An Evening with the Common Council

If ever there was a Common Council meeting that cried out to be documented on video, it was last night's special meeting, convened "for the purpose of determining the next step in relation to the city-wide GAR revaluation in progress and possibly considering that action if determined" (that word salad was quoted directed from the "Call of Special Meeting"), but alas, Dan Udell and his video camera were not present. If he had been there, Udell would have captured Common Council president Tom DePietro interrupting First Ward alderman Rob Bujan when he tried to ask a question, cutting off Fifth Ward alderman Dominic Merante when he was expressing reservations about the Council's course of action, interrupting city attorney Andy Howard when he was offering his legal opinion, repeatedly interrupting and contradicting Mayor Rick Rector when he was speaking, and hammering the gavel and declaring a ten minute recess when audience member Alan Weaver started to speak. What Udell probably would have missed, as Gossips did, was an altercation outside the room (the meeting took place in the Senior Center on the second floor of the Galvan Armory) in which DePietro is reported to have shoved former Third Ward alderman John Friedman against a wall. (Roger Hannigan Gilson did witness this and reports about it on The Other Hudson Valley.) 

Since there is no video documentation of the meeting, Gossips will endeavor to report, in broader strokes, what transpired. The meeting began with DePietro explaining, "Further research indicates that the Council does have the authority to stop [the revaluation process] at this point"--"at this point" being before the tentative assessment roll is certified by the city assessor. So, because the Council could not vote to override the mayor's veto of the resolution passed on April 16--a vote to override a veto must happen at "the next regular meeting" of the Council, which won't happen until May 21--the Council voted on the resolution in its original form, before, on the legal counsel of Howard, the words "to reject the preliminary assessment roll submitted by GAR Associates on the basis of which the City mailed 2019 preliminary assessment notifications on or about March 1, 2019, to property owners in the City of Hudson" had been deleted. Predictably, given the vote on April 16, Bujan, Merante, and Eileen Halloran (Fifth Ward) voted no; the rest of the Council and DePietro, who usually makes a point of not voting unless there's a tie, voted yes.

After the vote was taken, Halloran asked, "How quickly will we find out the impact of what we just did?" DePietro outlined the process: "It goes to the mayor. He will veto it or not. If he does veto it, we decide if we want to press him." An earlier comment by DePietro suggests that by "press him" he was intimating the possibility of "internal litigation between the two branches of government." Howard pointed out, "Part of this resolution is that you want to reinstate the 2018 roll," and reminded the Council that "the assessor is charged with setting the roll" and "no legal authority changes that obligation." 

Interestingly, the Council voted on the resolution before hearing from the public or the city assessor, and not everyone at the meeting was aggrieved at their new assessments. Betty Bednar said she and her neighbors on Riverledge Road were happy with their assessments and some of them were anticipating their taxes would actually decrease. When he had the opportunity to speak, city assessor Justin Maxwell told the Council, "You voted on a false resolution." He cited paragraphs 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 of the resolution as containing false information. Regarding paragraph 10, Maxwell told the Council, "New York State [Department of Taxation and Finance] took the numbers and examined them and determined that at the end of the process you will have a 100 percent valuation."

After the ten minute recess called by DePietro, Fourth Ward alderman John Rosenthal urged the Council, "We need to be positive and talk about things going forward," but that never happened. Earlier in the meeting, audience member Gregg Carey asserted "the only path forward is evaluation of data" and urged the Council and those present to "stop bickering and realize that it is within our grasp to look at the data." In the end, Seth Rogovoy asked the question that was probably on the minds of many at the meeting: "Do I still plan on grieving my assessment?" The answer was not clear. It seems another special meeting will be called to discuss what happens going forward.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Tourism Board Carries On

It was announced this morning that the Common Council Legal Committee meeting, which was scheduled for 6:15 p.m. tonight, has been canceled, very likely because the special meeting of the Common Council, to take up the issue of assessments, which begins at 5:00 p.m., is not expected to be over before 6:15. One of the issues the Legal Committee was expected to take up was amending the lodging tax law to put all revenue from the lodging tax into the control of the Common Council, essentially defunding the Tourism Board. Last night, the Tourism Board met for its regular monthly meeting in the shadow of uncertainty about its future.

