Highlands Current Audio Stories

Commission to issue recommendations

Lisa Maria Nero, the town clerk for Greenburgh in Westchester County and a doctoral student in education at Long Island University, brought a lesson to Calvary Presbyterian Church in Newburgh on April 25.

For nearly a year, she has attended public hearings held by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies, whose nine members are examining the state's history of slavery and its "lingering negative effects" on New York residents. The commission was created in December 2023 by legislation signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul. It is tasked with making recommendations to the Legislature on how to proceed.

"When we're talking about systemic harms, I'm not sure people realize the extensive list," said Nero. "Chattel slavery, Jim Crow, Black codes, white domestic terrorism, racial massacres, racial property seizures, medical experimentation on Black Americans, sharecropping, convict leasing, Homestead Act exclusions, GI Bill exclusions and FHA [Federal Housing Administration] mortgage exclusions."

In a series of meetings and hearings that began in July 2024, the commission has heard presentations from experts on the prevalence of slavery in New York before it was legally abolished in 1827, and the history of discrimination in education, housing, jobs, lending and other areas that came after emancipation. The most recent hearings have looked at gentrification and redlining, and the war on drugs.

Churches also discriminated. The Episcopal Diocese of New York acknowledged in a report from February that "countless Episcopal laity and clergy enslaved people and profited richly from the shipping and trade of Africans," and that the church discriminated against Black congregations.

One of those congregations, St. Andrew's in Beacon, was "unsupported by the diocese as urban renewal in the 1960s and '70s demolished Black homes and businesses to build Route 9D," according to the report.

While the diocese has created a $1.2 million reparations fund, the commission's chair, Seanelle Hawkins, said its members are still "in the learning phase" regarding remedies. "Our work is to educate ourselves and work with a team of researchers, policy analysts and economists to understand what those recommendations are," she said.

About two dozen people attended the hearing at Calvary Presbyterian, where they heard presentations by Shango Blake, an educator; Jackie Cody, who runs a Brooklyn nonprofit providing education and counseling services to teens and young adults; and Stephanie James Harris, director of the Africana Studies Program at Seton Hall University.

As a child in Jamaica, Queens, Blake said he experienced busing to a majority-white school where "all the Black children in the school were trapped in lower classes, while the students that weren't Black were given the higher, more challenging classes" in math and science.

"Reparations acknowledges the harm, names who was harmed and directs resources and policies to repair that harm," he said.

Slavery stood as the first harm. In a presentation to the commission in June 2025, Ned Benton, co-director of the Northeast Slavery Records Index, which covers nine states, listed some of its data for New York state: 8,835 records naming people who were enslaved; 43,111 naming enslavers, including 209 elected officials; 1,042 advertisements for fugitives and 559 records of sales.

In 2019, Historic Hudson Valley, based in Westchester County, produced an interactive documentary, People Not Property, that acknowledged the earliest Black residents of the Hudson Valley and named their enslavers, including the owners of Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton and Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow.

Africans enslaved by Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), a Dutch merchant, built the manor, whose property covered about a quarter of modern-day Westchester. Philipse and his son would become major slave traders; the family is honored today by the name Philipstown.

"Slavery wa...

Putnam County races to spend federal funding

An effort by Putnam legislators to preserve federal funds for a nonprofit whose mental-health crisis center has been rejected by Brewster and Carmel now centers on buying a home it rents in Philipstown for people needing respite.

Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley on the Legislature, and its chair, Dan Birmingham, unveiled on Monday (April 27) a proposal to allow People USA to keep $2.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to buy 111 Philipse Brook Road, which is on the market for $1.3 million.

After debating the idea for more than an hour, the Budget and Finance Committee, which includes every legislator, postponed a vote on whether to terminate a contract with People USA to open a 24-hour, drop-in "stabilization" center for people experiencing a mental-health or substance-abuse crisis.

People USA initially planned to lease space above a childcare center in Brewster, but that sparked outrage from residents and led the Town of Southeast to impose a moratorium on permits for medical and mental-health clinics. The nonprofit then tried to open a stabilization center in an office building in Carmel. That provoked similar opposition, and the town's Planning Board rejected the application.

