Amanda Purcell is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Hudson Mayor Rick Rector December 17, announced he has no intention of appointing a new Planning Board Chairman before his term ends at the end of this month, leaving the responsibility to Mayor-elect Kamal Johnson in January. Walter Chatham abruptly resigned December 11, during a heated debate over the A. Colarusso & Son's conditional use permit. Colarusso applied retroactively to replace its bulkhead at 175 South Front St., and for a conditional use permit with a site plan for improvements to its haul road in the city's South Bay. In a statement, Chatham, an experienced architect and urban planner, expanded on his decision to resign, effective immediately, saying that a group of citizens is attempting to undermine the planning process for the A. Colarusso & Son projects. “This has been done through a concerted effort on both sides of the planning table, and I am both angry and concerned with the way that the aforementioned citizens have undermined the careful legal steps that [city attorney] Andy Howard and I, consulting with many, many people, felt was the best course,” Chatham said the aggressive advocacy on the part of certain people has created an atmosphere of confusion and fear, putting the planning board in an untenable position. "What I have come to realize is that facts don’t matter to some people. They are so convinced of the rightness of their cause that they will resort to any means to get what they want,” he said. Ed. note: Johnson is an active WGXC volunteer programmer. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.