The meeting began with an issue the Tourism Board has been discussing for months: the $20,000 that the City of Hudson has in the past used to support community events. After lengthy discussion, during which it was decided that the application for funds needed to include a question about how the event would be marketed, the eight members of the Tourism Board--Jamie Smith Quinn, Kristen Keck, Tambra Dillon, Rich Volo, Ellen Thurston, Ted Gramkow, Chuck Rosenthal, and Jeff Hunt--finally voted to return $20,000 of the Tourism Board's budget to the general fund to be distributed, as it was last year, by the Common Council Finance Committee. Only Quinn, who maintained that the events traditionally funded with the $20,000 did not bring tourists to Hudson, voted against the plan.

The board then discussed its ongoing review process in selecting a consulting firm to help develop a strategic plan for marketing Hudson as a destination. It was decided that the one firm that was scheduled to make its presentation to board this Friday would be asked to postpone, and all four groups being considered--Neo Design Group, Fifteen Degrees, BBG&G, and Chandlerthinks--would make their presentations in a day-long session on Friday, May 10. The board decided to pursue their plan on the assumption that any changes made to the lodging tax law would not be retroactive and money collected under the current law could be spent in accordance with that law to do research and community engagement toward the end of creating a strategic plan. Regarding the proposed amendment, Rosenthal noted, "The Council is hearing one set of voices. They need to hear from those in the tourism-supported businesses."

It is of interest to note that none of the people who have been most critical of the Tourism Board and its mission were in attendance at yesterday's meeting.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Mother and Father Goose

Although a month ago this year's Canada goose population on the pond in the cemetery promised to be upwards of eight, the waterfowl population has since dwindled to a single pair of Canada geese: a female goose sitting on a nest at the edge of the pond and a male goose swimming close by on the pond.

This morning, when Joey and I approached the nest, walking along the road, the mother goose got off the nest and the father goose climbed out of the pond and both honked and made fierce, threatening gestures in our direction. Sadly, I missed getting a picture of that display of goose aggression and had to settle for this picture, taken after they decided we intended them no harm.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Midday with the HDC

The board of the Hudson Development Corporation met today at noon, and several members of the public--more than could be comfortably accommodated in the room--showed up to observe.

Board president Bob Rasner opened the meeting by addressing the issues of how the board votes and how HDC deals with the open meetings law. He explained that he and Steve Dunn, HDC board member who is acting as its legal counsel, investigated these issues and confirmed that HDC must have its meetings open to the public, but the board is not obligated to accept public comment. "Public comment," said Rasner, "is a privilege not a right." He went on to say that the board would receive comment from the public at the end of the meeting, but comments must be addressed to the chair. Members of the public should not try to engage members of the board in questions and answers.

Rasner then explained that, to remedy the problem of the anonymous vote for new board members, the ballots from that vote had been returned to the board members who had voted. The board members reclaimed their ballots and added their names and signatures. Those ballots were now on file. 

At the end of the meeting, after Phil Forman was elected to the board and officers--Nick Hadded as vice president, Phil Forman as treasurer, and Paul Barrett as secretary--were elected using paper ballots on which board members were asked to print and sign their names, Rasner, after reporting that there had been no negative votes, addressed the issue of the board's meeting time. He reiterated the statement issued last week (and quoted by Gossips yesterday) that, to accommodate requests from the public, HDC had changed its meeting time from 12 noon to 6 p.m., but since few if any members of the public showed up for the 6 p.m. meetings they were going back to the board's traditional meeting time of 12 noon. He also noted that at today's noon meeting the room was full and promised, "We will seek an alternative location if we consistently have too many people." 

Rasner then opened the meeting to public comment, setting a three-minute limit on each person's time to speak. The first speaker was Julie Metz, who read a prepared statement that went on for longer than three minutes. When Rasner interrupted her, he asked that she submit the statement to the board. She agreed to do this. The statement, which she subsequently shared with Gossips, follows:

According to their mission statement HDC aims to “create jobs and enhance the quality of life in the City of Hudson.” I have considered this mission statement in my following comments.

