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NIMBY battle between preservation and services
Feb 16, 2011 9:28 am
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="900 Columbia Street, Hudson, seen in a photo from the Gossips of Rivertown blogsite, is in danger of being demolished as part of a plan to provide new apartment homes for the Mental Health Association of Columbia/Greene Counties."]
[/caption]Battles between preservation and expediency continue to rattle the City of Hudson as the Register-Star reports on a new fight over county Mental Health Association plans to demolish its group residence at 900 Columbia Street to create new apartment-style residences in its back yard. The problem? The Federalist home dates back to the early 1800s... but earlier plans to set up new MHA residences in the Town of Greenport ran into neighborhood complaints and a town decision to ask the agency to take their business elsewhere. Meanwhile, the state Office of Mental Health employed an architect to do a second design option for the Columbia Street option, which holds 10 clients, although those plans take into account the fact that the current building is not in good condition and would require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of renovation, making retrofitting of it expensive. MHA is suggesting that once the new structures are completed, the19th century structure would be demolished and a park-like area with gardens and a parking area would be built to replace it. Complicating matters is the fact that mental health considerations legally trump historic preservation concerns, leaving any decision in such matters up to negotiations. Carole Osterink of Gossips of Rivertown has also weighed in on the issue, as can be found on her blog here.
[/caption]Battles between preservation and expediency continue to rattle the City of Hudson as the Register-Star reports on a new fight over county Mental Health Association plans to demolish its group residence at 900 Columbia Street to create new apartment-style residences in its back yard. The problem? The Federalist home dates back to the early 1800s... but earlier plans to set up new MHA residences in the Town of Greenport ran into neighborhood complaints and a town decision to ask the agency to take their business elsewhere. Meanwhile, the state Office of Mental Health employed an architect to do a second design option for the Columbia Street option, which holds 10 clients, although those plans take into account the fact that the current building is not in good condition and would require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of renovation, making retrofitting of it expensive. MHA is suggesting that once the new structures are completed, the19th century structure would be demolished and a park-like area with gardens and a parking area would be built to replace it. Complicating matters is the fact that mental health considerations legally trump historic preservation concerns, leaving any decision in such matters up to negotiations. Carole Osterink of Gossips of Rivertown has also weighed in on the issue, as can be found on her blog here.