More from the Planning Commission Meeting

After the project proposed for 347 Warren Street had been discussed and most of the audience had departed, the Planning Commission turned its attention to two other projects: the hotel proposed for 542 Warren Street and the proposed senior center.

Duncan Calhoun and Russell Gibson, the owners of The Croff House on Willard Place, are the principals in the hotel project. Their purchase of 542 Warren Street is contingent on having their plan to turn the building into a luxury 16-room hotel approved by the Planning Commission and their ability to work out a deal with the City of Hudson to purchase the exclusive use of 16 parking spaces in the municipal lot behind the building. The proposed renovation of the building includes the installation of an elevator, central air conditioning, a sprinkler system, and fireplaces in most of the rooms, all of which will be 250 to 300 square feet. There is a plan to have a handicapped accessible room on the first floor and a pet friendly room somewhere else in the hotel. Calhoun and Gibson hope to open in April 2013 and anticipate nine month's of construction. 

The Planning Commission accepted the hotel plans and will consider the project at its May meeting. Carl Whitbeck, who is the attorney for Calhoun and Gibson, will recuse himself from the deliberations, and Kevin Colwell will act as counsel to the Planning Commission in their consideration of this project. 

The proposed senior center was next, presented by Michael Sullivan, representing Crawford & Associates. It was revealed at this meeting that the project plans to ask that two new handicapped parking spaces be created in the municipal lot on Warren Street between the Tom Swope Gallery and Shana Lee. Also, Common Council president Don Moore stated that the Council will "move on SEQR and the appropriation of funds" on Tuesday, April 17. 

On Monday night, at the informal Common Council meeting, city attorney Cheryl Roberts said that there had to be a recommendation from the Historic Preservation Commission before the SEQR could be done, so if Moore hopes to move on SEQR next Tuesday, the HPC will have to make a recommendation at its meeting this morning at 10 a.m. It will be interesting to see if the HPC will make a recommendation based only on schematic design drawings rather than realistic renderings that would give them a real sense of the proposed building's compatibility with its historic surroundings.