The two rejections have made it impossible for People USA to spend the money by June 1, which is a provision of the contract, according to Bill Carlin, the county finance commissioner. Because of approaching federal deadlines, he asked the Legislature to divert the funds to paving projects. The county received $19 million in pandemic relief funding; under ARPA rules, money for paving projects must be spent by September and for anything else by Dec. 31.

To replace People USA's funding, County Executive Kevin Byrne wants to take $2.1 million from Putnam's savings for mental-health initiatives. But Birmingham said he has "an uncomfortableness with trading human services dollars for blacktop." And Montgomery said that she has been told by the U.S. Treasury Department that ARPA contracts can be amended.

Revising the People USA contract to specify "stabilization services" instead of a center is "much less risky," she said, and would preserve an existing service by allowing the nonprofit to buy the Philipstown home. "Once this money disappears from ARPA for public health for People USA, we're not going to get that money back for stabilization services," she said.

The Philipstown property is part of People USA's network of Rose Houses, places of respite "operated by peers who have their own personal lived experiences" with a mental-health crisis. People can stay up to seven days and are free to come and go for jobs and other reasons. Rebecca Valk, a lawyer for People USA, said buying the house would "give us a stronger foot" in Putnam. "We have not found a community that does not seem to be scared of the individuals that we serve," she said.

People USA said it has received state approval for renovation plans for Philipstown Brook Road. But Valk said that because the organization "would be flowing with the services that are already there" and not building a center like the ones proposed for Brewster and Carmel, no approvals would be needed from Philipstown.

Supervisor John Van Tassel had a different view. He told legislators that he only found out about the proposal less than two hours before the 5:45 p.m. meeting and "was a little disappointed that I wasn't included in any of the communications."

Under the town's zoning code, only single-family homes are permitted in that area, he said. "Whatever is operating there currently, I don't know if it's there illegally, but any adaptation to that building would require site plan approval," he said.

Garrison landmark has hosted hundreds of shows

A rare bird has reached a milestone. The Philipstown Depot Theater, co-sponsored by the town and operated by a nonprofit, is celebrating 30 years in the second grand old depot at Garrison's Landing. The first depot, moved across the street in the 1890s, is now a part of Antipodean Books.

Over three decades, The Depot Theater has staged 90 plays and musicals, more than 180 youth productions, the long-running Depot Docs series, musical performances, storytelling and modern dance. Its latest production, The Heart Sellers, opens tonight (May 1); Amy Dul, the Depot's executive director since 1998, says that over the past two years it has been the most-produced play by theater groups in the U.S.

Two weeks from now, on May 17, the theater will host its annual gala and highlight the past and future: It plans to soon build a 6,000-square-foot storage, rehearsal and education center near the town Recreation Center on Route 9D. The theater will pay for and construct the structure, then dedicate it to the town, which will provide a 99-year lease.

Built like a tank, the former depot at Garrison's Landing has 16-inch-thick granite walls and exquisite woodwork. It's one of the most ornate stations along the Hudson Line because four railroad tycoons who lived in Philipstown during the Gilded Age wanted to wait for their elaborate private cars in style.

After closing in 1956, the depot fell into disrepair until the newly created Garrison's Landing Association purchased it from New York Central in the early 1960s for $3,000 (about $33,000 today). In 1966, a group of residents, including Russel Wright, the designer who lived and worked at Manitoga, envisioned a railroad museum and poured another $2,000 ($20,000) into sprucing up the space. The following year, the Hand to Mouth Players began presenting productions at the depot, a run that continued for 29 years.

Remember These?

The Fantasticks (2006)

A Little Night Music (2007)

Arsenic and Old Lace (2008)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2008)

The Miracle Worker (2009)

The Secret Garden (2009)

Threepenny Opera (2010)

The Seagull (2011)

The Beggar's Opera (2012)

The Way of the World (2012)

Beyond the Fringe (2013)

To Kill a Mockingbird (2013)

The Birds (2014)

A Christmas Carol (2014)

1776 (2014)

On Golden Pond (2015)

Jesus Christ Superstar (2015)

HMS Pinafore (2016)

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2016)

Company (2017)

Guys and Dolls (2017)

Steel Magnolias (2017)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2018)

The Music Man (2018)

Doubt: A Parable (2018)

The Importance of Being Earnest (2019)

Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (2019)

Nunsense (2019)

Oliver! (2021)

The Cake (2022)

God of Carnage (2023)

In 1996, Jean Marzollo and Carolyn Copeland wanted to expand their summer teen musical program from an annex at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Garrison, recalls Claudio Marzollo, who would serve as president of the newly formed Philipstown Depot Theater for 14 years. The Garrison's Landing Association ended its lease with the Hand to Mouth Players, which it said was behind on its rent, and the new troupe asked the town for funding. Philipstown came through, but "didn't know anything about running a theater, so we formed what became the nucleus of our board of directors," says Marzollo.

