For those who may not be prepared (understandably) to digest the full 32,000-word document submitted by Save the South Bay to the City and State on Monday, March 15th, we offer the following “Executive Summary” from that submission:
The submission includes a number of illustrations in the body of our comments, and extensive attachments at the end; we encourage everyone to read the entire document at their leisure, probably best digested 5-10 pages at a time. We have posted the full PDFs here, but the document can also be gracefully read in “book” format online at Issuu.com.SAVE THE SOUTH BAY, an unincorporated association of Hudson and towns nearby in the Hudson Valley region, recommends that the the City's Draft Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan be revisited and revised in order to:
• Eliminate “use conflicts” and the possibility of future controversies over such conflicts, taking into account the wrenching history over the past four decades of local controversies over industrial projects related to the southern portion of the Hudson Waterfront;
• Conform with both written and verbal DOS Coastal Resources staff guidance from 2003, 2005, and 2006, along with the prescription for rezoning the Waterfront contained in the Secretary of State's 2005 Coastal Consistency Determination regarding the St. Lawrence Cement Greenport proposal;
• Reflect the vision and goals developed via community consensus in the Hudson Vision Plan and Hudson Comprehensive Plan;
* Resolve longstanding citizen questions about the ownership of lands formerly underwater along the southern Hudson riverfront;
* Address concerns regarding the dramatic change of use and levels of operations related to aggregate deliveries and truck traffic to those same riverfront parcels since the Spring of 2005, a change which is causing the DLWRP's authors to present a false choice among flawed alternatives related to truck traffic;
* Correct glaring omissions in the record of public participation in the City's LWRP process;
* Reopen the process to further public input;
* Respect the clear community consensus against industrial incursions into and impairment of greener, more sustainable uses of the southern portion of the Waterfront, so as to provide the highest level of recreational, economic, ecological, social, and cultural benefits to the people of Hudson and the region;
* Reject the self-serving and misleading comments of Holcim and O&G submitted to the City regarding the draft Plan earlier this winter;
* Incorporate Save the South Bay's detailed comments on the GEIS and 44 Coastal Policies;
* Investigate the track records of corporate irresponsibility at Holcim and O&G when contemplating the accommodations demanded by those companies within the LWRP.
Meanwhile, in other developments: The Olana Partnership has also sent in a strong letter on the DLWRP, which can be read as an Acrobat (PDF) format by clicking here. In addition, Hudson Common Council President Don Moore has sent a letter to Mayor Rick Scalera which many consider a good step in the right direction for the Council, which can be downloaded by clicking here.
