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Consultant and steering committee present draft findings for Red Hook comprehensive plan update; public workshop planned in May
Summary
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress and the steering committee reported nearly a year of outreach, including a visioning workshop with 70+ attendees, 170+ survey responses and youth engagement sessions; the draft vision and goals will be released in early May and a public workshop is planned for mid-May.
A consultant team and the comprehensive-plan steering committee briefed the Red Hook Town Board on April 14 about progress on the town's comprehensive-plan update and next steps for public engagement.
Eric Pearson of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress said the project has focused on open and transparent outreach, smart-growth principles and creating a usable plan to guide zoning and decision-making. He reported a October visioning workshop with more than 70 participants, over 170 written survey responses using open-ended questions, 21 "kitchen table" conversations involving roughly 180 people, tabling at community events and an extensive youth engagement effort that reached seventh- and eighth-graders in local schools.
"We've been meeting once a month for almost a year and plenty of hours outside those meetings as well," Pearson said, summarizing the engagement work and announcing that a full summary of findings and a draft vision statement and goals will be released in early May. A public workshop to solicit feedback on draft goals is planned for mid-May, with a third workshop in the fall before the board considers an adopted plan.
Julia Solomon, the voluntary chair of the steering committee, said the work aims to capture community values that remain consistent with Red Hook's 1993 plan — protecting open space, supporting farms, preserving small-town character, improving pedestrian and bike safety and protecting water quality — while drafting concrete goals and implementation strategies.
Board members requested access to raw engagement data and suggested creating an appendix or separate document to capture comments that informed but did not directly become part of the plan. The consultant said project milestones and a timeline aim for a written draft by the end of the calendar year, with administrative and county-review steps carrying the formal adoption process into 2027.
The board did not vote on policy changes at the meeting; the presentation served as an update and a call for continued public participation in May workshops and online engagement.
