Friday's Historic Preservation Commission meeting provided an update on the situation with Columbia County regarding 11 Warren Street and the county's refusal to submit plans for exterior alterations to the building to the HPC for a certificate of appropriateness.
When last we reported on 11 Warren Street, both Phil Forman, chair of the HPC, and Nick Fox, code enforcement officer, had contacted the county requesting (Forman) and informing it was required (Fox) that the project apply for the certificate of appropriate from the HPC. Neither received a reply. The city attorney was then going to contact the county attorney. The outcome of that attorney-to-attorney communication was shared by Fox on Friday. What he reported was that the county attorney is claiming that the previous code enforcement officer, Craig Haigh, said it was OK, and the county has no intention of applying to the HPC for a certificate of appropriateness.
Fox also told the HPC that the county considers its buildings exempt from Hudson's preservation ordinance, citing this passage from the description of the Warren Street Historic District included in the recommendation presented by the HPC to the Common Council on March 30, 2006:
Why the words "with the exception of county owned buildings" appears in this document is not entirely understood. In 2006, the only building within the boundaries of the Warren Street Historic District was 560 Warren Street, the building designed by Warren & Wetmore and completed in 1910 as the new location of the Hudson City Savings Institution, founded in 1850 and for decades located at 23o Warren Street, now Le Perche. Gossips will not speculate about why this significant historic building would have been exempted from protections afforded by the city's preservation ordinance. Suffice it to say that in 2006 the preservation ordinance had only recently survived being suspended (the year after it was enacted) and significantly revised.
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| Photo: Rowles Studio Collection, Historic Hudson |
What will happen next is not clear, but it appears this face-off between the city and the county is not over.
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What a great picture of this building!! Just here to clarify that 560 Warren Street in Hudson is the home to the Columbia County DMV and Clerk office. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteFor months, Hudson Common Sense has used 11 Warren Street as part of its argument that Claire Cousin was an ineffective County Supervisor. We were told the problem “happened on her watch,” that her attendance was the issue, and even that if somebody else had been there, things might have turned out differently.
ReplyDeleteWell, Claire is no longer the First Ward Supervisor.
And 11 Warren Street is still a problem.
The latest reporting makes clear that Columbia County is still refusing to submit the project to Hudson’s Historic Preservation Commission. The County Attorney is taking the position that the County does not have to comply. Hudson’s Code Enforcement Officer and Historic Preservation Commission disagree.
So where is that same energy now?
If 11 Warren Street was proof of Claire Cousin’s ineffectiveness when she held the seat, what does the continuing situation tell us today?
Maybe the problem was never as simple as one Black elected official missing meetings. Maybe this is a much larger institutional problem involving Columbia County, its legal position, and the relationship between county government and the City of Hudson.
Accountability should not change depending on who is sitting in the chair.
If we are going to talk about effectiveness, let’s use the same measuring stick for everybody.
Quintin, the current issue is what color lipstick to put on this pig. The bigger issue is that we have to live with the pig, which will produce no new jobs, tax revenue or homes, for the foreseeable future (I believe that last item, homes, is important to you?). Claire (and Chamides, and Kamal) did nothing when it mattered.
DeleteIt is absurd to compare the current HPC/City vs County situation to the absolute dereliction of duty that allowed the County to purchase the building in the first place. Your priority seems to be defending your allies rather than pushing elected reps to help deliver the things you say you value.
What was the strategic value in making this post? What even is the point of it?
The point is simple: I’m not saying the current HPC fight is the same as the original purchase.
DeleteI’m saying 11 Warren Street has repeatedly been personalized around Claire, when the real question is who actually had the power to make or stop these decisions.
A Hudson supervisor is one member of a 23-member County Board. I could rally every ally I have in Hudson and we still would not, by ourselves, have the votes to overturn the County majority.
Hold Claire, Kamal, Chameides and everyone else accountable. But hold the people with governing power accountable too.
If Claire’s effectiveness was central to the story then, why isn’t the current leadership’s power central to the story now?
Accountability without a discussion of power is incomplete.
When people organized around 11 Warren Street and showed up at County Board of Supervisors meetings, they weren’t protesting Claire. They were attempting to sway the County Board, specifically the site selection committee (or whatever that group was called).
DeleteClaire, Kamal and Chameides *had* “governing power” by dint of their elected positions. They used those positions to do nothing to stop the sale. Current City Hall staff and corporation counsel are now trying to make the best of a horrible situation.
You seem to be invoking the HCS platform and their many, many biases and confusing them with popular Hudson opinion; they aren’t, no matter how many emails and texts they cite as “silent majority evidence”. However criticizing Claire—and everyone else with their fingerprints on it—for their involvement (or cowardice) in the sale of that property is absolutely justified.
Chameides voted for the sale as did Abdus Miah. Shamelessly owned lock, stock and barrel by the good ole boys.
DeleteA guide on the subject published by NYS: https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2026/02/governmental-immunity-lu14.pdf
ReplyDelete