Sidewalk Update

The Public Works Board, tasked with implementing the Hudson's Sidewalk Improvement District legislation, has met twice in the past couple of weeks. The five-member board is made up of the Commissioner of Public Works, Jason Foster; the ADA coordinator, Michael Hofmann; a member of the Common Council, Gary Purnhagen (First Ward); a mayoral appointee, George Kroenert; and a Council appointee, David Marston. The first thing the board did at its first meeting was to appoint Purnhagen as its chair.

A few things of interest learned from these meetings are the following:

• Annual maintenance fees will not be changed to property owners until 2025. May is the deadline for adding those fees to the annual property tax bill, and there isn't enough time to calculate those fees before the deadline this year. The annual fee for most residential property owners will be $200.
• The first focus for sidewalk repair and replacement will be the sidewalks between key areas of service which were the subject of a sidewalk audit done in October 2020. (That study can be found here.) Those sidewalks are;
• Warren Street from Third Street to Seventh Street
• Seventh Street from Union to Washington Street
• North Fifth Street from Warren Street to Prospect Street
• North Sixth Street from Warren Street to Prospect Street
• South Third Street from Union Street to Warren Street

It was originally estimated that repairs to these sidewalks would cost $5.5 million. In 2022, the City requested $5 million in Congressionally Directed Funds (CDF) to make the repairs to these sidewalks, but the request was not granted. 

• The DRI-funded Hudson Connects project, about which the public has heard nothing for a few years now, will address sidewalk repair on Warren Street below Second Street, but Allen, Union, and State streets below Second have been eliminated from the project. What the project actually looks like at this point, after it has been, as Council president Tom DePietro said, "condensed, condensed, condensed," is not known, but that's another story.

Another thing the Public Works Board is tasked with is hiring a project manager to help them scope, prioritize, and carry out the sidewalk improvement project. For the past two meetings, they have been debating whether to hire an individual or a consulting firm to do this work. A decision on that matter has not yet been made.

The next meeting of the Public Works Board will take place on Thursday, May 23. Going forward, the board will meet regularly on the fourth Thursday of the month.

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The Evolution of the "Depot District"

Earlier today, this photograph of the construction in progress at 76 North Seventh Street appeared on Facebook.

Photo courtesy Michael Weaver

The picture inspired me to revisit a post from a couple of months ago: "The Naming of Projects." That in turn inspired me to check if the website HudsonDepotLofts.com, which at that time was only a secured domain name, was up and running. It is. And here are a couple of images from that website.

Readers are encouraged to explore the website, which provides this description of Hudson Depot Lofts: 

It will be remembered that 76 North Seventh Street, the Depot District building on the east side of the street, was originally proposed as market rate apartments. Because the Common Council and the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) questioned the appropriateness of granting a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) to a market rate apartment building, the building was redefined as "workforce housing," for households with incomes from 80 to 130 percent of the area median income (AMI). Although the website, which describes the location of the building as the "Cultural, Artisanal, Artistic Capital of the Hudson Valley," somehow doesn't make it seem as though the building should be qualifying for tax abatements, the building has a twenty-year PILOT.

Regarding the building proposed for the opposite side of the street, the one in this "mixed income development" meant for households with incomes between 40 and 80 percent of AMI, the project has twice tried and twice failed to get funding from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). It is rumored, but Gossips has not yet been able to confirm, that the project has been disqualified for HCR funding because three houses on the site were demolished, eliminating four dwelling units, before funding for the new building had been secured.

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If at First You Don't Succeed . . .

schedule another meeting and vote again.

At the special meeting of the Common Council yesterday, the resolution supporting the Hudson Housing Authority's application for Restore New York funding came short of receiving the six votes needed to pass. Of the seven members present at the special meeting, five--Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward), Gary Purnhagen (First Ward) Lola Roberts (Third Ward), Mohammed Rony (Second Ward), and Council president Tom DePietro--voted in support of the resolution, and two--Margaret Morris (First Ward) and Rich Volo (Fourth Ward--voted against it. Four members of the Council were absent from the meeting: Dewan Sarowar (Second Ward), Shershah Mizan (Third Ward), Vicky Dashaloudi (Fifth Ward), and Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward).

