Last night, the Common Council held a public hearing on the proposed amendments to Article XIV, "Community Character Preservation." During the public hearing, most of which was lost to anyone attending the meeting on Zoom because of connectivity issues, two shortcomings of the law were noted, neither of which is addressed by the proposed amendments. The law is meant to preserve Hudson's unique character by preventing businesses operating in four or more locations from opening in Hudson, but the law does not make it clear how or at what point the City determines a proposed business is part of a chain as defined by the law and hence prohibited from opening in Hudson. A second problem pointed out during the public hearing is that the definition of a formula business in the current law seems to relate only to "very, very large chains," like Starbucks or The Gap.
Before the public hearing began, Council president Tom DePietro said the amendments were probably going back to the Legal Committee, and that is exactly what happened. Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward), who chairs the Legal Committee, said she wanted "a more robust conversation with business owners" as the committee considered further amendments to the law.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK
No comments:
Post a Comment