After two plus years of a bungled RFP process, HDC was ready to hand over the entire KAZ waterfront property to a developer without community input. Good urban decision-making happens in reverse order: first invite community input, engage professional planners, then send out an RFP. After pushback, and being called out for excessive use of executive sessions, HDC announced that it was prepared to invite “stakeholder buy-in” in Hudson.

And so, recently, a number of qualified people applied, eager to serve. Some have renovated properties in Hudson that are now the sites of thriving hotels, restaurants, and retail. With extensive development experience, they represent Hudson’s future, not its past. One might ask why the two members of HDC who are elected to represent Hudson’s citizens weren’t part of the nominating committee.

A number of highly qualified applicants were rejected. However, according to reports from last month’s HDC meeting, your nominating committee stated that no one had applied and that they had to do outreach in the community to fill spots. This is clearly what we who strive to live in a world of facts call false.

And what is the result of HDC’s latest search for members? You have accepted Paul Colarusso, whose company mine produces excellent gravel. I have a good amount of it in my own back yard. But I do have a problem with this board adding a member whose company blatantly violated Hudson land use laws and then sued the city. In his January 19, 2019 ruling tossing out Colarusso’s suit against Hudson, Judge Melkonian wrote: “the petition is dismissed in its entirety” and “Petitioners are not entitled to any declaratory relief.” The judgment states that “inasmuch as petitioners’ nonconforming use had ceased, they would be required to obtain a conditional use permit for their continued commercial dock operations.” I urge the City to enforce Judge Melkonian’s decision. Colarusso must follow the same laws as the rest of us. . . .

How can the owner of a company that blatantly violated Hudson zoning laws, and then attacked our land use authority, and then lost in court, and cost the city money in legal fees be put in a position of making land use decisions? How can a company that sees an expanded gravel dump on the water as a positive development help determine plans for the nearby KAZ site? HDC evidently thinks this is a good idea, as it previously supported this concept in the false language (since retracted) in the DRI grant written by your former Executive Director. HDC evidently thinks Mr. Colarusso’s presence on this board is a good idea in spite of the appearance and blatant facts of multiple conflicts of interest this presents because:

1) members of the planning board sit on HDC, and

2) Colarusso has an application before the Planning Board regarding the requirement for a conditional use permit.

If KAZ had roads to pave, I’m sure Mr. Colarusso’s company would be an excellent candidate for the job after the review is over. But he should not be representing the citizens of Hudson in development decision-making. 

The story continues. After recruiting Mr. Colarusso and several others, HDC leadership conducted an anonymous vote. Ken Dow, city attorney, states that this is a violation of New York State law. Since the ballots were not made public, this vote is cloaked in the kind of secrecy HDC has consistently employed. The public deserves to know how each of you voted.

To the majority of this board who voted for Paul Colarusso: shame on you. His presence on HDC is a blatant conflict of interest in every imaginable way given that the matter of the company’s dock and proposed road has in no way been settled. Yet, when members of the public made note of this conflict of interest at the last HDC meeting, Mr. Rasner shut down all further public comment. So much for “stakeholder buy-in.”

There is no clearer evidence of HDC’s irrelevance, incompetence, and complete inability to represent Hudson than selecting Mr. Colarusso over other applicants, whose businesses have created vastly more jobs in Hudson, and are friends and neighbors with skin in the game. They represent Hudson’s future, not its past.  They are the backbone of Hudson’s economic revival, and this board rejected them out of hand.

HDC has shown disdain for transparency, has shown no interest in “stakeholder buy-in,” and has therefore lost the trust of this community. HDC should be shut down and the KAZ project moved to a city entity that represents the interests of Hudson’s citizens. The state of California eliminated “development corporations” like HDC because of similar behavior that has nothing to do with serving communities. HDC has lost sight of its mission and is now like a tiny island principality whose out-of-touch royals refuse to cede a single inch of territory, though the waters are rising fast.  

