We are also losing potential small businesses and light industry to Newburgh and other Hudson River cities, as most of our old industrial space is no longer available, slated to be developed into hundreds of residential “units.” At the former prison site, there is the potential for a number of local enterprises to operate… Read More
Category Archives: Planning
Arrested Development
And this year’s Emmy Award nominees for Best Drama series are: Better Call Beacon The Beacon The Beacon’s Tale House of Beacon Stranger Beacon This is Beacon Beaconworld And the winner is…The Beacon’s Tale! Credited with single-handedly blazing a new tv genre, this urban planning procedural drama focuses on a small former river mill… Read More
“Long Term” Barge Anchorage Off Beacon’s Dennings Point?
The United States Coast Guard is proposing rules to establish 10 new anchorages in the Hudson River between Yonkers and Kingston. One of the sites proposed is directly off Dennings Point, with three others just south of the Newburgh Beacon Bridge. Currently there is one allowed anchorage on this stretch of the Hudson. These anchorages… Read More
Beacon Sign Policy Makes No Sense
The Beacon Farmers Market, currently held every Sunday down at the waterfront near the ferry dock, is allowed to put signage up on city property advertising its existence. The Beacon Flea Market, held every Sunday in the parking lot on Henry Street, directly behind the Mobil gas station, is not allowed any signage other than… Read More
Can Engineering Ingenuity Help Prevent Future Droughts in Beacon?
Beacon experienced severe drought conditions last year. The city faces drought conditions more frequently than neighboring municipalities because one of its main water sources sits way above it, in a reservoir at the top of Mt. Beacon. To recharge, it relies on precipitation, gaining water when it rains or snows directly into the reservoir, or… Read More
Requiem For a Beacon Mill
After 202 years, one of the oldest standing mills in Dutchess County, built in 1814 at the corner of Main and East Main on the Fishkill Creek, is being demolished with little fanfare over the course of a beautiful week in April, 2016. I just hope someone is planning to save a few bits… Read More
Beacon’s Public Works
It’s been fifteen years since the Beacon High School building was completed, and twenty since that great public works edifice, the Municipal Building, was dedicated in 1996. Now, rising smack in the midst of several hundred acres of former prime farmland, comes the latest structure paid for by the citizens of Beacon (we won’t count… Read More
City of Beacon’s Real Estate Savvy Quotient
Some of the real estate dealings involving the City of Beacon appear puzzling, at least when looking in from the outside. For instance, the city recently purchased a lot on the creek for over half a million dollars. Yet only two years ago, it sold a prime double city lot in the heart of… Read More
New City of Beacon Newsletter is Light on Facts, Figures (and Copy Editing)
The City of Beacon recently published the first installment of its new quarterly publication, an electronic newsletter.”The City has launched this new information service which is intended to help you keep up on the ‘happening’ around City Hall, such as events, happenings, projects, and services” reads the introductory message from the city administrator. The… Read More
Beacon Citizens Form Group Opposing Development
A goodly contingent from the newly formed Fishkill Landing Community Association appeared before the Beacon City Council on January 19th to argue against planned developments in the Linkage Zone. The group is petitioning the City to remove certain addresses from the Zone, including the Reformed Church of Beacon and rectory at 1113 Wolcott Avenue;… Read More
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Closed Without Warning
The Newburgh-Beacon Bridge was closed one day this past December with no warning. It was 8:30 on a foggy Monday morning, and I was transporting my son to his bus stop, then heading to work. But when I arrived at the bridge, the gate was locked. The only possible explanation for the cyclist/pedestrian crossing being… Read More
Beacon, Gentrified?
Recently, we looked at how the teetering economy will likely turn Beacon’s housing boom into a bust. But what if all the glaring indicators of severe engine trouble are wrong, and don’t mean what they usually mean, or the Federal Reserve’s head mechanic Janet Yellen breaks out her magic toolbox and tinkers around a… Read More
Beacon Housing Boom Will Bust
This is the hottest I’ve ever seen it. It’s like a snowball; everybody wants to go to Beacon.” Beacon building inspector Tim Dexter In our last post at the end of November, we took a quick look at the rash of building projects and infrastructure repairs under way in Beacon, with the idea of taking… Read More
Beacon Under Construction: A New Dawn?
Everyone from developers to highway crews to homeowners has been taking advantage of an unseasonably warm November, working away like busy beavers before the snows and frigid temperatures force them into hibernation for the winter. Let the Unit Count Begin Much has been made of the number of “units” in various stages of planning around… Read More
Public Hearing on Beacon Theater Tonight
Last month the planning board entertained a first look at the developer’s proposal for the Beacon Theater, at 445 Main Street, which included 32 apartments and a room on the second floor designated as a space for performances. Tonight’s planning board meeting will officially open the public hearing on application for site plan approval,… Read More
Beacon Can’t Afford 10 Million Dollars for Highway Department Building
There is no question that the structure currently housing the city highway department is in bad shape. But throwing 10 million dollars at the problem is equally unquestionably not a prudent solution. This municipal project as currently planned is just not a good place for the City to be spending its future money right… Read More
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Work
Complete By Mid-November
At least that’s what one of the workers told me recently as I crossed over on my way to work last week. “If they keep pushing it, we should make it,” he told me. It looks like the crews are working on a few final cement roadway sections as well as taking out and… Read More
Beacon Prepares For Disaster.
Fire, severe winter storm, radiological incident, structural collapse, epidemic, flood, civil unrest, utility failure—all these disasters and more are covered in the City’s Emergency Management Plan, which is the main topic of tonight’s City Council workshop. The plan covers “A wide variety of emergencies, caused by nature, technology, or human actions, [that] result[s] in… Read More
Beacon Council OK’s $.5 Million Land Purchase For Parking Lot Use
The city council last night took another formal step toward the creation of a parking lot on the east end of Beacon by unanimously passing a resolution to purchase a 1.41 acre parcel of land. The property has frontage on Churchill Street to the south and the Fishkill Creek to the east. The seller… Read More
Beacon Theater To Be Sold Friday
Beacon commercial real estate continues to change hands, with the latest deal being the sale of The Beacon Theater. The property is currently “owned” by 4th Wall Productions theater company, with the mortgage held by Manhattan real estate speculator William Erlich, a hoarder of properties and a doer of nothing. The buyer is Robert… Read More
Beacon Approves First 5-Story Building
Since 1969
The plans for a total of 62 new residential units on Churchill Street on Beacon’s east end are on the fast track, with the zoning board of appeals, the planning board, and the city council all granting support, variances, and approvals. The 1.9-acre parcel known as Lot #1 is set to include construction of… Read More
Gas Station Set to Expand
Despite Nonconforming Use
City regulations specifically prohibit enlargement of structures containing nonconforming uses, but the Xtrafuel gas station at Main Street and Fishkill Avenue is expanding nevertheless. The site plan is still up for public discussion. However, the building inspector has interpreted the zoning in a way that would allow the owners to add an additional 200… Read More
Beacon Outlaws Gas Stations
on Main Street
Over at Beacon Citizen, a Wigwam reader has become incensed over the leaking underground storage tanks at Main and Fishkill. This is as predicted in one of the previous posts about the LUST (Leaking Underground Storage Tanks): “Some of us might even get upset or angry over this egregious fouling of the environment. How could… Read More
The Beacon Project
This is the latest update on the status of the former Beacon women’s correctional facility, located just beyond our city’s high school grounds. On Wednesday, December 17th, a number of interested parties toured the site and all the buildings. For almost a year, a group of citizens affiliated with various community organizations, currently known as… Read More