Interpreting the Code

Yesterday, a reader, known to other readers of this blog as "unheimlich," alerted me to work being done at the Hudson Power Boat Association on the waterfront. He also provided this picture.

What was happening was that the Hudson Power Boat Association was making repairs to its sidewalk. The question raised was why this work had not required a review by the Planning Board. After challenging it in court, Colarusso is now before the Planning Board seeking a conditional use permit because of repairs made to the dock without Planning Board review and approval. Like the Colarusso operation, HPBA is in the Core Riverfront District, and the code is quite explicit in its requirements for conditional uses in the Core Riverfront District: "no building shall be erected, moved, altered, rebuilt or enlarged, nor shall any land or improvement thereon be constructed, altered, paved, improved or rebuilt, in whole or in part, for any purpose in the Core Riverfront C-R District, except that the following conditional uses are permitted, subject to the approval of the Planning Board." 

Although repairing sidewalk and improving handicapped access seem minor, the code indicates that any change or repair triggers a review by the Planning Board. So I asked code enforcement officer Craig Haigh about it. He explained that, although Colarusso was a conditional use, HPBA was a permitted use in the Core Riverfront District, and therefore no Planning Board review was required. The following are the permitted uses in the Core Riverfront District, according to the Section 325-17.1 C:

(1) Public docks and launches for pleasure or recreational watercraft.

(2) Public parks, including but not limited to public beaches, boat launch areas, and playing fields.

(3) Public and private recreation facilities and amenities, including but not limited to snack bar or cafe to service public parks, walking and biking trails, boat rental facilities, information kiosks.

(4) Tour, commercial, charter, and/or fishing boat operations.

(5) Boating instruction schools.

(6) Water taxis and ferries.

Section 325-17.1 D of the code lists the conditional uses in the Core Riverfront District. There are eight. The first four of them are:

(1) Continuation of existing commercial dock operations for the transport and shipment of goods and raw materials . . . .

(2) A private causeway or private road that provides ingress to or egress from the property upon which a commercial dock operation is conducted . . . .

(3) Public and private marinas.

(4) Annual or private membership clubs providing private playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts, marina and boat launch facilities, related recreational buildings . . . .

Items (1) and (2) obviously describe the Colarusso operation, but it also seems obvious that items (3) and (4) describe the Hudson Power Boat Association. They certainly provide a better description of this private club than any of the six items listed as permitted uses. But it is not Gossips lot to interpret the code.
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