Tuesday, April 16, 2024

The Future of the Furgary

The sad saga of the Furgary Boat Club in North Bay has been well documented by Gossips, from the seizure of the site in 2012 by a Hudson Police Department SWAT team to the demolition of four shacks earlier this year, among them the shack considered to be the one greatest historic significance. Here is the latest bit of news about Hudson's historic fishing village.


On the agenda for tonight's Common Council meeting is a resolution authorizing Mayor Kamal Johnson to enter into an agreement with Hudson Cultural Services "to prepare a mitigation plan and complete a structure documentation report as outlined by the State Historic Preservation Office." The resolution reads in part:
WHEREAS, following the City’s submission of an Alternative Analysis regarding the proposal to demolish the Furgary Boat Club, colloquially known as “The Shacks,” the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has agreed that there may be “no prudent and feasible alternatives to demolition of the Furgary Boat Club structures;” and 
WHEREAS, the proposed demolition of the historic structures is considered an Adverse Impact under the New York State Historic Preservation Act of 1980; and 
WHEREAS, the SHPO has directed the City to prepare and implement a mitigation plan that documents the structures and history of The Shacks, installs at least one interpretive panel at the site and/or develops an exhibit to be displayed locally, and continues to study the feasibility of retaining at least one of the historic structures for use as part of the proposed park; and 
WHEREAS, the City of Hudson directly solicited proposals from M/WBE consultants with expertise in the area of mitigation planning for historic structures and received a qualifying proposal from Hudson Cultural Services to develop a mitigation plan for the Furgary Fishing Village in the amount of $8,820.00…. 
As Gossips has noted before, the shack it made most sense to preserve--Shack #13--has already been demolished. 


Hudson Cultural Services is the same group that was hired by the Galvan Foundation to do the alternatives analysis to justify the demolition of two historic structures in the proposed "Depot District." The resolution does not indicate who did the alternatives analysis that the City submitted to SHPO.

The resolution is a new addition to the agenda for tonight's Common Council meeting. 
COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK

2 comments:

  1. So once again we're doling out money to a consultant for... a plan. Then once we have the plan we'll have to spend more money to get it done (eventually). I need to quit my day job and become a consultant in Hudson. You get paid and don't really have to do anything, or so it seems, for quite some time. Maybe a truck route consultant or a sidewalk repair analyst? These seem like ongoing issues that could be very lucrative.

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    1. If it's of any consolation, the money for the plan is coming from the DRI funds allocated for this project.

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