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Community Corner

Imagining the Future of Hastings' Waterfront

Landscape architect presents ideas for Hastings' waterfront.

Imagine a waterfront in Hastings with a performing arts center, inner tubing, mixed-use development and a parking garage sloping down to the Hudson River from Warburton Avenue, all completed in a sustainable manner.

Claudia Sherman, who received her Master’s of Landscape Architecture degree from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, presented her fanciful design of what the Hastings waterfront could possibly look like after the contaminated site is eventually cleaned up in a presentation entitled “Designing the Future: Sustainable Solutions for the Hastings Waterfront with a Focus on Climate Change and the Future” on Tuesday evening at the Harmon Center. Her plan for Hastings' waterfront was the capstone project for her degree. 

Three owners (Paul Uhlich and Co., ARCO and Exxon-Mobil) currently control the 45-acre property, which is being overseen by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and it’s not clear if they would be willing to sell, said Susan Maggiotto, Deputy Manager/Clerk in Hastings.

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“It will be interesting to see how much the village will control, but we can add our influence through zoning and planning,” said Maggiotto. Any clean up is at least five years out, she added.

Sherman settled on Hastings after looking at several sites along the Hudson, including the GM plant in Sleepy Hollow. Design challenges included the heavily contaminated northwest corner of the property and remediation of the PCB’s, copper, lead and arsenic left behind after the factories moved away.

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Her goals included revitalizing the river, keeping automobile traffic to a minimum, connecting local neighborhoods to the site and creating as much open space as possible. She also sought to protect against flooding that might occur if the predictions of climate change advocates are correct and sea levels rise.

Another of Sherman’s mantras, sustainability, would be achieved through alternative energy sources like submerged turbines powered by the river’s flow and solar panels along with ample room for recycling and re-use of resources.

Her plan, crisscrossed by elevated boardwalks, is broken down into commercial structures on the site’s northern side. An open plaza creates a buffer between a residential section consisting of condos and a wetlands area with a beach, a place to ride inner tubes and swimming pools suspended in the river. She even seeks to minimize lawn maintenance by planting no-mow grass. On the site’s southern side, she envisions a performing arts center and a marina.

When Sherman revealed her colorful drawings, she elicited light applause. Her goal, she said, was to have people passing by in the train or on the river say: “Wow, what is this place? It looks so cool,” she said.

Sherman has donated her drawings to the village, which plans to display them once a suitable space is found.

“It’s stimulating to think about alternatives for the future,” said Maggiotto. “We’ve had a lot of planning sessions for many years and people say they want to see residential, commercial and open space, so this reflects that vision. The proportion is what will likely be up for grabs.”

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