Town of Red Hook Comprehensive Plan - Steering Commi ee Mee ng Minutes March 24th, 2026 7:30-9:00pm Red Hook Town Hall In A endance Commi ee: Laurie Husted, Jennifer Mañón, Hart Migdal, Sam Phelan, Julia Solomon (Chair) Liaisons: Sarah Imboden (Liaison, Village of Tivoli), Melkorka Kjarval (Liaison, Village of Red Hook), Jacob Testa (Liaison, Red Hook Town Board), Taun Toay (Liaison, Bard College) Guests: Eric Pierson (Pa ern for Progress), Chris ne Kane Regrets Dennis Kanuk, Chuck Mead, Tricia Reed, Ben Shute Minutes Minutes from the February 24th mee ng were approved. Updates An addi onal mee ng is scheduled for April 7th to discuss spring community engagement ac vi es. Engagement with all of the 7th & 8th grade middle school social studies classes is underway. Eric and Julia met with the Agriculture & Open Space commi ee and will be mee ng with addi onal commi ees this spring. Eric and Julia are scheduled to give an update presenta on to the Town Board in April. Discussion – Comprehensive Plan Topics & Themes Eric summarized the process he is using to analyze and summarize community input, which includes transcribing and tagging all comments. Top themes in the ‘keep/working’ category include: protec ng open space and natural areas protec ng farms and farming preserving Red Hook’s ‘small town feel’ parks and recrea on Top themes in the ‘change/add’ category include: housing affordability pedestrian and bicycle safety transparent/responsive local government connec vity in town (spa al) 1
traffic (many comments related to Rte 9/199 intersec on in Red Hook Village)
The commi ee discussed the themes, including poten al tradeoffs and complexi es in addressing them. They also discussed op ons for plan structure and dra plan topic areas, which Eric will further refine in the coming weeks. There is a desire to be accountable to those who shared input – illustra ng how the community’s ideas informed the plan’s development and how comments have been archived (even those that may be too granular for inclusion or outside the scope of the plan). Discussion – Workshop #2 The commi ee discussed the planned Workshop #2. The purpose will be to share community engagement findings, solicit feedback on dra goals and collect ideas for strategies. An expo style event is proposed. This will allow more flexibility for drop-in a endance, will allow par cipants to engage more with the topics that they care about and will offer a different experience than Workshop #1. The commi ee discussed op ons for workshop date, me and loca on. This conversa on will be con nued at the April 7th mee ng. The workshop is currently tenta vely slated for mid-May. Next Steps Next mee ng: April 7th, 7:30-9:00pm Topics will include: Workshop #2 (logis cs & promo on) and Apple Blossom Day
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