City by the County shall be 90% of the current standard rate ($0.50) per hour x the number of annual County Working days: $0.50 per hour x 90% x 9 hours x (52 weeks x 5 days per week - 13 annual County holidays) = $1,000.35 per parking pass = $18,006.30 Total for the first year.
In the event the City parking hourly rate changes, the County rate shall be 90% of any new rate applied to metered parking in the City.

Council president Margaret Morris, who chairs the Legal Committee, defended the proposed agreement, arguing that if county employees had to pay for parking on Warren Street they would seek parking in adjacent neighborhoods, on Union Street and Columbia Street, which would impact residents of those streets. She also said the County would allow neighborhood residents to use the off-street parking spaces in front of the building overnight and on weekends, when the offices in the building were closed. This is not mentioned in the proposed agreement. Morris cited Helsinki Hudson, back when it existed before the pandemic, using the county parking lot at Columbia and North Fourth, and maintained it was county policy to allow their parking lots to be used by the public during off-hours. It was pointed out (by Gossips) that Helsinki had an agreement with the County for the use of the lot, which was worked out during its Planning Board review, and not all county parking lots are open to the public during off-hours. For example, this sign appears in the lot at Sixth and Columbia.

Councilmember Claire Cousin (Fifth Ward) expressed concern about parking for Shiloh Baptist Church when there was an event or a funeral on a weekday. Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) brought up the solution she had proposed, which was to have the county finance the creation of a parking lot on Water Street, on the other side of the Ferry Street Bridge, across from Hudson Power Boat Association, more than four blocks from 11 Warren Street. Councilmember Jason Foster (Third Ward) questioned the plan, which is part of the agreement, to relocate the designated handicapped parking space now on Warren Street into the parking lot in front of 11 Warren Street.

One little consolation: The County has agreed to allow the City to review the design for the signage to be installed to identify the designated on-street parking. Exactly who, representing "the City," will be reviewing and approving that signage is not known.

The proposed agreement, which can be found here, will be introduced to the full Council at its informal meeting on Monday, May 18.

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Another Reason to Vote on Tuesday

On Tuesday, May 19, voters in the Hudson City School District will be asked to vote on the proposed $59.2 million 2026-2027 school budget (and a 5.8 percent increase in the tax levy) and for two members of the Board of Education. On Tuesday, too, voter input will be sought on whether or not to add pickleball striping on the historic tennis courts at Montgomery C. Smith School, which is part of the grand design originally known as the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Educational Center.

The venerable history of these tennis courts has been told here on Gossips by Ken Sheffer. Along with the rest of the campus, the tennis courts were built during the Great Depression and opened for the first time in 1935.

It is not clear where the idea of adding pickleball striping to the tennis courts originated or why the suggestion is being seriously considered, but it is. Aside from the issue of the appropriateness of altering the historic tennis courts in this way and mingling what may be a just passing fad with a serious sport whose history dates back to the sixteenth century, there are problems associated with pickleball, especially when pickleball courts are introduced into residential neighborhoods. This article, published last year, explains the issue: "These Communities Pulled the Plug on Pickleball." Our choices should be informed by the experience of other communities.

The polling places for Tuesday's vote are:

Hudson Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street
Greenport, Stottville/Stockport, Ghent Greenport Community Center, 500 Town Hall Drive, Greenport
Claverack, Livingston, Taghkanic A. B. Shaw Fire House, 67 NY-23, Claverack

The polls are open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday, May 15, 2026

When Seventh Street Park Was Jurassic Park

More the sixty years ago, nine replica dinosaurs were created at Jonas Studios in Claverack for Dinoland, Sinclair Oil Corporation's exhibition at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.

Before the dinosaurs were loaded onto a barge and floated down the river to their destination in Flushing Meadows, they were exhibited in Seventh Street Park, the public square here in Hudson.

Photo by Gibson

The History Room at the Hudson Area Library is currently working on an exhibition about the the dinosaurs of Dinoland and their time in Hudson which will be mounted sometime next year. Organizers of the exhibition are seeking images, documents, models, and other memorabilia relating the dinosaurs for inclusion in the exhibition. Anyone with materials they are willing to contribute or loan should contact Brenda Shufelt at brenda.shufelt@hudsonarealibrary.org.

The organizers of the exhibit are also looking to confirm that the stories about the brontosaurus breaking the barge and ending up in the river are actually true. The incident is mentioned in The Spirit of the Place, a book written by native son Stephen Bergman, a.k.a. Samuel Shem, set in a thinly fictionalized Hudson called Columbia. The mishap of the brontosaurus is referenced at the end of this paragraph from the book, which tells how Columbia, a.k.a. Hudson, is a "town of breakage."

