Molinaro: Po’keepsie officials make development efforts difficult

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro says he has learned to focus on developing the city of Poughkeepsie’s Hudson River waterfront because city officials can’t agree about how to resolve other issues.

“It’s the leadership in the city of Poughkeepsie,” he said, when asked during a recent town hall-style meeting in Rhinebeck about why Poughkeepsie isn’t a pedestrian-friendly municipality. “They are so focused on their turf that many of them argue with one another.

“Poughkeepsie is and can be a great city again,” he added.

Molinaro said past efforts to help Poughkeepsie reduce expenses on planning and transportation were rejected as an intrusion.

Following the meeting, Molinaro said the statement was intended to reflect frustration, but may have been “over the top” and wished he had chosen his words better. He said he intended to highlight that cooperation with waterfront issues has been an area of success, even if discussion of issues often has been difficult.

“There’s a number of city projects that have been sitting on development shelves that we, Dutchess County, have been trying to tie together for the city,” he said.

“Our priority, as a county, is the waterfront,” Molinaro said. “This is probably the last of Dutchess County’s Hudson riverfronts that can be world class ... something that is both an attraction for tourists, a destination for tourists, a residential community around the train station, and a catalyst for growth in the rest of the city.”

Mayor John Tkazyik, a Republican, was not available for comment after the meeting.

City Council Chairman Christopher Petsas, a Democrat, agreed some of Molinaro’s statements were inappropriate. He noted that new council members have needed to work through zoning issues before a waterfront plan could be considered.

“We’ve been very aggressive and very hardworking in trying to move things along,” he said. “Everybody’s been talking about Poughkeepsie’s waterfront for 40 years about developing it, but they seldom mention that we didn’t have the right zoning in place to develop the kind of waterfront we want. ... Hopefully, in the next 30 days we’ll be voting on the overall plan.”

Molinaro, who is a Republican from Red Hook, said efforts need to focus on tying together the Walkway over the Hudson, the waterfront, and city center.

“Our goal is with the governor’s new ... economic development initiative is we’re going to be putting together a city-centered development plan, there’s about $500 million that we can apply for,” he said. “It will principally be Beacon (and) Poughkeepsie and, then, we’ll work to make sure it benefits the rest of the county ... where we can start to bring the infrastructure necessary to bring about the pedestrian access, the sidewalk enhancements, the commercial enhancements and the development.”

Molinaro said that Dutchess County needs to attract people who use trains for commuting and is asking rail company officials to develop residential centers on their properties adjacent to the Poughkeepsie station.

“We have a transitoriented development design that we think is very exciting,” he said. “We’re working with Metro North to get their ... bidding process going this year so we can start to attract developers.”

Molinaro said the current effort provides Poughkeepsie with an opportunity to develop as commercial hub.

“Either they’re going to embrace this or a wave of development is going to crash beyond them,” he said. “It’s just going to forget them. Unless the city is prepared, unless they’ve got some catalyst to make some connections, unless they take the planning assistance that we provide them ... it’s (going to be) Beacon and Hudson and the city of Kingston that are all seeing great, great amazing investment.”