Metz made it to the beginning of the sixth paragraph before her three minutes were up. The only other comment from the public was a question asked by Linda Mussmann, who wanted to know who HDC's legal counsel was. She was told that Steve Dunn was acting as counsel. The meeting, which lasted forty-five minutes, was then adjourned.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

The month of April--which T. S. Eliot called "the cruelest month"--is almost over, but the last full week of April is jam-packed with meetings and events--some promising to be contentious, others not so much.

On Monday, April 22, there are two Common Council committee meetings: the Fire Committee meets at 5:30 p.m.; the Police Committee meets at 6 p.m. Both meetings take place at City Hall. No agenda is available for either meeting.

On Tuesday, April 23, the Hudson Development Corporation board meets at 12 noon at 1 North Front Street. The calendar on the City of Hudson website indicates that this meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Addressing that problem, HDC issued the following statement last week: 

To clear up the confusion about meeting times: The HDC meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month. In the past the Board traditionally met at noon, but at the request of several public attendees, changed the meeting time to 6 p.m. to accommodate their schedules. The board met for three months at 6 p.m. and public attendance dropped to just one or two individuals. None of those individuals that demanded the time change attended 6 p.m. meetings. Thus, we have returned to a noon meeting schedule. 

Among the items of business before the board will no doubt be the charge that new members of the board were elected illegally at the board's March meeting.

Also on Tuesday, April 23, the Tourism Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at 1 North Front Street. At its last meeting, the board was still debating whether or not to use $20,000 of its $140,000 budget to help fund such community events as Flag Day, Winter Walk, and the Halloween Parade. At the informal meeting of the Common Council on April 8, Council president Tom DePietro and Alderman John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward), who chairs the Legal Committee, spoke of amending the lodging tax law to defund the Tourism Board, making the board's role not to spend a designated portion of the revenue from the City's lodging tax but simply to propose projects to the Council to be funded with that revenue.

On Wednesday, April 24, the Common Council holds a special meeting at 5 p.m., the purpose of which is to discuss next steps in the ongoing city-wide revaluation. Last Tuesday, the Common Council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to terminate the City's contract with GAR Associates, the consultants hired to do the revaluation. On Friday, the mayor vetoed that resolution. On Wednesday, the Council is expected to vote to override the mayor's veto, as well as to discuss how they plan to proceed if the assessment roll is rejected before the tentative assessments are submitted on May 1. The meeting takes place in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street.

Also on Wednesday, April 24, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:15 p.m., also presumably in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library. No agenda is available for this meeting, but it is expected the committee will take up the issue of revising the lodging tax law as it pertains to the duties and responsibilities of the Tourism Board, among other things.
Update: The Legal Committee meeting has been canceled.
  
On Thursday, April 25, we all get to take a little break from the sturm und drang of City governance and politics to dine out for a good cause. The Alliance for Positive Health is holding its sixteenth annual Dining Out for Life event. On Thursday, participating restaurants throughout the Northeast contribute a percentage of their sales to HIV/AIDS-related programs and services. The restaurants in Hudson where you can dine out for life are Baba Louie's, Ca' Mea, Helsinki Hudson, and the Red Dot. 

On Friday, April 26, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its second meeting of the month at 10 a.m. in City Hall. At its last meeting, the HPC began a discussion of how it might intervene to prevent the loss of historic integrity as a result of neglect and demolition by neglect in historic districts. This discussion may or may not be continued at this Friday's meeting.

Also, on Friday, April 26, the Tourism Board pursues its understood yet controversial task: "to take all reasonable steps it determines desirable, necessary and proper to market the City of Hudson as a destination for overnight and daytrip visitors." From 1 to 5 p.m., the board will be hearing presentations from two of the four consulting firms being considered to help develop a marketing and branding strategy: Neo Design Group and Fifteen Degrees. The four-hour session takes place at 1 North Front Street.
Update: This meeting of the Tourism Board to hear presentations has been canceled. Presentations by all four firms being considered will take place, at different times throughout the day, on Friday, May 10.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Happy Earth Day!

