Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

As we move deeper into the darkness of autumn and impending winter, here is what's happening on the meeting front.

• On Tuesday, November 16, at 5:30 p.m., the Common Council holds a public hearing on proposed Local Law Introductory K of 2021. This law would affect buildings in R4 residential districts that were constructed as commercial buildings and portions of buildings that have had commercial uses in the past and have not subsequently become dwelling units. It would allow the following types of businesses to be established in such nonresidential buildings: retail stores and bank; personal service and other service businesses; eating and drinking establishments. The R4 districts, which are primarily west of Third Street, both north and south of Warren Street, appear in pink on the zoning map below.  

The public hearing will take place on Zoom. The link will be published on the City of Hudson website prior to the hearing. Scroll down to the calendar.

• Also on Tuesday, November 16, the Common Council holds its regular monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. Gossips has heard that the Affordable Housing Development Plan will be presented to the Council at this meeting, but there has yet been no confirmation of this. What is on the agenda is the amended "good cause" eviction law, the zoning amendment to allow certain businesses to be established in buildings or parts of buildings that previously had commercial uses in R4 districts, and legislation being advanced by Alderman Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward) to allow the honorary naming of streets. The link to the Zoom meeting will be published on the City of Hudson website prior to the meeting. Scroll down to the calendar.  
• On Wednesday, November 17, the Zoning Board of Appeals holds its monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. This is the only city meeting currently taking place in person, so if you are interested in what's happening with the ZBA, mask up and head over to City Hall, 520 Warren Street. The agenda for the meeting, which can be found here, includes no fewer than nine requests for a variance to continue using a residence as a short term rental.
• Also on Wednesday, November 17, there is the Comprehensive Planning Workshop, organized by Michelle Tullo, Hudson's Housing Justice Director, and conducted by students from Albany Law School, in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. The goal of the workshop is explain "how a comprehensive plan affects the development of a community and what is the role of citizens in shaping Hudson's planning process." This is an in-person event. Masks are required. Space is limited. Click here to register.
• On Thursday, November 18, the Planning Board holds a special meeting. The main item on the agenda will be Colarusso. It would seem to be time for the Planning Board to make a positive or negative declaration in the SEQR process. At its last meeting, however, the Planning Board postponed voting on granting site plan approval to the redevelopment of the Pocketbook Factory so that the attorneys could work out an agreement to memorialize public access to the garden being planned as part of the project. That, too, is expected to be on the agenda for this meeting. The meeting will take place on Zoom. The link to the Zoom meeting will be published on the City of Hudson website prior to the meeting. Scroll down to the calendar. 

• On Friday, November 19, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its second meeting of the month at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will take place on Zoom. Click here to join. 
• At 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 19, there will be a special meeting of the Common Council, at which the three solar companies that responded to the RFEI (request for expressions of interest) in developing a solar farm on City-owned land along the North Second Street Extension will make presentations to the Council. As Gossips has noted elsewhere, all three companies have their eyes on the capped landfill rather than the sites recommended by the Conservation Advisory Council. The meeting will take place on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK