Chamber of Commerce Sees Waterfront as County Resource

Plotting next steps for the Hudson waterfront

Hudson, NY - “Thanks to the outstanding job of many people, the stage is really set to see some terrific things,” says Les Lak, head of LB Furniture, which sits on eight acres near the waterfront. “Through grants, land acquisition and clean up we have received a beautiful park.”

But the next redevelopment steps remain to be defined. Like many, Mr. Lak favors mixed use – restaurants, shops, some type of housing, and recreational access to protected natural resources at South Bay .

“It is the most significant development opportunity in the county,” says John Maiuri, Vice Chairman of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, who also cites the “significant natural resources” there.

“We want to encourage diverse involvement from the whole county,” says Rick Bianchi, Chairman of the Chamber, explaining that the Chamber does not back any particular plan, but wants waterfront planning to draw attention, ideas, resources and enthusiasm from the entire county.

“We'd like to see the type of development that encourages business,” says Dave Colby, Chamber President.

Currently, the City of Hudson has a one-year moratorium on waterfront development while it rewrites the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, which must be submitted to the state.

Other models

Hudson surely doesn't lack for models as it grapples with waterfront revitalization. And experience shows that the passionate involvement of many different kinds of stakeholders carries the best assurance of a vital, diversified, adaptable, effective long-term plan.

Another small Hudson River city has historic 1800s buildings along Main Street that were badly deteriorated. Its riverfront, with a railroad station nearby, had a former oil depot as well as a defunct salt storage business and a metal salvage yard. Pollution was discovered. A local boat club leased space but there was little public river access. A bridge for motorists spanned the Hudson nearby.

Then a master builder came to town and saw potential in the old buildings. With great attention to detail, he started restoration and today that main street is a thriving antiques district.

Meantime, an environmental group committed to “appropriate development” and access to the river bought 23 acres along the water. They hired the Cavendish Partnership in 1997 to help solicit ideas from the community to determine the best uses for the property. That led to plans for a 14-acre public park with waterside trails, a quiet harbor for non-motorized boats and a fishing pier, offices, restaurants and, because the city had no hotel rooms, a hotel and conference center.

Just across the Hudson River from that community, connected by a new ferry service, another waterfront city is coming back to life after the Environmental Protection Agency spent six years and millions of dollars to clean up a polluted old dumping ground.

Three years ago, with federal funding help, a 124-boat marina to welcome river traffic opened, in addition to eight restaurants, a day spa and office space right along the river.

If these river cities sound like Hudson , it is because their problems and their visions are similar. The first city is Beacon, new home to the world-class DIA Center for the Arts and to the state Rivers and Estuaries Center .

The Rip Van Winkle Bridge connects Hudson to Catskill, a similar bridge connects Beacon to the second city described here, Newburgh . A ferry service also now connects those two cities, much like one talked about to link Hudson and Catskill or Athens .

These riverfront revitalizations are still works in progress. Scenic Hudson , the Poughkeepsie-based organization that owns the 23-acre riverfront parcel in Beacon, is partnering with a developer and conference center management company in planning the nation's first hotel to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council's Gold Rating.

Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan said they were surprised when the community asked for a hotel, but now, with critical federal tax benefits secured by Sen. Charles Schumer, the developers expect to break ground on the “green” hotel/conference center in 2007.

Asked what lessons Beacon can provide for Hudson 's own waterfront development, Mr. Sullivan said, “Community vision can lead to great things. Our plan was to create a park on the entire property, but we were willing to listen. We sought out regional and national resources to help. Hudson 's vision will be unique.”

A decade of waterfront progress

Ever since the 1700s, when whaling was dominant, the Hudson River waterfront provided the doorway to Columbia County . But after 1870, as roads and railroads replaced river traffic, the commercial hubbub of the waterfront stilled to almost nothing.

A Waterfront Committee of city officials and county business people formed in 1995 to address revitalization of the fallow waterfront. What they saw was a disused former oil tank storage facility and contaminated brownfield; a neighboring piece of land owned by a company that loaded river barges; a parcel owned by the railroad; a warehouse badly in need of repair; a utility company Superfund site, contaminated with coal tar; and a cement company's docking and storage facility. The only public access to the river was a boat launch off a small public parking lot, next to a private boat club's dock and clubhouse.

In 1996 The Cavendish Partnership consultants produced “Hudson Vision Plan,” with a detailed section on the waterfront. Developed from a series of community meetings, the report suggested creating a park and more access to the river for boating, revitalizing the depot area, re-using or removing the oil tanks and concrete warehouses, building a river promenade and nature trails, establishing ferry service between Hudson and Athens or Catskill, and enticing a signature restaurant.

Today, the oil tanks are gone, the contaminated brownfield site cleaned up, the city owns 3.25 acres on which it created an inviting riverfront park with a large bandstand/gazebo, bathrooms and parking. A repaired warehouse, with water and sewer infrastructure added, is now owned by the city. The utility Superfund site has also been cleaned up.

Over a million dollars has gone into creating the riverfront access Columbia County residents and visitors now enjoy in Hudson – funds that have come primarily from state and federal government programs and were used in a complicated series of negotiations with multiple parties.

Some who have worked on the waterfront project over the past decade still hope to see a new, bigger boat launch area, public docks and lighting to create a marina, a restaurant, and a ferry. On the city-owned property that lies between the parking area and the Amtrak tracks, a developer could come in and put up retail space, offices, condominiums – all with river views. It now has infrastructure, so it is ripe for development.

Hopes of doing a land swap with the Hudson Power Boat Club are on hold until more land can be acquired. But St. Lawrence Cement owns a broad swath of level river frontage just south of the park, and their current plans for it are uncertain now that the state refused approval of their planned cement plant.

Meanwhile, there is a one-year moratorium on any new waterfront development while a fresh Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan is developed.

The Business View is a Columbia County Chamber of Commerce column that appears on the first and third Thursday of each month in the Business section of the Register Star. For more information, call 828-4417 or go to www.columbiachamber-ny.com.