Public Hearing Canceled

The weekend print edition of the Register-Star contained a letter to the editor from Danette Koke, in which she described the proposed amendment to the site plan for 347 Warren Street, which would expand the outdoor seating area of Back Bar, as "Life Pollution." 

In the letter, Koke predicted doom and gloom and the end of life as we know it in Hudson.

All of our property values: Down. Light to accommodate these patrons into the night: Bright. Air from the kitchen exhaust and folks spilling out into the surrounding streets and alleys for a smoke: Nasty. . . . How is it that this is even an idea that The City of Hudson would consider discussing? . . .  Will our fantastic little city turn into one loud commercial district of deafening noise and drunken traffic?

Koke may also be the author of an anonymous two-page letter, similarly arguing against the proposal, which was distributed to houses and businesses in some proximity to the site.

On Saturday night, Carmine Pierro, the Taghkanic resident who chairs the Hudson Planning Board, sent an email to Koke informing her that the application had been withdrawn, and therefore the public hearing set for Wednesday night had been canceled, and thanking her for her help. In a subsequent email to Koke, Pierro speculated, "My thinking is that he [Michael Davis] knows he does not have support for this project amendment at this time." 

On June 11, at the last Planning Board meeting to address the proposed amendment, Pierro made his feelings clear. "I'm not in favor of this," he told his colleagues on the board, "only because it's the third time around." The original site plan was approved in 2012. Last year, a return visit to the Planning Board was required to get approval for a storage shed that had been installed next to Once Upon a Taco, formerly Tortillaville.
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