Today, the town covers the modest rent paid by the theater to the Landing Association and assists with other expenses. Taxpayers provide about 9 percent of the budget, says Dul; the rest comes from grants, donations and ticket sales.

Anne of Green Gables (2017)

The Full Monty (2024)

Guys and Dolls (2023)

House of Lattisville (2025)

Music Man Jr. (2025)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2018)

Young Frankenstein (2019)

Inside, the atmosphere is cozy; patrons sink into 67 chairs arrayed at a steep angle, and the tech is up to spec (sound in 2023, lighting in 2025). The group does a lot with its 18-by-19-foot stage. Alice Jankell came aboard as artistic director in 2024, succeeding Nancy Swann,...

Haldane, Garrison ask for max tax-levy cap increases

Voters in Philipstown will be asked May 19 to approve school budgets for 2026-27 that include tax-levy increases of 5.53 percent for Haldane and 2.27 percent for Garrison. Both increases are the maximum allowed for each district next year under the state's complex cap formula.

Both boards approved their budgets unanimously. Haldane will hold a public hearing on Tuesday (May 5) and Garrison on Wednesday.

Haldane numbers

Haldane's proposed $32 million budget includes a 5.53 percent tax-levy increase that is nearly double last year's (2.8 percent). The larger increase was driven by borrowing costs for a $28.4 million capital plan approved by voters in 2024.

The tax-cap formula allows districts to collect higher taxes for debt payments on voter-approved capital improvements. The capital plan includes a 17,300-square-foot addition to the high school, changes to campus traffic flow, new student support offices and security upgrades.

Haldane's proposal translates to a $740 annual property tax increase for a home valued at $1 million, according to the district.

Among the line items that increased over 2025-26 were out-of-district placements for special education students (by $175,000), athletics (by $56,000) and redesign of the district's Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) courses (by $10,000).

District voters will also decide whether to approve spending $275,000 to replace the school's two tennis courts. The expenditure is considered "tax-neutral" because the funds would be taken from a reserve established in 2018 for facilities improvements. The Haldane girls' tennis team and their parents have lobbied for the upgrade.

The district also has tax-neutral ballot measures to purchase a bus for $175,000 and to establish a fund to pay for zero-emission buses that are required under state law beginning in 2027.

Garrison numbers

Garrison's $15.6 million budget will translate to a $182 annual property tax increase on a Philipstown home valued at $1 million, according to district officials. To balance the budget, the district said it would withdraw $1.78 million of its $5.4 million in savings.

Its budget includes $500,000 for a forest classroom with a composting toilet at the 181-acre Garrison School forest, land donated in 1956 for environmental education by the Osborne, Gunther and Sloane families. The district and Hudson Highlands Land Trust have discussed placing an easement on the property to prevent any future development.

The Garrison budget also includes additional funding for playground equipment ($100,000), classroom equipment and materials ($40,000), a new gym scoreboard ($7,500) and new soccer goals ($5,000).

Voters will also be asked to approve contracts that allow the K-8 district to send its graduating students to Haldane and O'Neill in Highland Falls for high school.

Lakeland numbers

The Lakeland Central School District, which includes Continental Village in Philipstown, has proposed a $202 million budget for 2026-27. Voters will also be asked to approve $2.13 million for school buses and vehicles.

The budget includes 2.62 percent more spending than in 2025-26 and includes a 2.2 percent tax-levy increase, the maximum allowed under the state tax-cap formula for the district.

There are also five candidates for three open seats on the nine-member school board: incumbents Christopher Eustace and Amanda Franco and newcomers James Hedberg, Keith Baisley and Patricia Martucci-Pace. Donald Pinkowsky did not run for re-election. Board members serve three-year terms.

The vote will take place on May 19 at Van Cortlandtville Elementary School in Mohegan Lake from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

New Cold Spring cop wrote children's book

Barrett Magistro has been a police officer since 2009, and he wasn't long into his career when he realized not everyone sees law enforcement as an honorable profession.

