On the waterfront... Take a look at the Vision Statement for the Kingston waterfront plan as opposed to the one in the City of Hudson's draft plan.
First, here’s Kingston's positive (and pithy) vision:
The Kingston waterfront will be an attractive, active, walkable, culturally vibrant district with strong linkages to the rest of the City of Kingston. Shops, restaurants, recreational opportunities, museums, and events will attract visitors and residents seven days per week all through the year. New development will be consistent with established character and will highlight the area's historic and natural resources. Trails, parks, marinas, and boat launches will maximize access to the waterways, creating high-quality recreational opportunities, and optimizing meaningful, permanent public access to the waterfront.
Now here's Hudson's draft version:
It is the City’s primary goal through the adoption of this LWRP, its enabling legislation and any ancillary agreements, to reconnect the Hudson River and the waterfront land to the City by restoring transportation and pedestrian links, reconnecting hydrology, encouraging compatible residential, commercial and industrial uses within the waterfront boundary area which build upon and support the revitalization efforts in the upland portions of the City, restoring and maintaining the City's historic connection to the river for shipping via the remaining deep water port, restoring and maintaining viewsheds to and from the waterfront and the river, and improving existing and ensuring additional public access to the River and the entire waterfront for water dependent and enhanced recreational and other purposes where ever possible. The open space and recreational resources and the City's unique historical, cultural and aesthetic resources are the underpinning of the City's current community character and local setting. Maintaining and expanding public access to and use of open space and recreational resources while also protecting the integrity of the City's historic, cultural and aesthetic resources which comprise the local setting is essential to achieving the City's primary planning goal. However, in adopting this LWRP the City also acknowledges its seafaring and industrial heritage and contribution to the local and regional economies and local setting by supporting the continued use of the one remaining deep water dock in the City as a viable port facility for the future. The City’s LWRP is intended to guide and support, through zoning changes and other agreements, development within the waterfront boundary area which supports and continues the regional shift away from water dependent industrial uses to a mix of compatible, higher economically valued mixed uses that include commercial, residential, tourism, retail, shipping and office uses, waterdependent and enhanced recreational uses, and the preservation of open space. Therefore, the City intends to rezone much of the land within the waterfront boundary area from industrial use to zoning which provides for a mix of commercial, residential, conservation, industrial and shipping activities, with added protections to ensure that any shipping or transportation activities occurring within the new Core Riverfront Zone are compatible with the over all long term planning objective. By meeting these objectives and achieving the LWRP's goal, the City will accomplish one of the primary recommendations of the Hudson Vision Plan (HVP) for the City's waterfront, “[t]o open the waterfront for boaters and the public and make it the center of civic activity. This will create a positive impetus for the entire downtown and, in the longer run, create new markets for retail uses.”
Sorry, but that's not a vision. It’s a rationalization.
