At a glance
Hudson's Planning Board held a public hearing Tuesday night, July 21, 2026, on the Hudson Housing Authority's plan to replace Bliss Towers at 41 North Second Street. Before the hearing, the board also waived a separate hearing for a small solar carport project at Basilica Hudson and classified it as exempt from further state environmental review. Nearly all of the 13 people who spoke on the Bliss Towers project, including current and former residents, a Common Council member speaking personally, and a pastor, urged the board to approve it, citing years of deteriorating conditions and the city's affordable housing shortage. A handful of speakers, including a former Housing Authority board chairman and a design professional, supported the project's goal but raised concerns about its scale, site design, soil conditions, and funding certainty. The board didn't vote on the project itself. It adjourned the hearing, not closed it, to continue at its August 11 regular meeting, and will keep accepting written comments until then.
Roll Call and the Basilica Hudson Solar Carport
Before opening the public hearing, the board took roll call and handled a new, unrelated application: a solar carport proposed for the Basilica Hudson parking lot.
Key points
- The board reached quorum at roll call. Board members' names are captioned inconsistently throughout the recording (for example, rendered variously as Woodhall, Woodhog, and Whipple, or as Chetsky, Shepsky, and Jetsky), most likely different auto-caption attempts at the same handful of names.
- Basilica Hudson, at 110 South Front Street, applied to add a solar carport over its existing parking lot, tied into the building's main electrical panel, meant to offset the remaining electrical demand not already covered by an existing solar canopy on site.
- Representatives were David Slaza (owner's representative for Basilica Hudson), Jeff Irish (a licensed engineer who owns Hudson Solar and Battery Solutions, the contractor doing the installation, who noted he is not the engineer of record on the project), and Peter Sander (a certified planner with Ren Engineering, representing the project's engineering firm, new to the file that night).
- The board voted to waive a separate public hearing for this smaller project, letting it proceed at its own pace rather than on a fixed hearing date.
- On a second motion, the board classified the carport as a Type II action under the state's environmental quality review law, meaning it is automatically exempt from further environmental review; a representative noted the citation was already included in the application.
- A board member asked about a nearby lot used by Amtrak riders; the applicant clarified Amtrak's own lot is adjacent but separate, further toward the river.
- Next step: detailed engineering comments will go to the applicant through the city's portal, with responses due back by July 27, before the project can return for formal approval, possibly as soon as the board's August 11 meeting.
The presiding chair's name is never stated aloud in this recording. Based on the Planning Board's July 14, 2026 work session (meetings/2026-07-14-planning-board-workshop.json), where he was identified from the board's January 2026 organizational meeting, the chair conducting this meeting is very likely Ron Bogle, who also answers to roll call here. Other board members' surnames are left as captioned since they can't be confirmed against a roster.
This transcript separately names a Jeff Irish, an engineer working on the Basilica Hudson solar carport, and a Jeffrey Dodson, the Hudson Housing Authority's executive director, who speaks later in this meeting about Bliss Towers. They are two different people working on two unrelated projects.
Public Hearing Opens: Ground Rules for the Evening
The chair explained how the Planning Board handles public comment before opening the hearing on the Hudson Housing Authority's Bliss Towers replacement project.
Key points
- The chair said the Planning Board, unlike some other city boards, holds public comment only once, at the close of a project's review (a process that can run a year and a half to two years), rather than at every meeting.
- Each speaker gets three minutes, tracked by volunteer timekeeper Jean; the chair said the limit is about fairness across speakers and across meetings, not cutting anyone off.
- The chair called this a single purpose hearing, about the Housing Authority's project and the replacement of Bliss Towers, and asked speakers to address the board, stay on topic, and give their name and street, ward, or town.
- Written comments can be submitted, tonight or later, to board clerk Linda Fenoff (fenoff@cityofhudson.org) or posted to the board's online portal.
- The chair said the board would identify which comments, oral tonight and written through August 11, warrant a written response from the applicant.
- The board then voted by roll call to formally open the public hearing.
This hearing continues the site plan review of the Housing Authority's Bliss Towers replacement project that the Housing Authority's July 15, 2026 regular meeting (meetings/2026-07-15-housing-authority-regular.json) said was scheduled for this date.
The hearing is adjourned, not closed, tonight. It stays open for written comment until the board's August 11 regular meeting.
Public Comment: Residents and a Former Housing Authority Chair
The first speakers included longtime Bliss Towers residents supporting the project and a former Housing Authority board chairman raising scale and cost concerns.
Key points
- Mary Decker, who said she has lived at 41 North Second Street (the project site) for 46 of her 47 years, said the building needs replacing because of ongoing physical problems, and said residents don't know where they'd go if a new building isn't ready in time.