"There was a huge downturn in the way police officers were viewed through the media," says the officer, who lives in Fishkill and joined the Cold Spring Police Department last year. "A five-second TV newsclip is a tiny sliver of what police work is; it's not the whole situation."

Magistro wanted to change that perception and felt that any shift would begin with children. "I wanted to show them the human side of being a police officer and that for a community, law enforcement is a positive."

To that end, in 2017, Magistro wrote and published a children's book for ages 4 to 7 called How I Found Hope. It was inspired by an encounter on a cold, snowy morning in January 2010, while he was on patrol in Mount Hope, in Orange County.

A passerby waved him down, alerting him to an abandoned pit bull puppy. "She was about 8 months old, and you could tell she was abused," says Magistro of the dog. "You could see her ribs and spine."

As soon as Magistro opened the door of his squad car, the dog jumped in. He took her to the Port Jervis Humane Society and began checking in daily. Soon, he had adopted the pup, which he named Hope.

Like police officers, Magistro felt pit bulls suffered from misperceptions. "Pit bulls were originally nanny dogs because they're loyal, sweet and loving dogs," he says. Their reputation for aggression is "about how they're raised."

Magistro says that, as someone who worked as an engineer before joining the police academy, writing didn't come easy. "I was actually terrible academically in school," he says.

He didn't have time to promote the book, he says, and put it on the back burner once he had sold 125 copies and recouped his investment.

Hope lived for 15 years, three more than expected for a pit bull. But her story didn't end there. "I started thinking of a way to keep Hope's memory alive," Magistro said. Last month, he published a second edition of the book. He also found a manufacturer to make a black-and-white stuffed animal. He sells both online at hopethepitbull.com.

Last month, Magistro began scheduling readings at schools and daycare centers, with a toy version of Hope at his side. He plans visits to the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Westchester County and hospitals in New York City.

Magistro is partnering with Angels of Light, a Millbrook-based nonprofit that supports families in the Hudson Valley who are dealing with a life-threatening illness or whose lives have been altered by an accident or death.

"Barrett's compassion and caring for children has evolved not only through his book but also by giving comfort and love to very ill children with his stuffed animal," says Lori Cassia-Decker, a co-founder of Angels of Light.

Magistro has more books in mind and has written two stories featuring himself and Hope as protagonists. "One is about a dog that's scared of the dark, and I make a nightlight for her, and the other is about dealing with loss," he says.

He smiles when recalling Hope. When she was adopted, Magistro and his wife had two chihuahuas, Junior and Bobbi. "Hope always thought of herself as small because she was so young when we got her," he said. "She actually thought she was a chihuahua and tried to sleep in their tiny beds."

After trio took hiatus, MacAllister went solo

Folk singer Laurie MacAllister's name is a letter off from that of a bass player for The Runaways, which oozed attitude in the 1970s and might have been a footnote in rock history but for founding member Joan Jett's hits in the 1980s.

"A lot of women musicians, myself included, worship the ground she walks on," says MacAllister of Jett. "I first heard 'I Love Rock and Roll' at age 10. I remember exactly where I was and just lost it — but let's not forget Pat Benatar and Chrissie Hynde."

Even though the styles differ, all these women produce music with moxie. Playing guitar, singing and stirring emotion, MacAllister will bring her songs to the Howland Cultural Center on Saturday (May 2).

As with fictional settings, her songs make something out of nothing, like that moment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when it's cold and wet and then the vignette turns into a break-up ode that crystallizes a fragment of the human experience ("Out of the Darkness").

To be a team player and round out the sound, she put down the guitar and picked up a bass for Red Molly, the folk trio with Hudson Valley roots. The band — MacAllister, Abbie Gardner and Molly Venter — shook up the folk scene with its polished look, sound and presentation.

"When we played places that served alcohol, they improvised many drinks that have only one common characteristic: the color," MacAllister says, but when the pandemic hit, along with parenthood for one member, the trio split for now.

MacAllister still seeks to subvert conventions. "I want to get away from the setup where the opener plays for 25 minutes, and then I come on for my slot," she says. "I have three male collaborators whom I work with, but I open each set and bring them in and out of the show."

