About 11 Warren Street

The parking lot at 11 Warren Street is currently fenced off, with signs indicating access is restricted to construction vehicles only.  

Last week, Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, issued this update:

"We're making very good progress--I'm very pleased with the renovations and construction work that's been going on," reports Ron Knott, Stuyvesant town supervisor and chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Department of Public Works committee, on the steps being taken to turn 11 Warren Street into a building housing county offices.

Shortly, 11 Warren Street will become the new home of the Board of Elections, the Probation Department, the Public Defender's Office, and the Conflict Defender's Office.

The Board of Elections will be moving from 401 State Street to 11 Warren, while the others move from 610 State Street. The latter building has [been] deemed surplus by the Board of Supervisors and will be up for sale in the near future. . . .

The plan is to hold off on relocating the Board of Elections until after the primary on June 23, which also includes early voting from June 13-21. . . .

Following the primary, the "equipment that's out for it will be moved to 11 Warren, so we don't have to move it twice. The staff will move down probably that last week of June or the first week of July," [said Ray Jurkowski, Public Works Commissioner]. . . .

Looking ahead, Commissioner Jurkowski pointed out, "there's also a second portion to 11 Warren, which is the exterior. That's been on a parallel path to the construction phase. A couple months back the county entered into contract with LaBella Associates, and we've started programming the vision for the building's exterior."

Plans are to have the architects prepare three separate concepts, followed by meetings at which the public will be invited to critique those concepts. "We're trying to figure out what the public is looking for," said Commissioner Jurkowski. "By creating these charrettes, we feel we'll be able to get the input we've been looking for."

"This is a great project for the county," said Austerlitz Town Supervisor and Count Deputy Chairman [Robert Lagonia]. "For one, the Board of Education [sic] will finally have a great working space. I'm very excited to see it's all coming to fruition."

There is no indication if the plans for the exterior renovation will go before the Historic Preservation Commission for a certificate of appropriateness, which they should since the building is in a locally designated historic district. If the project does not go before the HPC, it will be just another example of the disdain county government has for the City of Hudson, its laws, and its concerns.

On another 11 Warren Street-related topic, at the Common Council Legal Committee meeting last Thursday, an "Intermunicipal Agreement" between the City of Hudson and Columbia County was introduced for on-street parking for county employees at 11 Warren Street. There are 27 parking spaces in the parking lot in front of the building, which readers will recall was originally designed to be a strip mall, but the County is seeking 18 more parking spots for the exclusive use of county employees from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Of those 18 spaces, 14 would be on Warren Street and 4 on South First Street, adjacent to the building. Not only would the spaces be dedicated to county employees, but those employees would not be expected to pay parking fee. For this, the County would pay the City $18,006.30 in the first year. The agreement is for five years. Here is how the amount was calculated. (The following is quoted from the proposed agreement.)

• The annual parking fee paid to the City by the County shall be 90% of the current standard rate ($0.50) per hour x the number of annual County Working days: $0.50 per hour x 90% x 9 hours x (52 weeks x 5 days per week - 13 annual County holidays) = $1,000.35 per parking pass = $18,006.30 Total for the first year.
• In the event the City parking hourly rate changes, the County rate shall be 90% of any new rate applied to metered parking in the City.

Council president Margaret Morris, who chairs the Legal Committee, defended the proposed agreement, arguing that if county employees had to pay for parking on Warren Street they would seek parking in adjacent neighborhoods, on Union Street and Columbia Street, which would impact residents of those streets. She also said the County would allow neighborhood residents to use the off-street parking spaces in front of the building overnight and on weekends, when the offices in the building were closed. This is not mentioned in the proposed agreement. Morris cited Helsinki Hudson, back when it existed before the pandemic, using the county parking lot at Columbia and North Fourth, and maintained it was county policy to allow their parking lots to be used by the public during off-hours. It was pointed out (by Gossips) that Helsinki had an agreement with the County for the use of the lot, which was worked out during its Planning Board review, and not all county parking lots are open to the public during off-hours. For example, this sign appears in the lot at Sixth and Columbia.

Councilmember Claire Cousin (Fifth Ward) expressed concern about parking for Shiloh Baptist Church when there was an event or a funeral on a weekday. Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) brought up the solution she had proposed, which was to have the county finance the creation of a parking lot on Water Street, on the other side of the Ferry Street Bridge, across from Hudson Power Boat Association, more than four blocks from 11 Warren Street. Councilmember Jason Foster (Third Ward) questioned the plan, which is part of the agreement, to relocate the designated handicapped parking space now on Warren Street into the parking lot in front of 11 Warren Street.

One little consolation: The County has agreed to allow the City to review the design for the signage to be installed to identify the designated on-street parking. Exactly who, representing "the City," will be reviewing and approving that signage is not known.

The proposed agreement, which can be found here, will be introduced to the full Council at its informal meeting on Monday, May 18.

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