By EMILIA TEASDALE
VALATIE—At their regular meeting on November 4, the Kinderhook Town Board passed a Pro-Housing Communities Resolution. Passing the resolution is part of the board’s plan to be able to apply for state grants and part of updating their over 20-year-old Comprehensive Plan.
The resolution reads that the government of Kinderhook believes that the lack of housing for “all ages and income levels” negatively impacts the state’s economic growth and community’s well-being, and that “the housing crisis” has had “negative effects at regional and local levels.” And so “we believe that every community must do their part to contribute to housing growth and benefit from the positive impacts a healthy housing market brings to communities.”
The resolution also says that the board believes in supporting housing production of “all kinds” that bring multiple benefits including increasing housing access and choices for current and future residents. But also they believe in the evidence that “infill development that reduces sprawl and supports walkable communities has significant environmental and public health benefits.”
The Pro-Housing Communities pledge in the resolution says that the town endeavors to: streamline permitting for multifamily housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units and supportive housing. They also pledge to adopt policies that affirmatively further fair housing; incorporate regional housing needs into planning decisions; increase development capacity for residential uses; and enact policies that encourage a broad range of housing development.
All board members voted in favor of the resolution.
Board member Sally Naramore, who is also co-chairing the Comprehensive Plan Update Committee, brought the resolution to the board. At the meeting, she pointed out that there are state grants to support community building for housing and Main Street programs for mixed use buildings, as well as grants for Agrotourism.
“There is money here from the state,” she told her fellow board members.
In July 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Executive Order 30 creating the Pro-Housing Community Program, a policy designed “to reward local governments that are working hard to address New York’s housing crisis.” According to the state, there are two ways to achieve the certification. First, if the municipality can show through the permitting documentation that they have approved either: permits increasing their housing stock by 0.33% over the past year or permits increasing their housing stock by 1% over the past three years. At the meeting, Councilwoman Naramore said the town had not increased housing by 1% in the past three years but, she pointed out, none of the zoning rulings in that time had increased or decreased housing.
For localities that have not seen housing growth, the state says that they can still be certified as a Pro-Housing Community by submitting their data and passing the Pro-Housing Resolution.
Localities must achieve the Pro-Housing Communities certification to apply to key discretionary funding programs, including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), the NY Forward program, the Regional Council Capital Fund, capital projects from the Market New York program, and the New York Main Street program.
The towns of Ancram, Chatham, New Lebanon, Copake, Ghent, Hillsdale and Stuyvesant, and the village of Philmont and the City of Hudson were recently named Pro-Housing Communities by the state.
In New Lebanon, Supervisor Tistrya Houghtling told The Columbia Paper when her town received the certification earlier this year that it “can help ensure that our community can continue to grow and prosper, our local businesses can find employees who can afford to live here and seniors and young families can afford to stay here.” More specifically, the supervisor indicated money from the program can make the town more attractive to potential developers by helping to elevate the added costs of installing a well and septic.
In Kinderhook, the largest town in the county population-wise, the board is moving forward with Phase 1 of the Comprehensive Plan Update and received a $10,000 to help with that work. They hired Michael Allen of ReGrowth, who recently worked with the Town of Chatham on updating their Comprehensive Plan. The committee will be meeting with Mr. Allen at their next meeting November 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the Martin H. Glynn Municipal Building at 3211 Church Street. The meeting is open to the public.
Mr. Allen will be taking a tour of the town and discussing Phase 1, which is community outreach and input.
Also at the November 4 Town Board meeting:
*The board held a public hearing on the 2025 proposed budget with no comments from the public. The budget, which was passed at a special meeting on November 12, is on the town’s website at www.kinderhook-ny.gov
*The Climate Smart Committee held an event with PureSky, the company it is partnering with for Community Solar, in late October. Committee Chair Melissa Miller told the board that they had some residents sign-up for the solar program at the event but would like more. If the town is able to get a certain number of residents to sign up for the program the town will receive grant funds. There is more information also on the town’s website
*The board approved a motion to set the speed limit on Round Lake Road to 30 mph, as it is on that part of the road which is in the Town of Chatham.
The next regular Town Board meeting will be December 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Glynn Building.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com