Joining her in Beacon will be Fred Gillen Jr., a longtime local folk performer who lived in Westchester County before moving upstate. This is her last live slot for a while. MacAllister, now based in Virginia, is taking a break to record an album before a fall tour. The woman has paid her dues: "I'm 56, so I can decide what to do," she says.

With all the wordsmithing, chord changes and full-throttle vocals, it's easy to overlook her nimble guitar playing, which emits a big sound. She's also able to sing while fingerpicking — plucking out more intricate patterns with at least three digits — which is no mean feat. The test of talent is to execute something difficult while making it look easy.

"At first, I figured it would be impossible, but I put in a lot of practice and, somehow, it happened," MacAllister says.

While onstage, she seems to be on the verge of killing herself softly with her own songs. "I bring it to 95 percent, then I have to dial it back," she says. "If it makes people cry, that's a litmus test — like, if it gives me goosebumps — but it can only hit to a certain degree. We're poking at feelings, so even if I get physical reactions, I've got to be professional and gathered onstage."

The Howland Cultural Center is located at 477 Main St. in Beacon. Tickets for the concert, which begins at 8 p.m., are $25 at dub.sh/macallister-hcc, or $30 at the door. To download music, see lauriemacallister.net.

Nearly anything goes at monthly events

There are four rules of LitLit, a literary open mic held at the Howland Cultural Center on the first Friday of every month. Audience members must listen in near silence, like at a jazz club, and a limit of 20 people get five minutes to read whatever they want, to a point.

The last stricture is "no hate speech," says founder Donna Minkowitz, but the structure is democratic: All erotic material and other genre-agnostic work is welcome.

On Friday (May 1), LitLit will celebrate five years of taking what can be a lonely and thankless pursuit into a social setting. (The event grew out of pre-pandemic sessions organized by Julie Chibbaro at the Howland Public Library.) For this occasion, the time limit is seven minutes and all performers may take the mic, not just writers.

Part of the evening will be spent honoring regular attendee Addison Goodson, who died April 16 at his Beacon home. A relative plans to read one of his works, says Minkowitz. "The only time he missed coming was to deal with medical issues."

Regulars praise Minkowitz's ability to provide an "accepting, no-judgment space where people listen," says Natalie Wilkinson, who writes poetry and short stories.

"Donna's generous spirit holds it together," says Nadine Revheim. "LitLit helped me find my voice as a writer and be comfortable as I read my memoir pieces and nonfiction essays."

Though Wilkinson says she found the open mic format to be "terrifying" at first, she discovered that "the audience lets you know the places where something lands, where something falls short or where they lose interest, without saying a word."

Revheim says she built the courage to read because of the "friendly and encouraging environment with structure that respects the writers and listeners. Donna is consistently fair to all readers and sets an equitable tone."

The readings examine a wide cross-section of life, says Wilkinson: "mental health, brushes with stardom, fictional nature adventures, children's stories, travel, religious, LGBTQ issues, relationships and family issues."

All genres are represented, even "some that have no name yet," says Peter Ullian, who has been attending since the beginning. "The experienced writers inspire me with their skill and wisdom; those new to sharing their work inspire me with the purity and freshness of their visions."

For LitLit, "I strive to be grassroots," says Minkowitz, who was the first full-time reporter to cover LGBTQ+ issues for The Village Voice and has published a novel and two memoirs. "People come from all walks of life: young, old, different races, published writers, unpublished writers," she says. "Whoever signs up gets to read."

LitLit began during the pandemic "as a funny-hair reading session" on Zoom, says Minkowitz, with in-person gatherings later on the back patio of Homespun Foods (now Dave the Butcher) on Main Street. When cold weather arrived, Minkowitz found a more permanent spot.

"The most beneficial aspect is that it's a 'third space' to share," says Revheim. "Donna's generous spirit is what holds it together."

The Howland Cultural Center is located at 477 Main St. in Beacon. The doors open on Friday (May 1) at 6:30 p.m. for sign-ups, with readings from 7 to 9 p.m. A $5 donation is suggested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The Howland Public Library in Beacon will hold its annual budget and trustee vote on Thursday (April 30) at the library.

Voters in the Beacon City School District will be asked to approve a proposed $1.56 million budget for 2026-27 and to fill three open seats on the nine-member board. The polls will be open from noon to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at 313 Main St. See beaconlibrary.org/vote for more details.