Obviously hoping for better attendance and a different outcome, DePietro has called another special meeting of the Council to consider the issue again. That meeting will take place on Monday, April 29, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

Although at yesterday's meeting DePietro insisted that the Council was only voting to support HHA's Restore NY grant application, some councilmembers saw it differently. Morris argued that "in voting to support this application, we are voting to support this project." She noted that this would be the Council's only opportunity to weigh in on the project except to approve or deny the proposal to alter the street configuration which is part of the project, explaining that the buildings will not have to come before either the Zoning Board of Appeals or the Planning Board. She and Volo, as well as Belton, expressed concerns about being asked to support a request for grant money "for a project we don't know that much about." They also argued, "We don't know what the costs to the city of this project will be." Volo pointed out that the project, which concentrates lower income households in one area of the city was counter to the recommendations of the city's Strategic Housing Action Plan.

Jeffrey Dodson, executive director of HHA, told the Council, "The current housing situation is not safe, and this project is the remedy." He went on to say, "What you are voting for is wanting to do better for the citizens of Hudson that live at Bliss." He argued that it made no sense not to try to access whatever money they can for the project. It should be noted that the maximum they could get in Restore NY funding is $2 million, for a project that is expected to cost $220 million, and that money would have to be spent on the demolition of Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments. 

Rony, who admitted he had "very similar concerns about how the project will proceed" as those expressed by his colleagues on the Council, said he saw the vote as "more of a moral support," adding that he was "not satisfied with the proposal as it stands now."

So far, two members of the public--Tim Showinski and Britt Zuckerman--have contacted members of the Common Council to express opinions on this issue. Both have urged the Council not to support the application for Restore NY funding. Given that representatives of Mountco, HHA's development partner, have been claiming at HHA meetings that the project has the support of the City of Hudson when in fact they seem up until now only to have had the support of Mayor Kamal Johnson and DePietro, the fear seems to be that the Council's support for this application will be touted as support for the project.

Readers with opinions about the proposed project should not simply share their thoughts in comments on this blog. They should express their concerns to DePietro and all the members of the Common Council before the special meeting on Monday: 

• Tom DePietro councilpres@cityofhudson.org
• Gary Purnhagen (First Ward) gary.purnhagen@cityofhudson.org
• Margaret Morris (First Ward) margaret.morris@cityofhudson.org 
• Mohammed Rony (Second Ward) mohammed.rony@cityofhudson.org
• Dewan Sarowar (Second Ward) dewan.sarowar@cityofhudson.org
• Lola Roberts (Third Ward) lola.roberts@cityofhudson.org
• Shershah Mizan (Third Ward) shershah.mizan@cityofhudson.org
• Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) jennifer.belton@cityofhudson.org
• Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) rich.volo@cityofhudson.org
• Vicky Daskaloudi (Fifth Ward) vicky.daskaloudi@cityofhudson.org
• Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) dominic.merante@cityofhudson.org

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Oops!

Earlier this week, Hudson Valley Post published an article about Mel the Bakery and its nomination for a James Beard Award: "Brand-New Upstate New York Eatery Nominated for Best in America." 

Bizarrely, the article is accompanied by several pictures of this house on Columbia Street, once the home of the late Estocia Berry . . . 

instead of the bakery's actual location at 324 Warren Street, with its entrance from the PARC Park next door.

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The Plans for HHA's Redevelopment

Later today, the Common Council holds a special meeting to decide if it will support an application for Restore New York funding for the Hudson Housing Authority's redevelopment plans. So far, the public has gotten very little information about what's being proposed, except that the project will more than double the number of dwelling units managed by HHA, build on three parcels currently owned by Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency, close one block of State Street to vehicular traffic and extend First Street for a block, and cost $220 million. No information has been provided about what the buildings will look like, although the public is assured they will "fit it" with the historic architecture of Hudson and "mitigate the stigma of affordable housing."

Recently, Gossips acquired copies of the master plans for the project, which are shared below. They seem to involve not only extending First Street from Columbia to State but also reinstating Lombard Street, which doesn't exist today. (Click on the images below to enlarge.)

Today's special Common Council meeting happens at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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Of Interest

Over the years, Gossips chronicled the fate of the building that once stood at 211 Warren and the evolution of its replacement as the events were happening.

Today, Chronogram retells the story in the article with a subtitle that is completely false: "Warren Street Redux: A Historic Home Gets a Renewable Renovation."

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

The week begins with Earth Day. The theme for Earth Day this year is "Planet vs. Plastics," which seems appropriate on a day when half the city's trash gets bundled up and carted off in blue plastic bags. After that auspicious beginning, here's what is happening this week.

