In January 2025, using funds from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), a concept plan was completed for the area in North Bay once known as the Furgary Boat Club: Furgary-Shantytown Park Vision Plan. In September 2025, the City was awarded a Hudson River Estuary Grant "to advance planning and engineering for the redevelopment of the historic Furgary Fishing Village site along the city's waterfront." Today, the City issued a request for proposal (RFP) to oversee the final design and regulatory review process for the project.
Mayor Joseph Ferris made the following statement about this step in the project:
I'm excited to announce that the City of Hudson issued an RFP that will bring us one step closer to a new park at the Furgary Fishing Village. Thanks to a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program Grant awarded last year during the Johnson administration, we will be able to move into the planning phase for a project that will greatly expand community access to the North Bay.
While this 1.75-acre space--once home to a 20th-century fishing village--remains a draw for people looking for waterfront access, it has the potential for so much more. The upcoming work will ensure that the final design retains traces of its past, creates a more resilient waterfront, and provides a new natural resource designed to bring people and the North Bay together.
The planning process will ensure that the very community who will get to enjoy this park space have a seat at the table during the design process. By doing so, we will ensure the legacy of the fishing village lives on with public education opportunities built around local history and ecology.
I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks and months as planning advances, community outreach begins, and other public engagement opportunities arise.
Ferris's statement makes it sound like they are planning to do the whole community outreach process carried out in the fall of 2024 and reported in the Furgary-Shantytown Park Vision Plan over again.
Let's hope that's not the case and that this new phase of planning moves forward from the work that has already been done.
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Interesting. Good to see South Bay and Noeth Bay come together.
ReplyDeleteWonder if the Kite’s Nest plans for their new campus are detailed enough so that residents can see how all the elements will blend together.
The mayoral statement is a little equivocal in what the next step actually is ("planning phase", community with "a seat at the table"), but it doesn't sound to me like he wants to start from scratch.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to guess I'd say they are starting to plan how to implement the outcomes of the 2024 vision plan.
It's a disgrace that the city let those buildings deteriorate when they could of become a cornerstone of the park.
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