Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

This week's meetings are concentrated in the the middle three days--Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

• On Tuesday, September 18, the Common Council Finance Committee meets at 5:30 p.m., and the regular monthly meeting of the Common Council begins at 7:00 p.m. Both meetings are scheduled to take place in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. At its meeting, the Common Council is expected to vote on several resolutions, all of which can be reviewed here. Of interest among them is a resolution authorizing the mayor to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for a feasibility study for making City Hall ADA compliant. The fact the City Hall is not now ADA compliant is the reason the Council is now meeting in places other than its official chambers. It is also possible that the Council may be voting on proposed Local Law No. 5 , known to some as the "Stewart's law." Last Thursday, when Gossips was otherwise occupied, I'm told the Planning Board agreed to respond to the Council's request for a recommendation on the proposed Local Law No. 5 by sticking with their original opinion that "tackling zoning issues piecemeal is not the way to go" and recommending that the comprehensive plan be revised and comprehensive zoning revisions be undertaken.
• On Wednesday, September 19, the Common Council Public Works and Parks Committee meets at 5:15 p.m. The meeting will take place not at City Hall but at the Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street. At 6:00 p.m., the monthly Zoning Board of Appeals meeting takes place at City Hall. At the last meeting of the ZBA, a public hearing was opened on the application for four area variances required for a proposed new addition to 17-19 Union Street and new construction on Partition Street behind the house. For the public hearing, the owner of the property, Steve Dunn, who is a member of the ZBA, retained Jason O'Toole to present the project. In lieu of public comment, the ZBA received a letter from the owner of the adjacent property at 15½ Union Street declaring that the proposed project would have a negative impact on her property and questioning how it would fit into the historic context of Partition Street. The letter raised questions that could not be answered by O'Toole, and since Dunn himself was not present to provide the information, the public hearing was kept open to be continued at this month's ZBA meeting.

• On Thursday, September 20, the Common Council Economic Development Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. No agenda is available for the meeting, but Economic Development Committee meetings are always of interest.

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