<aside>
</aside>
Publication Date: 3rd August, 2025 \ Author: Walter Chatham
Hudson needs to build more housing if it is to continue to grow and maintain a viable economy. The question is how much and what type of housing does it need. In order to answer this question Hudson needs a planning process that identifies what is needed, and which then identifies appropriate, available sites.
The physical fabric of the historic river town allows for a viable tourist economy to exist. At present this is the biggest source of outside revenue in Hudson; so the historic buildings and spaces need to be preserved and nurtured from an economic as well as an aesthetic standpoint.
Construction and Hudson land costs make single family and low-density development expensive – so any significant new housing will likely be small to medium-size apartment buildings, presumably with a mix of owner-occupied and rental housing.
Today, we have a scatter-shot development process that doesn’t work well.
There is no clear agreement on what we want; much less how we can move forward and build great housing for the people in our community at all economic levels. Projects that come before the Planning Board are treated as “unique” and only relate to the existing City through the guidance that our 1950’s zoning code offers. The Planning Board relies on its engineering and legal consultants to ensure that minimum code and community standards are met.
This is not “planning”, this is “code enforcement”. Neighbor opposition to any new development is significant and often valid due to the lack of adequate planning both in selecting housing sites and then in designing appropriate housing for the neighborhood that it is going into. We need to correct these things through the lens of an urban planner; a person or firm that can work with the city to determine the best way to preserve what we have and grow at the same time.
Step One: Find and retain an urban planning consultant who can work with the City government and concerned citizens to identify what we actually need. It is assumed that we need to build housing for groups that currently live in Hudson and to also build for new residents, so that we can grow our population and economic base. This needs to be studied and discussed at an all-community level. Without citizen support, any attempts to create new housing will be doomed to spend years in front of the Planning Board.
Step Two: Review our Zoning Code to see if and how it can be improved in light of Step One. Many communities have introduced “overlay codes” that offer an alternative path to development. Our current code is a “suburban code” that was intended to reduce density and separate different uses in order to protect public well-being.
Step three: Identify sites within the City where new housing can be built at a scale that is appropriate for Hudson. The current zoning only permits multi-family density in prescribed areas. These areas should be examined in order to identify the best potential sites.
Step four: Expand Step three and to look for new housing opportunities beyond the city borders. Considering the high real estate costs of “downtown” Hudson, it is worth looking into the idea of conceiving a “local regional Plan” that looks at housing opportunities in Greenport. Although Hudson and Greenport are worlds apart politically, the two economies are co-dependent.
The city bus-route map shows a great deal of unbuilt or under-built development along the areas’ major commercial artery, Fairview Avenue. There are municipal utilities and empty sites just waiting for a workable Housing plan. Some new housing is starting along this corridor, where there are fewer neighbors and no zoning restrictions.
Thoughtful planning will support and enhance the historic city that we live in by ensuring sustainable growth that fits into the well-designed context that make Hudson so liveable.
Most of our existing historic city could not be built under the current zoning code. The zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is constantly being asked to allow new buildings to fit-into the existing neighborhood fabric by over-ruling setback and dimensional requirements. This is a wasteful process that an overlay code could eliminate. It takes far too long to get to planning approval in Hudson. This is a structural problem that must be eliminated if we are to be able to build housing.
<aside> 🏠
An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a secondary housing unit on a residential property, typically smaller than the main house, and often used for family members or rental income.ADUs can be attached, like a basement apartment, or detached, like a cottage in the backyard. They are also known by other names like "granny flats" or "in-law suites". Read more about ADUs.
</aside>
Cities like Newburgh NY have created “land banks” by purchasing properties and then making them available for development. We have a lot of under-utilized real- estate in Hudson that could be re-packages and re—purposed in a deliberate targeted effort.
<aside> 📏
Land bank: A public or quasi-public entity that acquires vacant or tax-delinquent properties, clears title, and repurposes them for redevelopment. The focus is on returning abandoned land to productive use, often for housing or economic development. Read more on Land Banking.
</aside>