ESTABLISH A NEW PROGRAM OF “WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT ZONES” TO REVITALIZE FORMER WATERFRONT INDUSTRIAL SITES

Challenge: The Hudson Valley’s riverfront settlements lack the population density and economic vitality to attract and retain businesses, support culture and an innovation economy. Now that priority growth areas have been established by a number of counties, there is a need to invest in concerted development of those areas.

Develop a program to  create new waterfront development zones, open by application to any municipalities with previously developed waterfront space., i.e., Beacon and Newburgh waterfronts should be given the ability to create projects like Scenic Hudson’s, Transportation Organized Development, and more to make them new destinations that can breathe life into the rest of the city.

• Involve a team of environmental leaders and developers in setting the criteria, application processes, benefits, and administration.

• Create a system of incentives for developing in these zones, starting with expedited reviews.

• Encourage the highest appropriate density.

• Work with state agencies such as the Department of State’s Coastal Program and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve to establish regulations making it difficult to develop in previously undeveloped or ecologically sensitive waterfront areas.

Establish [an] economic development zones in downtown Poughkeepsie and Highland around the entrances to the Walkway Over the Hudson

• Combine with access to Metro-North and Amtrak, buses and ferry-based transportation.  Ferry to be accessed by new river access from the land.
• With specific proposals, scale and approach determined by local stakeholders, new uses could include:
  • Educational facilities
  • Housing
  • Restaurants serving local food products
  • Green manufacturing facilities and appropriate manufacturing producing infrastructure
  • Hotels that link tourists to local attractions such as the Culinary Institute of America, Vanderbilt Mansion, FDR’s home, Walkway Over the Hudson etc.
• Use Empire State Economic Development Zones as model for this district.  The district should satisfy a range of economic development and other social goals, including: transportation, education, increasing production of local products, green jobs. Using the best practices for smart growth, these district will exploit the development synergies between the Walkway Over the Hudson and its adjacent neighborhoods
• This model should be perfected and used in other urban areas in the Hudson Valley.