Stewart's Wins Again

The saga of Stewart's and Altamont started long before the story of Stewart's and its expansion in Hudson began and has continued long after. Gossips has been following the Altamont story, which began in April 2015, for two years, publishing the first post about it on January 16, 2018: "Stewart's Shops Elsewhere." In November 2019, Gossips reported that the Village Board in Altamont, made up primarily of newly elected members, had approved the zoning changes required to enable the construction of an expanded Stewart's. In April 2019, however, a neighborhood group had filed a lawsuit against Stewart's Shops and the Village of Altamont Board of Trustees over the zoning change. The group's opposition was motivated by this argument: "Once the fabric and character of Altamont begins to unravel, there is no easy way to reverse the damage."

Yesterday, the Altamont Enterprise reported on the fate of the neighborhood group's legal action: "Stewart's Altamont lawsuit is no more." The picture below, which accompanied the article, shows the two-family house that will be demolished to make way for a bigger Stewart's.

Photo: Carol Rothenburg

This past Monday, the Albany Business Review reported on Stewart's "aggressive expansion plan" for 2020: "Stewart's to spend nearly $70 million on new stores, warehouse expansion this year." According to the article, ten new stores are planned. One wonders what impact this will have on the fabric and character of the ten communities where the new stores will be built.

COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK