Gossips made the mistake of not attending the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting in person on Monday. Alexander Gorlin Architects, the firm engaged by Mountco, HHA's development partner, made a presentation on what's being planned, but the boards they displayed were never visible to the camera, so those participating on Zoom never got to see them. Copies of the drawings were distributed to the commissioners, but they were collected after the presentation.
In addition to the buildings proposed for the current HHA site, Mountco is proposing fifteen townhouses to be constructed presumably on the three lots owned by Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency, which HHA has an option to buy: (1) the vacant lot at the northeast corner of Warren and Front streets; (2) what remains of the community garden at the northeast corner of Columbia and Second streets; (3) the vacant land along the north side of State Street from Front Street eastward.
During the meeting, Jeffrey Dodson, executive director of HHA, stated, "I've been pushing to get as many units as we can." A goal often cited is to build twice as many units as HHA now has, "to serve people here now and new people as well."
The plan is to build on the north side of State Street, now being called Site B, first and have people move from Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments into the new buildings. Then Bliss Towers can be demolished, and construction can begin on what is now being called Site A.
In 2019, when HHA, working with a different development partner, contemplated constructing new buildings on the north side of State Street, it was determined that the land there was not stable enough to support the 120 units being proposed for the site.
At the meeting on Monday, Nick Zachos, who serves on the HHA Board, asked the architects if they were confident they could build on that site. They acknowledged that they haven't yet completed their site studies.
In the discussion, Revonda Smith, who chairs the HHA Board of Commissioners, spoke of 280 North Pearl Street in Albany as an example to be emulated. The building (shown below), owned by the Albany Housing Authority, opened in 2019 after three years of construction.
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| Photo: Albany Business Review |
Mountco and the architects will return in October with the completed preliminary plan that will be submitted to the state, and the HHA Board of Commissioners will be asked to vote on approving it. Apparently, it is at this point that community engagement begins. John Madeo of Mountco assured the board that Gorlin was "very good at community engagement" and was "not afraid to come out at night."
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I understand that low income housing has certain program design requirements but I hope that they are able to decide on a design that fits in with the local context.
ReplyDeleteSo, 50% more units? More people using city and school services and no additional property taxes being paid. I'll let you all do the math.
ReplyDeleteThe new buildings will look like market rate but will be affordable. So -- built like garbage or just subsidized up the (tax payers') ass? Or both?
ReplyDeleteThis makes as much sense as hiring a company to paint your house and a few years later when all the paint peels off you hire the same company back to paint it again. HHA should be prohibited from expanding and required to replace the mess of crumbling buildings they already own with decent housing.
ReplyDeleteA seven-story building would just be Bliss 2.0. The building in Albany mentioned during the meeting appears to be seven stories, and it would be totally out of context for Hudson. Take a look at it on Google Street View. There is almost nothing over four stories in Hudson, except for Bliss Towers, and that's as high as HHA should go. Why is HHA focused on cramming in as many units as possible? Simply to grow their poverty empire?
ReplyDeleteI always found it unfortunate how, despite how pretty it can be up close, the view of Hudson from a distance is blighted by the Towers and Hospital.
DeleteAs to why they want to cram in as many apts as possible? Yes, to grow the poverty empire. I guess we long abandoned the idea that public housing was supposed to be a temporary housing situation for those in need as we then try to uplift people into a more stable situation. The county as a whole should focus on paths to homeownership, habitat for humanity-type situations. Things that build generational wealth and break the cycle of poverty. But for those that profit off of poverty, there's more money in the treatment rather than the cure.
Also, more people in HHA represents an easy voting block to counter the newer arriving homeowners that are living here more and more as full time residents, registering to vote and are unhappy with what they are getting for the high property tax bills. It's easy to do a voting drive by throwing a pizza party in the HHA community room and telling them it's "all hands on deck" so we can keep electing incompetency, and draining the public purse on raises for staff (friends) and never ending consultants. A voting block that does not feel the effect of property taxes can be a valuable thing.
The Albany building looks terrible and I hope nothing like it is allowed in Hudson. At least Claire Cousin rightly objected to 7 stories. They should aim for fewer units and more quality.
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