Git 'Er Dunn

At the July meeting of the Common Council Economic Development Committee, Alderman Rick Rector (First Ward), who chairs the committee, proposed two initiatives for the committee: the development of the Dunn building, the last surviving historic building on the waterfront; and legislation to ban "formula businesses" from the city. On the subject of the Dunn building, there was talk of a special meeting to discuss preparing a request for proposals (RFP) for the Dunn building, but no such meeting was scheduled. Instead, the committee devoted its meeting on Thursday exclusively to moving forward with plans to develop the Dunn building. Rector told his colleagues on the committee--John Friedman (Third Ward) and Alexis Keith (Fourth Ward) were present; Henry Haddad (Third Ward) was not--that Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton was "aware and supportive of the Economic Development Committee's initiative."

The meeting went on for more than an hour and a half, and much was discussed. With the three committee members on the dais were Sheena Salvino, executive director of HDC and HCDPA, and Bill Roehr from TGW Consultants. The only people in the audience were Damara Stolfo, who is spearheading the Hudson Praxis initiative; Don Moore, former Common Council president and now Third Ward supervisor; and Gossips. 

Roehr, who, it was determined, will write the request for proposal (RFP), was enthusiastic about the project, stressing how useful the Saratoga Associates feasible study will be in attracting interested developers. "All the ducks are in a row," he declared. Roehr explained that there were two ways to approach an RFP: (1) to indicate the uses the City is looking for; (2) to indicate the uses the City does not want. He, however, recommended a third approach: "present a sense of what you are and are not looking for, but don't box the developers in. . . . Keep the use part open but give them some bounds. . . .not so tightly locking someone in as to stifle creativity." The committee seemed to agree that the third approach should be taken.

A number of decisions about moving forward were made at Thursday's meeting, which were summarized at the end of the meeting by the chair, Rick Rector:

• The City will contract with Hudson Development Corporation to have Sheena Salvino administer the project while the City retains control. Salvino and committee member John Friedman will work on the contract between the City and HDC for Salvino's services.
• The City will obtain three appraisals for the property: the Dunn building alone; the building with the four acres of vacant land to the north; the four acres of vacant land alone. There was also talk of the RFP giving those three options for proposals. [Gossips Note: Although appraisals will be done, the City does not intend to sell the property. Rather the plan is to enter into a long-term (thirty years or more) triple net lease with a developer.]
• The Economic Development Committee will seek National Register designation for the building so that the project can benefit from historic preservation tax credits. 
• When the draft RFP has been prepared, there will be a public hearing, which will be the community's opportunity to critique the RFP and provide input.
• The four aldermen who make up the Economic Development Committee will make the ultimate decision about which if any of the proposals received will be accepted. 

When an audience member reminded the committee that whatever happened with the Dunn building would be the catalyst for future waterfront development and suggested that the committee was moving forward with inadequate opportunities for public input, Don Moore, who chaired the Economic Development Committee for the six years that he was Common Council president, argued that the RFP would not depart from the feasibility study, and there had already been "considerable input" on that document. If memory serves, there was a "kickoff meeting" with Saratoga Associates at the end of March 2015, which did not involve the public, and two meetings in the summer of 2015, after the study had been completed--one on July 1, to which the public was not invited, and another on August 5, which was open to the public. 

At the moment, there seems to be no community consensus on one of the biggest questions for the waterfront: What should be done with the four acres of vacant land between the Dunn building and the Ferry Street Bridge? Should it be additional parkland and green space? Should it be used primarily for parking? Should additional buildings with as yet unknown uses be constructed there?

The 1996 Vision Plan proposed mixed use residential and commercial buildings for this vacant space along Water Street.

The Dunn Warehouse Adaptive Reuse Study proposes essentially the same thing.

It  was never clear that this was the kind of waterfront development the people of Hudson wanted in 1996, and it is not clear today. A community conversation on the subject of this vacant land seems to be in order.
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