• On Monday, April 22, the Stuyvesant Town Planning Board continues its review of the agritourism project proposed for Sharptown Ridge. It is expected the Planning Board will resume its consideration of Part II of the Short Environmental Assessment Form. The meeting takes place in person only at 7:00 p.m. at Stuyvesant Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, in Stuyvesant. 
• On Tuesday, April 23, the Common Council ad hoc Parking Study Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda has been provided for the meeting, but it is expected the committee will hear presentations from one or more companies that can provide the needed equipment for upgrading the city's parking meter system. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• On Wednesday, April 24, the Common Council holds a special meeting to vote on whether or not to support the Hudson Housing Authority's application for a Restore New York grant for its redevelopment project. The maximum they can get in Restore NY funds in $2 million. The project being proposed is estimated to cost $220 million. Also on the agenda for the special meeting is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract for "falling weight deflectometer testing services," to determine if our streets can bear the weight of the trucks that pass through our city daily. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 

• On Thursday, April 25, Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency meets at 4:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the click to join the meeting remotely.

Update: The HCDPA meeting has been canceled.

• Also on Thursday, April 25, the Public Works Board, the group tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Sidewalk Improvement District legislation, meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 

• Also at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, the History Room at the Hudson Area Library, in collaboration with the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, presents "A French Fabulist in Leisler's New York," a talk by Owen Stanwood about the Canadian explorer and raconteur Mathieu Sagean, whose fabulous tales of the New World intrigued the elites of Europe. The event takes place in person in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. For more information, click here.

• On Friday, April 26, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its second meeting of the month at 10:00 a.m. The meeting includes a public hearing on a proposal to construct an asymmetrical, curved stoop at 442½ Warren Street. The building is one of three identical buildings, and the proposed stoop would be a departure from the straight stoops on the buildings at either side. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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Opening This Weekend

An exhibition of the work of Tony Thompson opens tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, at the Lockwood Gallery, 747 Route 28 in Kingston.  

The exhibition is a celebration of Thompson's life and work. An opening reception takes place tomorrow from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow Is the Day!

It's a sure sign that spring has come when the Hudson Farmers' Market returns to its outdoor location at Sixth and Columbia streets, and that is happening tomorrow! The market will be open in its old, familiar location from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. 

As if the opening of the outdoor market in itself wasn't enough, the folks at HFM have shared this news:

We will have a film crew on location starting at/around 10:00 a.m.! There will be a dozen or so people, their equipment, and signage throughout the lot. We want you to be aware of your surroundings for personal safety, ESPECIALLY if you're coming with your pups. If you would NOT like to appear in the background of their scenes, please move away from where they are filming and they will follow up with respecting those boundaries.

We can't spill any secrets, so don't ask! You will just have to COME TO MARKET to see who it is and what they will be doing. We are excited to host them and have them meet our amazing community.

Schedule your visit to the market to be there when the film crew is there or to avoid them, but by all means plan to be at the market tomorrow to buy your week's provisions, catch up with friends, and enjoy the sense of community that is Hudson.

The Future of the Shacks

At the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, the Council approved the proposal to hire Hudson Cultural Services "to prepare and implement a mitigation plan that documents the structures and history of The Shacks, installs at least one interpretative panel at the site and/or develops an exhibit to be displayed locally, and continues to study the feasibility of retaining at least one of the historic structures for use as part of the proposed park." 

Shacks being demolished on January 3, 2024

Introducing the resolution authorizing this action, Council president Tom DePietro referred to the historic fishing village as the "red-headed stepchild" of DRI projects, implying that it was neglected or perhaps even unwanted. Before the Council voted on the resolution, Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) asked how the resolution had come about. It seems a valid question given that Hudson Cultural Services appears to have been hired to do an alternatives analysis, which was then submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office, without the Council's involvement or knowledge. Why was the Council to be involved at this point when it hadn't been involved before? 

As usual, the small amount of money--$150,000--allocated for the project was offered as an explanation of why the project hadn't been pursued in a timely fashion. Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) suggested that some of the work involved in the project could be carried out by volunteers. In the past, when the use of volunteers has been suggested, the idea was dismissed because a study done in August 2015 found asbestos and lead paint present in most of the shacks. (That study can be found here.) It's not clear what Belton was suggesting volunteers might do, but the demolition of shacks containing hazardous materials, particularly asbestos, requires a crew trained to deal with such materials. According to Rob Perry, the four shacks that were demolished in January were the only ones that did not contain hazardous materials and hence could be demolished by the Department of Public Works.

Community member Ronald Kopnicki asked if there had been a committee involved in making decisions about how to proceed with the Shacks. He was told that it is not in the plan to have a committee and decisions had been made by the mayor and LaBella. (Chazen Companies, the original consultants on the DRI projects, was purchased by LaBella in 2021.) DePietro explained they had decided not to spend the consultants' time in meetings, adding that involving the consultants in public meetings was "just sucking money from the project funding."

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