Poughkeepsie officials are hoping to better link the Hudson River waterfront with the nearby Main Street business district using a $100,000 state grant and a plan built upon a rock.
Kaal Rock juts into the Hudson from just south of the Mid-Hudson Bridge. It is a natural feature that could be linked with Waryas Park north along the shoreline, heading a few blocks inland and into the Main Street business district.
Such a linkage has long been touted as a business-friendly initiative. Now, Poughkeepsie Mayor John Tkazyik said the city has issued a Request for Proposal costing up to $100,000 seeking plans that would begin making that link a reality.
The New York State Department of State coastal management grant will pay most of the costs of the plan to explore options, said Tkazyik, starting with basics. Â “As the first point, how do you direct the flow of traffic from waterfront destination up to the Main Street corridor and central business district?”
Factors already in place lend impetus to efforts to create a link, he said, citing the coming elevator for the Walkway Over the Hudson, a new marina built along formerly abandoned shoreline and the attraction of the Kaal Rock area, which the Mayor called “a beautiful location, which however, over the last 15 years has been neglected.” He said improvements in the area would themselves encourage links to the business district, but said a sustained and directed effort is needed.
“It’s a very important link to make,” Tkazyik said of joining the two areas, ticking off the many attractions each already holds. “There are the parks, there is the Walkway Over the Hudson, the Cunneen Hacket arts center, the Bardavon Theater, the many great restaurants. There is a lot of opportunity here with this grant.”
Tkazyik said the grant would explore ways to enhance public transportation in the area, possibly via a trolley. He said the plan should develop unified signage, do streetscapes and improve infrastructure. And efforts must be made to improve marketing of the waterfront and the Main Street district.
The consultant eventually hired will complete a Waterfront-Main Street Corridor Action Plan in concert with city officials. “We’ll be working very closely with the consultant,” city development Director Laura Wojtowicz said.
Under city guidelines the consultant would   hold a public meeting to obtain input and ideas on issues, and opportunities for the waterfront and Main Street, develop a community profile that includes historic, geographic, demographic, economic, land use, transportation and natural features; and issue recommendations that are consistent with the city’s goal of encouraging development in and around Metro-North’s Poughkeepsie Railroad Station.
Tkazyik said the deadline for consultants to submit proposals is July 30. He said he hopes to select a consultant in August and begin work in September.
“We want to get moving on this and make this link come together because it”™s an exciting concept,” Tkazyik said.
