By Roger Hannigan Gilson, Staff Writer
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https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/realestate/article/mill-street-lofts-lawsuit-20420674.php
https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/realestate/article/mill-street-lofts-lawsuit-20420674.php
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Petition and Complaint NYSCEF Doc. No. 3.pdf
Representation: Sive, Paget & Riesel P.C. has been a recognized leader in environmental law and litigation, municipal and land use law for over 60 years.
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A for-profit developer, the Kearny Group, is proposing a 70-unit building of mostly one-bedroom units for at a range of rental prices. Many residents are surprised to learn that only 9 of 70 units will be reserved for low-income people, and that Hudson residents cannot be given priority in living there. Tenants will be selected from a lottery system from anywhere in the country. Mill Street Lofts is one of many housing initiatives that the city is promoting to address the housing shortage. This project would not replace Bliss Towers, which has its own 300-unit redevelopment plan in the works. As proposed, the building would represent a 600% increase in density on Mill Street.
No! We support affordable housing and would support appropriate development on our street. We want a functional neighborhood plan that takes the street’s serious limitations into account. The street is narrow, dead-end, floods frequently, and is disconnected from the rest of the city by steep hills with no sidewalks. It was not built for high-density housing, and that means the City either needs to plan and budget for a major infrastructure overhaul, or change the development plan.
Cutting corners, ignoring known problems, disregarding resident input, and contradicting the city’s own planning recommendations don’t save time or money in the long term. Hudson does need housing, and a lot of it. The city needs to show that it can responsibly handle taking on development, and push developers to design lasting buildings that fit the available infrastructure. Many Hudsonians are upset that the city is willing to push through such a poor plan -- and those residents will be much more likely to oppose affordable housing in their own neighborhood. We believe if the city can do a good job redeveloping Mill Street, it will help it accomplish its development goals in other neighborhoods and bring us much closer to solving our housing crisis.
No! Mill Street is proud to be a very diverse neighborhood in terms of class, race, national origin, and political affiliation. We are 12 households that reflect the diversity of Hudson. While most households have lived here for 15 or more years, we have warmly welcomed new residents too. We oppose the project because of its poor planning, not because we won’t share the street.
Yes! The parcel being sold for development has been a park for all of living memory. It was the schoolyard for Charles Williams School for 60 years, until the school transferred it to the city in 1983. Since then, it has been used as a ballfield and maintained by the city as recreational space for over 40 years. There are rules about taking parkland away from the public, and the city has refused to follow them.
The property up for development is a floodplain that collects water from over 300 acres of city land, and is the stormwater runoff route for Underhill Pond. It floods in any heavy rain event, and becomes a rushing river in bad storms, like hurricanes Irene and Sandy. The street’s only intersection also floods, and so does every house with a basement. Any water that is displaced from the Mill Street basin is likely to worsen the flooding in the homes and intersection down the street. So far, neither the developer nor city government has made a commitment to reroute any of the sources of floodwaters, or to resolve flooding at the intersection so that the 100+ new residents can exit safely.
Mill Street is very narrow and therefore has no legal street parking. Charles Williams Park at the end of the road also has no parking. The development proposed has 70 units for up to 150 residents but only 56 parking spaces. Unlike other neighborhoods in the city, residents on Mill Street cannot just park down the block. The developer and the Planning Board don’t want to admit that this will lead to an unresolvable parking problem on the street, and that it will impact the Empire State Trail, pedestrian and cyclist safety.
Mill Street is part of New York’s Empire State Trail, and therefore has heavy foot and cyclist traffic. Because Mill Street has no sidewalks or bike lanes, all those pedestrians, bikers, baby strollers, and dog walkers travel in the middle of the street. The developer and the Planning Board refuse to consider that the plan’s 600% increase in density on a narrow, dead-end street will impact those pedestrians. There is no coordination with the Empire State Trail and no plan for preventing accidents.
Margaret Morris, 1st Ward Council Member
“I am opposed to the proposed development on Mill Street. Even without the known flooding issues, this is a bad plan that ill serves the most vulnerable. Mill Street is on a cul-de-sac approximately one half mile from Warren Street, up a very steep hill. There is no public transportation on Mill Street.
Of the 70 units, 9 are proposed for households at 30% of AMI and 53 for households at 60% of AMI. The remainder for households at 110% of AMI. There will be 57 parking spaces, which the developer stated was adequate for low-income housing as not all residents will have cars. How are these people expected to get to work, essential services, and grocery stores from such an isolated location? Isolated housing without reliable transportation will set vulnerable residents up to fail.
We need affordable housing that is built where people can thrive, not where they will be cut off.
The same developer presented a proposal for housing at 4th Street and State which would also include a day-care center. They have put that project on hold. That is the project they should be prioritizing, not Mill Street.”
Jenny Belton, 4th Ward Council member
Linda Mussmann, 4th Ward County Supervisor
Peter Spear, Mayoral Candidate
“I stand with my neighbors on Mill Street. I believe the City has failed them and, in doing so, failed all of us, including and especially the people who need access to decent, affordable housing. We have real housing challenges that need real solutions. This action by our neighbors on Mill Street gives us a chance to have a conversation about what community-driven development would actually look like. The future of Hudson depends on our ability to answer their call.”
Alexandria Madero, Candidate for county supervisor in Hudson's First Ward:
“This is an ill-conceived project that will be far more trouble than it is worth. The site is in a well documented flood plain with no public transportation, creating unnecessary accessibility hardships, among several other issues, and history has shown that we cannot trust Hudson’s Planning Board. I stand in opposition with Supervisor Linda Mussmann, Councilmembers Rich Volo and Jennifer Belton from the Fourth Ward, Councilmember Margaret Morris from the First Ward and the citizens of Mill Street.”
Rich Volo, 4th Ward Council member:
“The Mill Street project has several serious flaws. The project is located on a flood plain of several water outlets. The project is out of character with other houses on the block and the community was not consulted before the project moved forward.”