Another Thing to Care About

Since 2017, we have seen protections for the environment, wilderness areas, and national parks weakened. Now the National Park Service is proposing changes to the regulations governing the listing of properties in the National Register of Historic Places. Among the proposed changes is one that would ensure that if the owners of a majority of the land area in a proposed historic district object to the listing, the proposed district will not be listed over their objection. This change would definitely weaken the law's ability to recognize and protect districts of historic significance. 

Comments about the proposed rule can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. on April 30. Click here for more information about the proposal and for information about submitting comments.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

If You Missed It

The first event organized by a group called Future Hudson took place yesterday afternoon. The panel discussion--"What Makes Hudson a Great City?"--featured Joe Czajka from Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, Kaya Kühl from the Hudson Valley Initiative at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, and Dan D'Oca from Interboro, a Brooklyn-based architecture, urban design, and planning firm. Fourth Ward alderman John Rosenthal moderated the discussion, and Dan Udell was there to record it. The video of the event can be viewed here.

Future Hudson is planning an event every third Saturday of the month from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library. The next event, scheduled for Saturday, May 18, will be a community conversation on the challenge of developing a sustainable local economy, with the title "How Does Hudson Grow?" Click here to see the schedule through August. 

It was also announced at Saturday's meeting that James Howard Kunstler, best known for his book The Geography of Nowhere, who was brought to Hudson by Friends of Hudson back in 2002 or 2003, in the days of the cement plant battle, will be returning on Thursday, May 30, to present a talk called "The American Small Town Is Where It's At. Let's Get It Right."  
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Happening Before Our Eyes

By coincidence, two different readers alerted me today to two different buildings in Hudson suffering problems as a consequence of being vacant and neglected. The first is 501 Union Street, once known as "Apartments of Distinction."

The building was constructed c. 1864. From 1883 to 1896, it was the location of the Home for the Aged, before the home moved upstreet to 620 Union Street, where it stayed until it ceased to exist in 2014.

In 2013, the building got a new slate mansard roof and the chimneys were re-created, but since then, nothing much has happened. Today, the wall facing South Fifth Street is crumbling. The hole created by the bricks falling away is reported to go through to the interior.

The other is a humbler building, with a less distinguished past: 250 Allen Street.

A brick chimney on the house's east wall is crumbling. There is a hole that goes completely through to the interior.

And the wood of the little gable roof over the door is rotting.

Both buildings are owned by Galvan Initiatives Foundation. The Galvan Group acquired 501 Union Street in 2004. Galvan Partners acquired 250 Allen Street in 2011. Ownership of both properties was transferred to Galvan Initiatives Foundation in 2012.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Perennial Problem of Parking

Now ripening on the desks of the Common Council is a zoning amendment that would eliminate all offstreet parking requirements. Anyone who follows the Zoning Board of Appeals knows that the appeal most frequently before the board is one for an area variance related to parking. The code requires that eating and drinking establishments provide one offstreet parking space for every three seats in the restaurant. The requirement is totally unrealistic in an urban setting such as Hudson, and the ZBA regularly grants area variances to new restaurants and bars that cannot meet the offstreet parking requirement. Such a variance was granted just this past Monday to the new owners of 60 South Front Street, who are redeveloping the building as a restaurant and grab-and-go cafe.

In the past, there has been talk of building a multilevel parking garage to accommodate visitors to Hudson and patrons of the city's shops, restaurants, and cultural venues. In 2010, Mayor Rick Scalera had the idea of building such a parking garage on the northeast corner of Fourth and Columbia streets. In 2014, Mayor Bill Hallenbeck wanted to build a four-tier parking garage behind City Hall. More recently, one of the three ill-fated proposals for the Kaz site included a parking facility for 400 cars. To assess Hudson's  present and future parking needs and determine if a parking garage somewhere near Warren Street was really necessary, the City applied for a grant last year to fund a parking study. The application was not successful. 

