Hyde Park Woods Destruction

[Tim845]

This really gets my goat. If more of the public were physically active and got outside for recreation they'd have discovered this beautiful land. It should be a park buffer between Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie, but instead its being developed with some huge taxless scheme they got on the cheap.

Pave the world for progress?

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100406/NEWS01/4060324/Rivals-fear-CIA-hotel-would-get-advantage

HYDE PARK — Some owners and managers of local lodging say plans to build a Hyatt Place hotel and conference center at the Culinary Institute of America could create unfair competition , while college and town officials say the project will generate taxes and create jobs.

The CIA is seeking approval of the Town Board to rezone the 7.3-acre parcel to permit construction of a 135-room hotel. The 170,000-square-foot, four-floor structure would include a 10,000-square-foot conference center.

The fact the hotel would be built on tax-exempt property and the perception that culinary students might work there for free have several local businesses worried about unfair competition.

In New York, land owned by colleges and universities is not subject to local property taxes.

"I feel it would be a disservice to the local businesses to bring in a large hotel conference center," said Maureen Kangas, general manager of the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel and Conference Center in the City of Poughkeepsie.

Kangas spoke at the recent Hyde Park Town Board meeting at which the CIA presented its plan to lease a portion of woods on its campus to a hotel developer.

But lawyers representing the CIA and the town said that even though the land is tax-exempt, the hotel building will generate tax revenue. Jon Adams, CIA consulting attorney, said the project would provide the town payments in lieu of taxes.

"It will certainly be a revenue producer in one form or the other," Adams said.

James Horan, the town's attorney, said improvements on the hotel parcel would be assessed, which the town tax rate could be applied to.

"Assessing is based on the cost of constructing the project," he said. "The real property underlying would not be assessed."

Adams quashed the idea of culinary students working at the hotel for free. The hotel would operate as a private business, separate from the college, he said.

The possibility of the Hyatt hotel enjoying free labor and exemption from full taxation is what concerns the general manager of the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel.

"Obviously I'm not happy about this," Kangas said. "We pay a lot of taxes."

Nick Rebraca, the owner of the Belvedere Mansion, a bed-and-breakfast and restaurant in Staatsburg, urged the Town Board to "vehemently oppose" the rezoning application.

He compared the proposed Hyatt hotel to a big-box store that will draw business away from not only his inn but the Hyde Park town center.

"I think it would create a wasteland," he said. "The Culinary Institute is turning into a Walmart in small-town destruction."

Valerie Hail, owner of le Petit Chateau Inn, a bed-and-breakfast on West Dorsey Lane in Hyde Park, urged the Town Board to make sure the Hyatt hotel pays its fair share of taxes.

"I would love for them to pay taxes," said Hail, a former Town Board member.

The Hyatt Place is among eights brands of hotel and resorts managed by the Chicago-based Hyatt Corp. The Hyatt Place is geared toward the "business traveler," featuring "casual hospitality," according to the Hyatt Web site.

Adams previously said that a "Park Hyatt" hotel was planned, which is more of a luxury hotel.

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Pedal, b*tches!!

[Bonkler]

Why doesn't Hyatt consider bulldozing that grotesque strip mall directly next to the Roosevelt estate? Kill two birds with one stone so to speak and get a shuttle to run between CIA and FDR mansion? I don't drive in there or really know if any businesses still operate out of it, but it sure is an eyesore.

The last thing Route 9 needs is yet another traffic light, another slab of parking lot, another short sighted tax free plan for an out of state owned business!

[Tim845]

Stop and Shop owns that strip mall and had plans to move across the street (with gas too). Then the Chrysler dealer was going into the former S&S, before the economy tanked.
At least Rite Aid is in trouble -maybe the locally owned (Malloys on Rt9) pharmacy has a chance.
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Pedal, b*tches!!

[pinklewurst (tschneller)]

I have no comment about the hotel at CIA due to my employment position. I have my own opinions but I am but a pawn in that chess game.
The hotel will be built on the west side of rt 9, behind the new CIA student lodging. It will overlook the river and the railroad.
But what I did hear was that there will be a big box store right across the street from the CIA, in the large wooded parcel, and originally it was WALMART that was moving in. Now I think it will be Shoprite..... Pave paradise....
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Definition of Stinky: My gloves!

[Bud]

While traveling on St.Andrews Rd.....across from the water tower on the south side, take a look and you'll see something in the works....lots of construction equipment in there now.