One seat is for a five-year term, and two others will fill vacancies for one- and three-year terms. The terms will be determined by the vote count.

The candidates are incumbent Kathy Furfey and newcomers Henry Breed, Toni Maeck and Pia Ruisi-Besares. They each provided statements to the library, which are republished below in alphabetical order by last name.

Henry Breed

The history, culture and natural beauty of our region have been major, vibrant forces in my life since my earliest childhood, and they drew me back to it and to Beacon nearly five years ago, after I completed a career of nearly 30 years at the United Nations that focused on educational and cultural issues.

My increasing involvement in the Howland library — as a frequent and significant contributor to Beacon Reads, as someone with deep and broad experience in strategic planning for cultural organizations, and as someone who has always loved reading — has been very exciting and enjoyable for me. The library has great potential and is poised to take some very important moves to realize it, and I would be glad to contribute the experience and perspective I've acquired to help it optimize them.

As a former council member of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), I have chaired its strategic planning committee and served on its governmental liaison, performing arts and visual arts committees. I have also served as an expert panelist on music and on international exchange at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). And, as a political advisor in the United Nations General Assembly, where I led the team that covered and analyzed debates on the full range of issues before it, I focused particularly on issues of culture, education, human rights, sustainable development and organizational reform.

Earlier, while still a graduate student, I worked as a consulting editor for the UNESCO Courier, which champions worldwide efforts in education, literacy and cultural preservation. At a very personal level, there is one other tie that links me closely to the library and the pursuit of its best interests and future: I am a descendant of General Joseph Howland, its founder.

Kathleen Furfey

I have had the privilege of being a trustee on the board of the Howland Public Library. I am asking you to help me continue in that role.

This is an exciting time for our library. We have been working diligently with meetings and questionnaires to gather as much information as possible on how this library can meet the needs of all members of our community. All that input helps us to move on with our long-range plans. Committees have been in session to revise policies and bylaws. New services require new policies and procedures. Facility options are being explored.

I am firmly committed to the role of our library as the heart of our community, and I want to continue working to provide inclusivity and availability to all.

My experience as a board member, my background as a teacher, my commitment to volunteerism and social responsibility will help me to serve you as we move forward.

Anotina (Toni) Maeck

I live in Glenham with my partner and dog, and I've been grateful to call Beacon and Fishkill home for the past 12 years.

The Howland Library has been a constant in my adult life. It has been a cool place to work on a hot day, a source of books and audiobooks that have nourished my spirit, and a place where I've learned from amazing local speakers. As a trustee, I would work hard to ensure that everyone can rely on the library as a welcoming and protective place at the heart of ...

Governor argues regulation rollback will spur housing

Three years ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul attempted to solve a dire housing crisis with a plan to build 800,000 units over a decade.

Her plan would have required that municipalities with commuter train stations such as Beacon, Cold Spring and Philipstown increase housing by 3 percent over three years. It faced pushback from Hudson Valley legislators, who argued the proposal would compromise local autonomy. The proposal collapsed in budget negotiations.

Now the governor is back with a new housing plan that, if anything, gives local municipalities more control: It would overhaul the 50-year-old State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to exempt much new housing construction from undergoing an environmental review process.

Hochul says SEQRA has become burdensome, adding years to the development process and driving up construction costs, and that it duplicates reviews that often take place at the local level. Her concerns echo a new "abundance" movement that claims that, while 1970s regulations reduced pollution, they have since become obstacles to combating climate change and to affordability. Earlier this year, California overhauled its environmental review process for similar reasons.

The New York plan has support. Last month, 12 mayors and supervisors from the Hudson Valley (not including the Highlands) asked the state Legislature to support the SEQRA overhaul. It also has support — to a lesser degree — from environmental groups such as Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson and the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, who joined 10 organizations to tell Hochul they believe an overhaul of SEQRA could accelerate affordable housing projects.

According to Johnathan Clark of Scenic Hudson, the groups also support "denser, connected development in places with the infrastructure to support it" because that would allow for "connecting to public transit or promoting walkability, or reducing emissions and protecting open space by shifting some of that pressure to make up that missing housing in disconnected areas that we might want to conserve as open space."