- Lori Morland, who moved to Hudson in November and lives on Robinson Street, supported the project for the affordable housing it provides and for planned ground-floor space for training and learning programs; she described touring the building and noticing an uneven floor she took as a sign of foundation problems.
- Alan Weaver, a former chairman of the Hudson Housing Authority board, said he chaired the board during an earlier attempt to redevelop the same site, when a soil and engineering report found the ground wouldn't support that (smaller) building without extensive, cost-prohibitive foundation work. He said he supports replacing the housing but not the project's current scale, which he called out of proportion to the neighborhood, and cited funding uncertainty the state had raised around December 2025.
- Kaya Weidman, a Fifth Ward Glenwood resident who leads a nonprofit in the Second Ward near the project site, urged approval at the proposed size, citing nearly 20 years working with Hudson youth and families and calling housing the biggest issue affecting the city's social fabric. She warned that delay raises costs and risks state funding.
- Britt Zuckerman, a licensed landscape architect living in the Fourth Ward, focused on site design: she said traffic should route via State Street rather than the narrower Second Street, asked for buildings along Second Street to be set back further given an adjacent four-story building next to an existing two-story one, and raised concerns about tree loss and a design she said reduces residents' engagement with the street and the site's courtyard and gazebo. She said she supports the project's goal but wants the design reconsidered.
The transcript's auto-captions render this speaker's name as 'Kyle Weidman.' The publication's organizer, who attended the hearing in person, confirmed she introduced herself as Kaya Weidman; that spelling is used here as a correction to the caption.
The transcript's auto-captions render this speaker's name as 'Fritz Suckerman.' Based on the organizer's in-person attendance and the close phonetic match, this is used here as Britt Zuckerman, a likely caption mishearing.
Alan Weaver's tenant and unit counts (around 84 current tenants; a total project size he gave variously as 260, 276, or '300 units, whatever the end number is') were presented by him as approximate, by his own account. They're reproduced here as heard, not as verified figures.
Alan Weaver also spoke, identified there as a Fourth Ward resident, in support of the John L. Edwards Elementary redevelopment at a separate Planning Board public hearing on July 14, 2026 (meetings/2026-07-14-planning-board-public-hearing.json).
Public Comment Continues: More Residents and a Council Member
More residents, most in support, spoke, including a Common Council member speaking in a personal capacity and a pastor active in county housing advocacy.
Key points
- A speaker the transcript captions only as 'Bill used' before an otherwise unlabeled block of testimony described living at 217 Columbia Street in the Second Ward, being born on Warren Street in the same ward, and serving as an elected city official from 2002 to 2017. He recounted the site's history as a former junkyard turned into public housing through a 1970s brownfield project, said the building's problems emerged within about a decade, and urged the board to move quickly.
- An unnamed speaker who grew up at 215 State Street and now lives in Greenport (where she said rent runs about $2,850 a month) said she worked at Bliss Towers and for Head Start, and described a recent visit to the building positively. She urged support.
- A resident who gave only the first name Eli, of 15th Street, called Bliss Towers residents his neighbors and pushed back on aesthetics-focused criticism he'd heard that night, calling it, in his words, a 'dog whistle.'
- Eli Burkowitz, a Fifth Ward resident, said current Bliss Towers and low-rise residents' voices should carry the most weight in the discussion, and voiced strong support for moving the project forward.
- A speaker who gave only the name 'cousin,' saying she lives in the Fifth Ward, sits on the Common Council, serves on the board of the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition, is a former Housing Authority commissioner, and directs youth programs at Kite's Nest, spoke in strong support, describing her family's experience living at the Bliss Towers high-rise and calling the building's conditions 'deplorable.'
- A speaker announced as 'Abdus May,' whose remarks are heavily fragmented in the transcript, said, as best can be made out, that they have lived in the Second Ward for around 20 years and voiced strong support for the project.
- Pastor Kim Singleary, who serves on the Columbia County Housing Task Force and Housing Advisory Board and formerly served as the city's sole assessor, described volunteering at Bliss Towers and said the city has a chance to build housing people can afford, citing her mother's experience with a large rent increase at a private building.
This speaker's introduction is captured only as 'Bill used' before the transcript moves straight into testimony, with no full name repeated on the record. Based on the organizer's own attendance at the hearing, this may be Bill Hughes, but the transcript alone doesn't confirm it, so that identification is treated here as likely rather than certain and the speaker is left unnamed in the speakers list above.
