Anthony Fiducia is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media on the public hearing held in Catskill Mon., Nov. 13, on Catskill Gardens, a planned low-income housing complex for adults with special needs to be built on West Main Street in the village. The project has been proposed by the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties. Feedback from the village residents who attended the hearing was generally negative, and included concerns about the actual location of the facility, potential noise levels, lower property values, safety issues, stormwater run-off and the implications of the village entering into a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with MHA. One especially enraged resident said, “Some of these people in this housing are bad people. It’s too close to the schools, too close to Captain Jack’s, too close the elementary school. I don’t think a project like this should be built in the village — put it outside the village.” Catskill Gardens will function as a mixed affordable housing facility for people with special needs related to mental illness and for those who make less than 60 percent of the average median income for Greene County. The facility would be a three-story, 90-unit building containing residential, office and community space, a gym and computer room. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.