The groups said SEQRA is sometimes used to obstruct and appreciate a suggestion to impose time limits on reviews. "There are times when planning boards, if they have a project in front of them that they don't really like, but they feel like there's not much they can do about it, because their zoning laws that they have in place don't prevent what's being proposed," said Edward Warren of the Hudson Highlands Land Trust. "They'll sometimes try to drag their feet using SEQRA with the hope that the developer will get frustrated and move on."

However, the groups warned that the language of the proposed changes is too vague, which could be exploited to "encourage sprawling development, incentivize housing in contaminated or flood-prone areas, strain existing water and sewer infrastructure, and result in irreversible environmental impacts," they wrote.

"You don't want to create a giant loophole, because developers are just going to drive whatever project they want through it," said Tracy Brown, the executive director of Riverkeeper.

She expressed concern that framing a SEQRA overhaul as a necessary component to create affordable housing sets up a false contrast. "This is kind of a political cudgel for saying that environmental priorities are somehow in opposition to affordability or to abundance," she said.

Here are some concerns that have been raised:

Two sizes fit all

The governor's proposal centers on two sets of requirements for a project to be exempt from environmental review: one for New York City and one for everywhere else.

Under the current guidelines, a multifamily home with three or fewer units can qualify for an exemption; Hochul's proposal would increase that to 100 units outside New York City. "That might work fine in Yonkers," said Brown. "It's not necessarily going to work in Garrison."

Disturbed site

One of the proposed requirements ...

Beacon council also discusses 248 Tioronda, trails

More than anything else, there were questions on Monday (April 20) from residents whose properties are being considered for Beacon's protected historic district.

Some were pleased, others said "no thanks," but most were lukewarm about a proposal they said they didn't understand.

The district — which is an overlay, meaning it can be applied to buildings throughout the city — encompasses nearly 300 properties. Some are private residences; others, like the Madam Brett Homestead, are cultural institutions.

City code permits the ordinary maintenance and repair of a historic structure but a building permit and "certificate of appropriateness" from the Planning Board are required to alter an "identified historical feature" visible from a street, sidewalk or park.

On the flip side, if a certificate of appropriateness is secured, the assessed value will not increase because of those improvements. Property owners may also apply for special permits. For example, the former Reformed Church of Beacon, now known as Prophecy Hall, received a special-use permit in 2023 to construct a hotel that would not otherwise be allowed.

City Council members vote on whether to add each property to the historic district. A property owner may object, but five of the seven members can override an objection.

The council held a public hearing on Monday for 17 parcels under consideration. Several owners worried that inclusion would cost them money.

The district appears to create "a structure where the obligations placed on the homeowners are clear, enforceable and carry real costs," while the benefits "are conditional, uncertain and not guaranteed," said Kimberly Garcia, who owns 159 Fishkill Ave. She asked the council, which must vote on designating properties within 60 days of concluding the hearing, to delay its decision.

Lou Amoroso Jr., vice president of the St. Rocco Society at 26 South Chestnut St., said its board has no plans to alter the building but does not want to be part of the district. The members of the society, founded in 1905 by Italian immigrants, feel it's important "to keep it the way that it is," he said. However, "we don't want to feel that we're going to be put in a situation where the organization is going to have to struggle to do that."

Mayor Lee Kyriacou, who has lived in a historic home for 30 years, offered to meet with property owners to allay their concerns. He described "the infinite renovations that we have done in our home and the fact that it hasn't ever required going to the Planning Board for anything regarding the [district]."

Matthew Healey, the owner of 30 South Ave., questioned "what the compelling reason for creating this historic district is," noting that the Planning Board last month authorized construction of an addition to the historic Telephone Building at 291 Main St. "I don't want a planning board telling me you can use this color, that color paint," Healey said. "Obviously, I'm not going to paint [my house] Day-Glo orange."

(The Planning Board approved the Telephone Building project after a historical expert testified that the addition would not detract from the 1907 structure.)

Three property owners submitted written objections to their nominations. Council members adjourned the public hearing to May 18 and will discuss the nominations during a workshop on May 4.

248 Tioronda

The council held a second public hearing on Monday on a revised concept plan for a residential housing development at 248 Tioronda Ave.

Originally approved in 2014 as a 100-unit complex, the project has been through at least a half-dozen iterations. The current owner, Bernard Kohn, received permission from the City Council last year to construct two additional residential buildings (two structures with 64 apartments are already completed). The new buildings will include 136 apartments, 27 of which by law must be rented at below-market rates.

Several things must happen before the proje...