Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead
It's Valentine's Day week . . . and for those not looking forward to heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and romantic dinners for two (and even for those who are), there are meetings!
- On Monday, February 11, the Common Council holds its informal meeting at 7:00 p.m. in City Hall. Of interest on the agenda available so far: fourteen pages of comment from Timothy O'Connor on the Conservation Advisory Council's draft Open Space and Natural Resources Inventory; a letter from Camphill Hudson about pedestrian safety issues at the corner of Warren and Third streets; and a resolution to appoint Hilary Hillman to fill a vacancy on the Conservation Advisory Council.
- On Tuesday, February 12, there is a scheduled meeting of the Hudson Industrial Development Agency. The meeting will take place at 1:00 p.m. at 1 North Front Street.
- On Wednesday, February 13, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners holds its regular monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. in the Community Room at Bliss Towers. Last week, Gossips reported that HHA had withdrawn its application for site plan review by the Planning Board of its proposal to construct two new income based apartment buildings on lower State Street. It is not known if the reason for putting the project on hold or the next steps for the project will be addressed at the meeting or not.
- On Thursday, February 14, the board of Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 2:00 p.m. at 1 North Front Street. Thursday is the deadline for submitting sealed bids for two vacant properties HCDPA is selling: 202-206 Columbia Street and 238 Columbia Street. Bids must be submitted by 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 14. It is anticipated that bids received will be opened at the meeting, which begins at 2:00 p.m.
Also on Thursday, February 14, the Planning Board meets at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. There are two projects of interest on the agenda. The first is the proposal for the conversion of 60 South Front Street into Red Barn Hudson--a year-round farm and flea market, a full-service restaurant, and a "grab-and-go" cafe. In December, it will be remembered, this project received a Regional Economic Development Council grant for $420,860.
The second project of interest that will be making its debut before the Planning Board this Thursday is the Stewart's Shops proposal to demolish two houses and its existing convenience store at the corner of Green Street and Fairview Avenue and build something bigger and better. Hudson's zoning law had to be changed to enable this expansion, so what Stewart's will be proposing should be of interest to many. The drawing below shows the building they had in mind for the site last year.
It will be remembered that the Planning Board offered its support of the law that changed the zoning to accommodate Stewart's on the condition that SmartCode principles be applied to the proposed design. No mention of SmartCode was written into the law, so it will be interesting to watch how this all plays out.
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Thanks, Gossips, for linking to the CAC public comments.
ReplyDeleteIn a nutshell, if the CAC aspires to become a Conservation Board (CB), when it will be consulted as a matter of course by other City bodies in need of scientific insight, then it had better start thinking scientifically.
For three years I've argued in person, in emails, and in submitted papers that the group must give EQUAL TIME to the preponderant theory of sea-level rise advanced by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Climate Assessment. By now it's clear that the CAC's consistent rejection of the mainstream theory amounts to an agenda.
If CAC members are so willing to be led by a specific, favored prediction, thus giving the overall subject very little thought, then on what basis do they presume to advise anyone?
Moreover, in using nature to further a specific agenda how is that different from our centuries of exploitation of the natural world? Of course the CAC will justify itself, but listen for the sound of every other anti-Enlightenment justification we've ever heard. They will cite the governor's cock-eyed preferences, as if they're unable to think and act for themselves.
Previously we discussed some of the environmental data the CAC didn't make time for - e.g., off-the-shelf maps pertaining to Hudson's soil and slope studies - but the group's fixation with a minority sea-level rise prediction was paramount over such useful information.
Because the CAC remains fixated on a single, minor, and sensational theory, one which may easily result in pointless regulations for property owners in the city's low-lying areas, my own comments clarify the basis of a potential lawsuit against the City in the event that decisions guided by this CAC (or heaven forbid a CB!) will end up harming these neighbors.