Riverspace is having a meeting on June 5 to present its plans for rebuilding the downtown. There has been some discussion about the Riverspace project on that Nyacksocialscene email group, some thoughtful some not, and I put out this piece to identify issues that I think need to be discussed in connection with this project.

I invite your comment, and I hope people attend this meeting at the Riverspace theater, which is at 7:00 PM.
Continue reading →

Fans of reality TV, high stakes dramas and social documentaries are in for a big treat. And if you live in Nyack, you won’t have to leave the zip code to see the free performance.

Riverspace presents their plans for a reborn downtown Nyack on June 5th. This follows up meetings in February, April and May to discuss redevelopment of the property which includes the arts center, the adjacent strip mall, Veteran’s Park and the M&T Bank. Riverspace board members Josh Goldberg and Debbie Reich have proposed a mixed-use development with a new arts center as the anchor. They hope to replace the current unsustainable patchwork of donors and volunteers with a new business model that produces commercial and residential rental income that will help fund Riverspace.

Continue reading →

Board member Debbie Reich says the Riverspace development team is working to determine if the proposed garage can be built partially or completely underground. She told participants at the May 5th Open Dialogue session at Riverspace they’re spending $15,000 to drill and learn how deep they can go. Reich points out that even if it’s possible, it still might not be practical to put all parking underground as expenses go up the further you go down.

Orange & Rockland Utilities say they have completed the first phase of cleanup at an old manufactured-gas plant site on Gedney Street in Nyack. According to O&R spokesman Mike Donovan, the land portion of the  cleanup operation was finished last September. The utility will look for possible shoreline contaminations with a followup investigation this spring. O&R has spent $14 million on the cleanup so far.

The Gedney Street facility, which operated from 1852 until 1965, is one of over 1,500 manufactured-gas plants that burned coal or petroleum to  light and heat the homes and businesses. The  process created coal tar and other byproduct contaminants that can cause cancer. The plants became obsolete in the 50’s when natural gas pipelnes were constructed.

According to O&R, the Gedney Street facility made gas from coal and oil from 1852 until 1889. The plant used both coal and oil as feedstock for the carbureted water gas process from 1890 until 1938. It served as a oil gas facility providing “peak shaving” after 1938 used only during times of peak demand.

Sources: Journal News, May 5, Orange and Rockland

Nyack will hold a community forum to talk about gang violence and youth issues in the community on Wednesday May 7 at 7pm in the Nyack Center.

The meeting is to engage in a conversation about the fight on April 16th in Nyack. Open to the public. Nyack Mayor John Shields, Nyack Village Board of Trustees, Orangetown Supervisor Thom Kleiner, and Orangetown Police Chief Nulty among others will be present to hear your questions, comments and solutions. At Nyack Center-58 Depew Ave. Nyack, New York (corner of Depew and Broadway). For more information please call-Nyack Village Hall (845) 358-0229 or Nyack Center (845) 358-2600.

Here’s a list of stories and opinion pieces written about what happened on April 16th. Also, the Inside Rockland blog provided a good summary on May 5th, referencing the April 23 letter from Nyack’s Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Valencia Douglas.

On Monday, March 3, 2008, Riverspace held a public meeting to discuss a proposal to develop the downtown “superblock” currently occupied by the building on Main Street holding the theatre and businesses, the M&T building, and all the parking owned by the Village of Nyack. The project is at the very earliest stages, where the Riverspace and M&T property have been secured with options, but there has been no feasibility analysis yet. Continue reading →

Nyack is a great place, but has even greater needs that involve planning, vision and large scale projects. This includes reviewing large projects such as the Acker project, redesigning and developing the waterfront, developing the “superblock” where Riverspace is, major streetscape improvement, and the list goes on.

The Village simply does not have the staff capacity to manage the slate of work needed to be done. It is time the Village invests in a professional with a background in public administration, planning and development. With the potential economic development on the line, this person will more than pay for themselves. Without it, the Village is in danger of doing nothing, or even worse, making a big and expensive mistake because it lacked the expertise to manage the work.

Here’s a page which details where you can park in Nyack: http://www.seenyack.com/

Take a look at the Nyack Land Use Map as printed in the Comprehensive Plan.

Click the link below to open the Nyack BJF Parking Study or the Comprehensive Plan. They are large, so you may want to right click and download:

• Right Click to download Parking Study
• Right Click to download Comprehensive Master Plan
• Parking Deck: A View to the Future — By Barney Peters