April 19, 2018
John Gilstrap
Board President
Hudson Development Corporation
1 North Front Street
Hudson, NY 12534
Dear President Gilstrap and Members of the HDC Board,
We are writing regarding the current KAZ project redevelopment process underway, as invested and committed
neighbors and business owners to the KAZ property. Our house is on Allen Street, overlooking the new Wick
hotel and the KAZ site, and we are the co-founders of Basilica Hudson, on South Front Street on the other side of
the KAZ site, and the River House Project, the former Allen Street School on lower Allen Street, which overlooks
the same areas. We have been involved and occupied with the DRI process for the last year, and are coming to
you now in light of all that we have learned in the DRI process, with a heightened perspective and concern for
this critical part of planning for the area. We appreciate how much work the HDC has already invested in the KAZ
project, and we want to thank you in advance for your time to consider our comments.
The opportunity to develop the KAZ site is a significant one, in many ways defining and make-or-break for the
future of the Hudson Waterfront and the DRI BRIDGE district, and any development of this scale will significantly
impact the balance of public gathering, residential activities, and business in the waterfront area and the district.
We wholeheartedly support a mindful development of the area, and with so many of the significant elements
still in process for the larger area, want to be sure that all proposals are being considered within the larger
context of activities in and planning for the area. As we all know, this district is the prime gateway to the arrival
by train to Hudson, the county and the Capital Region, and it deserves careful, strategic and integrated planning
and development for local residents and visitors alike, as a key part of a growing economy.
We feel strongly that the full DRI process should inform the RFP - asking developers to envision within identified
plans of a completed DRI process, as well as the ever ongoing and rapid development of the City of Hudson. That
momentum could also help cast a wider net of possible developers. Advancing something of this size and
significance for Hudson, before other major plans for the area are settled, is of concern to us.
We ask that the plan for the KAZ site be further considered within larger planning for the waterfront, in relation
to the DRI planning as well as the Local Waterfront Development Plan currently under review; a massive pending
transportation and circulation plan; and an industrial operation at the waterfront with a pending haul road,
lawsuit and truck activity. To make a decision while these crucial variables are still evolving seems
counterproductive for both the City of Hudson and the selected developer.
We also hope that the HDC process and planning will be fully transparent, active and engaged with the public,
and that there would be an opportunity for public comment on the proposal process, which might help to
inform the HDC on its decision to select the developer.

 We have committed ourselves, our family and our livelihoods to this neighborhood - from our home on Allen
Street, to Basilica Hudson, to the River House Project. Basilica Hudson welcomes more than 40,000 visitors to
cultural programs and private events each year, we support 100s of local small businesses and artists through
our programs each season, and we employ local residents, a small FT staff as well as a larger group of seasonal
event staff, together totaling 45 FTE annually. ​ ​River House, once up and running, will be a new film and media
industry taking root in Hudson, creating new jobs and activity in the area.
We are deeply invested and happy to live in a City, a small one, but a city that comes with all urban activities after ten years in a home with virtually no activity in our backyard, we now have a hotel - which is to say that
development and change are to be expected.​ ​Any housing plan for the KAZ site must be designed and planned
with specific considerations for noise, traffic etc - viewsheds of parking lots and historic buildings and mountains
are another thing to consider of course - and accessibility to the development compound from uptown,
downtown and across town obviously require larger city streetscape vision, planning and context. The
ecosystem of the area is a delicate one, with residential mingling with business, visitors with locals, leisure with
work, industrial with natural, trains and trucks with bikes and strollers. Add in our operations of large-scale
public gatherings on weekends (up to 100 weddings and public events a year), making a vibrant impact on the
local economy, but making for a potentially noisy “backyard” for some others.
KAZ (and the Dunn warehouse too), are the last significant lots to be developed in Hudson’s re-envisioned
waterfront. They must reflect the community desires brought to light during the DRI, be innovative, thoughtful,
inspired; affordable workforce housing; offer opportunities for jobs and job training programs, family activities;
be built resiliently for rising waters, energy efficient; and be affordable and accessible for all of Hudson.
After participating in and observing the DRI process, it has made us more acutely aware of how important it is
that we take a step back to plan our waterfront holistically, with these two big anchor projects at the center. To
stabilize Dunn and clean up / demolish KAZ is of great importance, but in the coming year between the DRI
momentum and the LWRP revision, there will be so much more potential, interest and understanding of the
context for these prime projects.
What brought us here a decade ago, and keeps us here, is our belief that the BRIDGE district has the potential to
be one of New York State's greatest reimagined downtown waterfronts, and a true reflection of Hudson’s
unique heritage, and wild evolution into a diverse microcosm of this country. With so much challenge and
opportunity - let’s please build these last steps carefully, wisely and together.
Thank you for your consideration,

Melissa Auf der Maur
Co-Founder and Director
Basilica Hudson

Anthony Stone
Co-Founder
Basilica Hudson