News
Monday, February 27, 2006
Town needs zoning changes
Editorial - Poughkeepsie Journal
The Town of Poughkeepsie has stumbled through the process of getting its land-use regulations updated, but under new Supervisor Patricia Myers, it is making headway.
While officials want to steer more growth into town centers and better protect some of the outlying areas, they have to realize needless delays could take their toll on good development ventures that have been in the planning stages for years.
Nowhere is that more true than at the old Hudson River Psychiatric Center grounds off Route 9. There, developers want to convert the main campus of the former center into hundreds of housing units, a small hotel and a business center. The site includes a Victorian-era administration building that has been vacant for decades, as well as dozens of other structures. It took about seven years for the developers – Hudson Heritage CPCR Ventures – to get through the bureaucratic maze before they were able to buy the buildings and about 156 acres from the state. The new owners paid $2.75 million and expect to spend from $150 million to $200 million to renovate the buildings and groom the grounds.
Last year, the town imposed a building moratorium on certain residential projects and recently extended the ban until June. But it is at least allowing developers to proceed with rezoning applications, which should be helpful to Hudson Heritage.
Historic designation desired
Hudson Heritage wants the town to create a historic revitalization designation for the property. Essentially, this will give the developers a little more flexibility, since most of the property is zoned residential. While the new owners hope to convert part of the old administration building into hundreds of townhouses, their long-term plans include a number of shops, office space and more in other buildings on the sprawling grounds.
Keep in mind these buildings have been vacant for decades in some cases with the state now operating a smaller psychiatric center off Route 9G. Some of the old buildings may have solid foundations but have deteriorated inside, in part, because the heat was shut off a long time ago. Renovations to these buildings can’t begin soon enough.
The town chose to adopt the building moratorium after earlier drafts of the master plan were deemed incomplete and vague in places. The new draft is better and clearly targets some development for the town’s existing centers, such as Fairview and Arlington. But the town still needs to update the corresponding zoning laws that essentially will police the master plan. The town needs to end this moratorium as quickly as possible.