At the Common Council Public Works and Parks Committee meeting last Wednesday, DPW superintendent Rob Perry presented his own Parking Space Inventory, estimating how many parking spaces existed on the street and in municipal parking lots.

The total, which includes every parking space in the entire city not just those within easy walking distance of Warren Street, is 4,242. Of more relevance when considering parking for those who come to Hudson to shop, dine, visit galleries, or attend events is that there are 469 parking spaces along Warren Street and 364 parking spaces in municipal lots on Warren Street or within one block of Warren Street, for a total of 833 spaces. Also of relevance is that the two biggest municipal lots near Warren Street--the one at 325 Columbia Street and the one behind City Hall--are rarely used in the evening or on weekends. The narrow passageway beside City Hall may discourage some people from using the lot in the 500 block, but there's another, less intimidating route to that parking lot next to The Barlow, and, to access the lot at 325 Columbia Street, there's a ramp next to a pleasant little pocket park. 

Could it be that inadequate signage is what is keeping people from using these parking lots?
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Assessment Angst: Part 3

Earlier today, Mayor Rick Rector vetoed the resolution passed by the Common Council on Tuesday, authorizing him to terminate the contract with GAR Associates. His veto message reads in part:

I believe that it is our City’s mission to proceed in a transparent, equitable manner so that issues important to all City residents are addressed in a rational, fair and open manner. I also believe that all of us need time to investigate the allegations set forth in the resolution to determine their accuracy and merit.  By way of example, while the resolution’s conclusion is that the City’s contract with GAR should be terminated and the City should commence legal action against GAR seeking monetary damages for negligence and the failure to uphold professional standards, the resolution itself fails to cite any specific actions and/or omissions on the part of GAR that would support such legal action. The Common Council apparently recognized this fatal problem with the resolution in scheduling a special meeting for Wednesday, April 24, 2019 to discuss this matter further. 

The entire veto message can be found on the City website by clicking here.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Hudson: The Sixth Borough

This morning, Lisa Durfee shared this image with me, which she discovered on Instagram.

My curiosity piqued, I decided to check out Big Onion Walking Tours. On its website, I discovered that Big Onion Walking Tours has been in existence since 1991, leading people on "innovative and exciting tours through New York's ethnic neighborhoods and historic districts." Among the tours offered are "Historic Harlem," "Upper East Side: A Clash of Titans," The Annual Easter Sunday Jewish Lower East Side Tour," "Brooklyn Distilled Walking Tour," and now, its first walking tour outside of New York City, "Historic Hudson." 

Tours of Hudson are scheduled for every Saturday this spring and early summer, from May 4 through June 29, all beginning at 2:00 p.m. from the gazebo in Courthouse Square. Here's how the tour of Hudson is described:

Our walking tour will explore the diverse social history, architecture, and people of this Upstate urban center. Stops could include: Promenade Hill, Nantucket Houses, sites associated with the Underground Railroad, the most notorious Red Light district north of Times Square, and locations associated with Thomas Jefferson, Ma Brown, Charles Dickens, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jack “Legs” Diamond, Ada Louise Huxtable, and Lieutenant William H. Allen, who was killed by pirates.  

Because I'm eager to know what sites in Hudson are associated with the Underground Railroad and how Ma Brown, Charles Dickens, and Legs Diamond are connected with Hudson, I've reserved a spot for myself on the first tour, happening two weeks from tomorrow.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Another Piece of the Taxation Puzzle

On Wednesday night, at the Common Council Public Works and Parks Committee meeting, Bill Huston asked about plans for painting crosswalks and stop lines. Rob Perry, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, told him the budget item for crosswalks had been "defunded." There was money to repair the zebra stripes for existing crosswalks but no money to create crosswalks in new locations. 

In the effort to hold the 2019 city budget increase to just 3 percent, while raising the minimum wage for all city employees to $15 an hour and increasing the Youth Department budget by 47 percent, cuts had to made elsewhere. One of those places was the DPW budget, and what was sacrificed, it seems, was more crosswalks. 

COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Could There Be a Mistake in the Zoning?