At public events things would unerringly break. School microphones would consistently give out just after someone said, "Testing, testing." On Memorial Days in Columbian cemeteries, just as the Gettysburg began, viewing stands would collapse. In deep summer at public tennis courts, water fountains were always going dry so that if, after a hot game of tennis on the asphalt courts, when your feet felt like grill-side-down burgers and your tongue like a bun, you went to the water fountain and turned the handle, the one thing you could be sure would not come out was water. Columbians learned to talk affectionately about past breakages, such as "the Great Breakage of '37," when, in the Thanksgiving Day parade, a massive five-axle Universal Atlas cement truck disguised as a turkey exploded in front of the Niagara Mohawk power station, knocking out lights and heat for weeks. Or "the Dinosaur Breakage of '52," when the Paul Jonas life-sized sculpture of the brontosaurus bound for the New York World's Fair broke the back of its barge and sank, its neck poking out of the Hudson River in the most lifelike way.

Any evidence or recollection that this in fact happened should also be shared at brenda.shufelt@hudsonarealibrary.org.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Get Ready to Vote on Tuesday, May 19

With the school district election just five days away, Hudson Common Sense has an editorial about the vote: "Hudson's School Vote Has Been Captured." It is recommended reading as voter prep.

Another "Transformative" Project

Jeffery Dodson, executive director of the Hudson Housing Authority, regularly describes HHA's proposed redevelopment as "transformative." On Tuesday, a new project was presented to the Planning Board that was also described as "transformative." The project, which has the working title "Waterfront Village," was presented by Ben Fain, who brought us Kitty's, The Caboose, and Mr. Cat Brasserie and owns the The Wick Hotel and the historic Robert Taylor House, the former which is being renovated and the latter meticulously restored. The new project will cover a 6.82-acre site at the end of South Second Street, which, until thirty or so years ago, was the location of a factory that made humidifiers and similar products.

The project will be carried out in three phases. Phase 1 involves a grocery store, parking, landscaping, and the creation of a street grid that extends the street pattern of the rest of the city to this site.

Every proposed street on the site would have sidewalks on both sides. In the center, there would be a large open space, "almost like a central park."

Phase 2 of the project involves the construction of a retail building, "intentionally angled toward the train station."

Phase 3 of the project is an apartment building, which is currently proposed to have 150 units.

The project was described as "an extension of Hudson," a "walkable, mixed-use neighborhood," "incorporating a lot of landscaping to make the pedestrian experience enjoyable." Fain, who told the Planning Board he "really drank the Kool-Aid on believing what Hudson can be," predicted the district "could become the most welcoming section of Hudson." It was also said that, with the development, there would be "a real destination for the Second Street stairs," which lead down to the site from Allen Street.

Members of the Planning Board raised a number of issues. Sara Black wanted to know how this project differed from the Kearney project proposed for Mill Street, maintaining they were both on dead-end streets and in a flood plain. She also asked about the intended market for the residential units. Someone else raised concerns about the project interfering with the views from Deer Alley. Ron Bogle, who chairs the Planning Board, opined, "You are disturbing the lives of the people on Tanners Lane in way they cannot even imagine." Concern was expressed about possible exclusivity in programming for the open space.

A surprising concern was expressed by Veronica Conca, who maintained that Hudson "has never had a big supermarket" and seemed to imply that, in the divine order of things, Hudson residents were meant go to Greenport if they wanted to buy paper towels or toilet paper or anything that went beyond simply the ingredients needed to prepare a meal. She seemed to have forgotten, if she ever knew, that Sam's Supermarket operated at 310 Warren Street (now the gymnasium of The Maker Hotel) until 1994, and reopened briefly as the Hudson Supermarket a few years later.

Her comment also revealed that she had no idea that Hudson once had several supermarkets. There was an A&P at the corner of Seventh and Columbia streets, where Proprietors Hall now stands.

Photo by Gibson

There was a First National Store (the chain now known as Finast) at 751 Warren Street, in the building that currently houses the Social Security Administration office.

Photo courtesy Bob Tomaso

The building at 713 Union Street, which now houses the Mental Health Association of Columbia & Greene Counties, was originally a Grand Union.

Photo by Gibson

And there were others, as folks who grew up in Hudson in the '50s, '60s, and '70s will likely recall.

According to the materials submitted to the Planning Board, the grocery store/supermarket is proposed to be 15,915 square feet. A Google search yielded this information about the average size of supermarkets in the United States:

The average conventional grocery store in the United States is approximately 38,000 to 42,000 square feet. While traditional supermarkets hover around 40,000 square feet, the industry is seeing a shift toward smaller, more urban formats (12,000-25,000 sq ft), while large, suburban supercenters can exceed 187,000 square feet.

Of interest, back in 2018, at a DRI public workshop, a retail specialist on the planning team assigned to Hudson reported that Hudson residents spent $5 million annually at the supermarkets of Greenport. She suggested that Hudson could support a 10,000 square foot grocery store. Gossips research at the time found that the only supermarket chain with stores as small as 10,000 square feet was Trader Joe's. That information is eight years old, and there is no indication that the grocery store proposed as part of this project will be part of a chain.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the Planning Board determined the project to be an unlisted action under SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) and declared itself lead agency in the SEQR process.