- On Monday, July 8, the Common Council Economic Development Committee meets at 6 p.m., followed by the informal meeting of the Common Council at 7 p.m. Both meetings take place at City Hall. No agenda is yet available for either meeting.
- On Tuesday, July 9, at noon, the Hudson Literacy Fund and Friends of Hudson Youth will celebrate the official opening of Hudson Little Free Libraries with a ribbon cutting at Oakdale Park. Assemblymember Didi Barrett will be on hand for the ceremony.
The little libraries, which were built by the Technology Education class at Hudson High School from materials donated by Ed Herrington, Inc., and installed by the Department of Public Works, have been in place and in use for a couple of weeks at three locations throughout the city: 1 North Front Street, the First Presbyterian Church, and Oakdale Park.
- Also on Tuesday, July 9, the DRI Committee will meet at 3 p.m. at City Hall. There was a site visit on June 25 for firms interested in submitting proposals in response to the City's RFQ for renovations to Promenade Hill. July 9 is the deadline for submitting proposals, so it is likely the proposals received will be reviewed at this meeting and decisions made about firms to be interviewed.
- The final meeting of interest on Tuesday, July 9, is a public hearing to be held by the Planning Board. The public hearing starts at 6 p.m. and will take place not at City Hall but in the Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street. When the public hearing was scheduled a month ago, two projects were to be the subject of the hearing: the proposal to situate self-storage units in the vacant lot at the corner of Fairview Avenue and Oakwood Boulevard and, what's expected to be the big draw, the conditional use permit for Colarusso.
Regarding the latter, The Valley Alliance has resurrected itself for one more battle. Warning of a potential 400 percent increase in truck traffic, a double-wide paved highway through South Bay, and dangerous truck crossings over two major entrances to Hudson, they declare: "Hudson's Planning Board has the power to prevent these destructive impacts, which have held back the Waterfront for so long. . . . This is truly a watershed moment for Hudson."
- On Wednesday, July 10, Mayor Rick Rector holds a public hearing on Local Law No. 1 of 2019--an amendment to the zoning code that will eliminate offstreet parking requirements throughout the city. The public hearing takes place at 3:00 p.m. at City Hall. This amendment to the zoning code originated with a recommendation from the Planning Board, and so far the only person to speak out against it has been code enforcement officer Craig Haigh, who warned that it would create havoc in residential neighborhoods.
- At 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10, two meetings are happening simultaneously: the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meets in the Community Room at Bliss Towers, and the Common Council Housing and Transportation Committee meets at City Hall. At the Hudson Housing Authority meeting, there is always a chance to learn something about the plans for new construction. At the Housing and Transportation Committee meeting, it is expected that the impacts for Hudson of the Statewide Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 will be discussed. If things follow their usual course, one can probably start out at the HHA meeting, leave when the board goes into executive session, and get to City Hall to catch most of the Housing and Transportation meeting.
- At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10, the Livingston Planning Board continues its public hearing on the Global Partners proposal to build a market cafe with multiple gas and diesel islands on the northeast corner of the Bell's Pond intersection. The hearing takes place at Livingston Town Hall, 119 County Route 19 in Livingston. Click here for more information.
- On Thursday, July 11, the board of Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 2:00 p.m. at 1 North Front Street. The board will likely continue its discussion of efforts to divest itself of property--vacant lots of various sizes in the Second Ward.
Update: The HCDPA meeting has been canceled.
- On Friday, July 12, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall.
Regarding the opportunity to speak before the Planning Board (re: Colarusso), the event isn't actually announced anywhere as a "public hearing," nor does it appear on the City calendar nor on the Planning Board's Agenda.
ReplyDeleteMy point is not to question Gossips' use of the phrase which, reportedly, the Planning Board itself had used, but to inquire about the context of this very informal hearing.
It has nothing to do with the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The SEQR review hasn't begun, nor is it even clear that the Planning Board will be the proper "lead agency" for the review.
Additionally, SEQRA doesn't require a public hearing, though one may be held at the discretion of a SEQR lead agency. So in the event that the Planning Board becomes the lead agency for the review, rather than say the ZBA, or the HDCPA, or even the Common Council, will the public later be informed that it's already had its "hearing"?
Without an announcement, and with no known context for this hearing, I predict that the seemingly casual attitude of the Planning Board will later count against the public, particularly when a city with zero institutional memory most needs its citizenry.
July 9: Today, on the same day as the hearing notices of the event have finally appeared on the City website.
DeleteIf this Planning Board didn't wait until the absolute last moment to announce this circus, then they waited too long and have acted unlawfully as they have in the past.
Taxpayers should not accept such treatment.
Welcome to Hudson pilgrim...fifty years ago Colarusso would have their two lane road and an ebb tide sluice would "appear" from 3rd street to Black Bridge.
ReplyDeleteNow nothing gets done, while the city shrinks, sandwiched between route 9 and the Faithful.