By Joan Buck Smith, Montgomery
In 2022 the Town of Montgomery established a procedure to create an affordable, supportive, and veterans supportive housing floating zone. The community initially supported this, initially believing it was for affordable senior and veteran housing. I attended many of the Town Board and Planning Board meetings on this.
In 2024 Town Local Law 3 amended this to include workforce and senior housing. The sign on the almost finished apartments Now Say “MULTIFAMILY HOUSING”. Plans call for 73 ONE-BEDROOM APARTMENTS, 6 Two Bedroom apartments and one 3 bedroom apartment for the caretaker. Supervisor Brescia stated multifamily means more than one person, but did not rule out children. Units are to be fixed and/or income restricted for purpose of priority with or without supportive services to households whose householder meets qualifying criteria on a continuing basis by way of age, income level, vet status or disability.
A friend who works full time at a local business applied and was turned down because she doesn’t make the minimum income level of $44,000 a year. This does not seem like “affordable” to me. Most seniors who live on savings and social security will not qualify. At a recent Town Board meeting, a disabled veteran said he applied and was told he would not qualify because he did not have enough income.
I believe the developer was granted money from the Orange County Disaster Relief Funds . They were to get 20 Million dollars initially, toward Hawkins Apartments, but has been cut down to 2 Million dollars because it is not now “affordable” or supportive.
This project has a huge tax forgiveness tied to being for our seniors and veterans. This should be removed and the project should pay their fair share of taxes. After all, they will be getting water and sewer that should have gone to businesses that pay taxes on Hawkins Drive.
The Town Board will be having a Public Hearing on all these changes. Come out and voice your concerns. Another “New” Administration changing what was approved before they came in. Sound familiar?