This speaker never states a surname on the record (the caption reads only 'cousin'). Her description of herself, living in the Fifth Ward, serving on the Common Council, and directing youth programs at Kite's Nest, matches Claire Cousin, Hudson's 5th Ward Common Council member per FUTURE HUDSON's roster, so that name is used here. She appears to be speaking personally and about her community history, not in her Council role; her office isn't otherwise raised in this hearing.
The section of the recording around 'Abdus May' is unusually fragmentary, breaking down into disconnected single words for stretches. The name and the general thrust, support for the project as a longtime Second Ward resident, are reproduced as captioned, but the exact wording should be treated with caution.
The sign-up sheet is captioned as calling 'Eli Delux' before this speaker's turn, but he introduces himself only as 'Eli' and gives no surname on the record. The surname isn't used here since it isn't independently confirmed.
Hearing Reopens for a Late Comment, Housing Authority Responds
After the sign-up list appeared exhausted, the board briefly reopened comment for one more speaker, then the Housing Authority's attorney, board chair, and executive director addressed the board.
Key points
- The chair said the public comment portion had concluded and called for a motion to adjourn, then, prompted by a board member, briefly reopened the sign-up sheet for anyone who hadn't yet had a turn.
- A speaker the transcript captions as 'Carla S. Ward,' living in the Fourth Ward, is very likely Carla Sadoff, per the organizer's direct knowledge of who attended. She said she supports the project but raised concern about unaddressed 'red flags' around soil conditions and the construction company's management, and asked the board directly whether it had any doubts about the information presented to it.
- The chair then introduced the Housing Authority's executive director without a time limit; he thanked speakers, asked Bliss Towers residents present to stand and be recognized, and introduced the Authority's attorney and board chair.
- Attorney Jonathan Joy, representing the Housing Authority, said the Authority had hoped to appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals the prior week but that board lacked a quorum, so the appearance is now expected next month, which he said he believed was August 17. He said the Authority had since submitted engineering comment responses, updated plans, and an updated stormwater plan, and offered to answer further written comments before the next meeting.
- Randa Smith, the Housing Authority's board chair, said she grew up in Bliss Towers herself (her parents still live there) and told the board the Authority's duty is to keep building, not let the property sit idle.
- Executive Director Jeffrey Dodson, referred to earlier in the hearing as 'Jeffrey' when the chair invited him to speak, closed by saying he was hired in part because he too had lived in public housing, for 23 years, and described a physical needs assessment, done before he arrived, that found the building obsolete. He said the Authority had to decide to move forward given ongoing federal disinvestment in public housing.
The transcript renders this speaker's name as 'Carla S. Ward.' Based on the organizer's direct knowledge of who attended, this is used here as Carla Sadoff, a likely caption mishearing.
Jeffrey Dodson is named here based on the Hudson Housing Authority's July 15, 2026 regular meeting (meetings/2026-07-15-housing-authority-regular.json), where he is identified by full name as the Authority's Executive Director. This transcript alone only calls him 'Jeffrey' and 'the executive director.'
The attorney's law firm name and an acronym for the project's stormwater plan are both garbled in the transcript. The firm name isn't reproduced here since it can't be confirmed; the stormwater document is likely a standard stormwater pollution prevention plan, described in general terms rather than by its exact captioned acronym.
Hearing Adjourned to August 11
The board voted to adjourn the public hearing until its August 11 meeting and laid out how it will handle written comments in the meantime.
Key points
- The board voted by roll call to adjourn the public hearing until August 11.
- The chair thanked residents for what he called a constructive and respectful conversation.
- Rather than debate substantive questions that night, the chair said he would invite board members to send him questions between then and August 11, assemble them into a package, and bring that to the board's August 11 discussion.
- Written public comments will continue to be accepted and posted to the board's portal through August 11.
- The recording ends during a motion to adjourn the full meeting (a separate motion from the vote to adjourn the public hearing); the file cuts off before that vote's outcome is audible.
The Bliss Towers public hearing continues at the Planning Board's August 11, 2026 regular meeting. Written comments are accepted until then through the board's portal or to board clerk Linda Fenoff (fenoff@cityofhudson.org).
The recording ends abruptly mid-motion, during what appears to be a vote to adjourn the full meeting. The outcome of that final motion isn't audible before the file ends.
About this page
FUTURE HUDSON is an experiment in civic engagement: every public meeting of the City of Hudson since January 2026, transcribed and made readable, so any resident can follow what the city is deciding without attending every meeting. This page covers one meeting; see the full archive.
How it was made
The meeting video was transcribed automatically; the transcript was then organized into sections and summarized. The raw transcript is above, every claim can be checked against it.
What to be skeptical of
The transcript is automated and contains speech-recognition errors; names and numbers may be wrong. This page has not been reviewed by a human. Nothing here is an official record, the city's official minutes are authoritative.