Three years ago, when Redburn Development wanted to create a hotel in an old industrial building on Cross Street, many were surprised to learn that the zoning adopted in 2011 for the Waterfront Revitalization Area, as part of the LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program), did not recognize hotels as a permitted use in the RSC (Residential Special Commercial) District--a new district created by the LWRP zoning.

Another surprise about those LWRP zoning amendments was revealed on Monday night at the meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals. The FASNY Museum of Firefighting wants to build a 33,000 square foot addition to the museum building, but the zoning imposed in 2011 does not recognize a museum either as a permitted use or as a conditional use. 

In the LWRP zoning, a new district called IRC--Institutional Residential Conservation--was created to apply to the Hudson Correctional Facility to the south and the Firemen's Home to the north. (Hudson High School and the Elks Club are also located in the IRC district.) Permitted uses in the IRC district are single-family dwellings, public or private parks, and recreation facilities "including but not limited to walking and biking trails, information kiosks, restroom facilities, snack bar or cafe, swimming pool, athletic fields." In the conditional uses for the IRC district, the code seems to acknowledge what was already there: hospitals, sanitariums, philanthropic or eleemosynary institutions and convalescent or nursing homes, congregate housing, or homes for the aged (the Firemen's Home); and annual membership clubs (the Elks Club). But it leaves out this conditional use: libraries, museums or art galleries or antique centers. Did the person writing the specifics of the code overlook the fact the a museum had existed since 1927 in the area now being zoned IRC?

Photo courtesy Historic Hudson

Was it really the intention of the 2011 LWRP zoning to make the FASNY Museum of Firefighting a nonconforming use, given that, to quote city attorney Andy Howard, "something is designated a nonconforming use with the notion that eventually it will go away"? I think not.

Whether or not the Zoning Board of Appeals sees its way clear to grant a use variance, the Common Council should amend the code to correct this obvious error and make "libraries, museums or art galleries or antiques centers" conditional uses in the IRC district.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Where the Wild Things Are

In the past year, we've had a moose trotting along Worth Avenue and a bear climbing a utility pole on Columbia Street. Yesterday, a raccoon was spotted hanging out in a maple tree on Union Street.

Thanks to Walter Chatham for sharing this picture

Assessment Resources

At Tuesday night's Common Council meeting, Kristal Heinz mentioned a resource that could be of use to homeowners seeking to identify alternative comparable properties to those used by GAR Associates to determine the value of their property. It can be accessed through the City of Hudson website: cityofhudson.sdgnys.com. Click on the tab "Click Here for Public Access" at the upper left. Enter your name or address to locate your property. On the "Tax Map ID/Property Data" page, there is a column of tabs at the left. Click on the last tab, "Comparables." You can then search using a number of different variables to identify properties you believe to be the best comps for your house.

COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

This Just In

The Economic Development Committee meeting scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. has been canceled.

Sorrowful News

This evening, Abdus Miah shared the sad news that Fardush Sultana passed away today. The Zanazah (funeral prayers) will be held at Hudson High School on Friday, April 19, at 1:45 p.m.

To quote Miah, "Words cannot express the loss of such an untimely death. May Allah bless her with Jannah. Our deepest condolences and prayers for her family and loved ones."

Recognizing 225 Years of Service

Today, Mayor Rick Rector honored the 225th anniversary of the creation of the Hudson Fire Department with a proclamation, read on the steps of City Hall, declaring this day, April 17, 2019, "a day of recognition and celebration of the Hudson Fire Department’s long history and grand tradition and of acknowledgment and appreciation for the selfless service to the community rendered by our firefighters today and by all the generations of firefighters that came before them." 

Rector presenting the proclamation to First Assistant Chief Anthony DeMarco (left) and Fire Commissioner Timothy Hutchings (right)

Current apparatus of J. W. Edmonds Hose Co., Hudson's first fire company, founded on April 17, 1794, as Fire-Engine Company No. 1

COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Watch for Yourself

Dan Udell's video of last night's Common Council meeting--more than two hours of it--is now on YouTube and can viewed by clicking here.