Randall Martin intended his town hall meeting on February 27 to be an opportunity to learn "what the public is really truly interested in in the First Ward." He found out the thing uppermost on the minds of First Ward residents--at least the few that showed up--is the Planning Board's review of Colarusso's application for a conditional use permit for its dock operations on the Hudson waterfront. Martin explained, "I'm not here as a member of the Planning Board." Nevertheless the discussion of the Planning Board's past and future decisions regarding Colarusso continued.
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First Ward resident Nicole Vidor, after saying the Planning Board "sold us down the river" in its approval of the haul road, told Martin, "We have a shot to put some restrictions on Colarusso," regarding its dock operations. Martin responded by saying, "What we're doing is understanding what the court is allowing us to do." Margaret Morris, councilmember for the First Ward, pointed out, "There are conflicting legal opinions about the Planning Board can control."
Cassondra Britton, who seems to be the attorney now assigned to the Planning Board, has been telling the Planning Board that their ability to impose restrictions on the dock operations is very restricted. Other attorneys, however, have different opinions.
The opinion of William Demarest, representing The Valley Alliance, Our Hudson Waterfront, and River District Economic Council, can be found here, beginning on page 7.
The opinion of Kenneth Dow, who was city attorney during Mayor Tiffany Martin's administration and is very familiar with the situation, can be found here.
Both are recommended reading for anyone who cares about our waterfront. We can only hope that members of the Planning Board are studying these documents as well.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
I think you hit the nail on the head with that last sentence. I had to ask some friends, what are the qualifications of someone to be on the Planning Board? When do positions come up? How is the person chosen? I had gone to the Hudson City website and I couldn’t find any information about the positions, though I saw that two were vacant. I wrote the mayor and asked where I could find information about how Planning Board members were chosen. He pointedly responded very simply with something to the effect of “by me”. I asked again about where I could find further information. He said to swing by his office and we could chat about it. That seemed downright odd to me. A position that important, that is responsible for very important city wide decision making and “planning”, had a very haphazard way of being handled. In fact, it sounded like a crony response. I’d like to think Planning Board members were competing based on their qualifications and that they actively engaged in community outreach. But the couple of times I witnessed the Planning Board in action, I felt a real sense of being in a Franz Kafka novel. Nothing went like I’d imagined it would. Most of the members seemed half there. There was a sense of disconnect, discomfort and disengagement with the people they are representing. How could all of our input and petition signing and meeting attendance end like that? It made me feel sick to my stomach. We pay a lot of taxes and with those taxes should come representation. This is an important historic city and it deserves thoughtful consideration and planning.
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