The proposed Regional Center at Hyde Park would house information and more for tourists and residents alike, but local residents bristled last week at the notion of the center hosting a regional market.
Approximately 30 people from Hyde Park and nearby municipalities attended a workshop meeting at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center on the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site on June 9.
The meeting’s purpose was to brainstorm ideas and possible functions for the planned center. The components of the center include an information and transportation hub for shuttle buses and a Hudson Valley Regional Market, which would offer local agricultural products.
But those in attendance questioned whether having both the Hyde Park Farmers Market and the Hudson Valley Regional Market would be a “win-win” situation.
Hyde Park resident Dot Chenevert said she does not want the regional market to offer the same things as the Hyde Park Farmers Market, which offers agricultural products like fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses and wine. Chenevert said the regional market would be open daily all year, which could cut down the number of people who frequent the farmers market when it is in season.
“If they can go to the (Hudson Valley Regional Market) on Tuesday for produce, they won’t go to the Hyde Park Farmers Market on Saturday,” said Chenevert, chairwoman of the Hyde Park Farmers Market Committee.
Chenevert said she would like the Hudson Valley Regional Market to offer consumers different types of products, such as artisan crafts. Chenevert added that it would be “a shame” to combine the two markets.
The farmers market, Chenevert added, is more than people buying produce.
“It’s for people to come to meet and see their friends and neighbors and support the local entity,” Chenevert said. “It’s a social event, and we want to keep it that way.”
“I don’t want to lose the identity of (the Hyde Park Farmers Market),” she said.
Bill Martin, manager of the Hyde Park Farmers Market, also does not want the Hudson Valley Regional Market to sell produce.
“The Hyde Park Farmers Market can have produce, and the Hudson Valley Regional Market could have local crafts, but I don’t want produce there to hurt the Hyde Park Farmers Market on Saturdays,” Martin said.
Center planning
Elizabeth Waldstein-Hart, partnership project coordinator for the Regional Center at Hyde Park, said the idea for the center came from the Hyde Park-based Bellefield Group, which consists of community residents and officials, area not-for-profit organizations and other agencies.
Planning for the center started in 2001. The Town of Hyde Park, the National Parks Service, Poughkeepsie-based environmental group Scenic Hudson and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area are working together in a partnership to plan the center.
The center would occupy a 300-acre parcel of property on Route 9 across from the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site and would also connect Route 9 and Route 9G.
The land includes the historic carriage trail that former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to travel from his estate to Val-Kill. Scenic Hudson owns the parcel with the historic carriage trail.
Hyde Park resident Paul Nassetta said he supports the Regional Center at Hyde Park plan, but is concerned about “linkages” from the center to the town center area on Route 9, just north of where the facility would be.
“I want to see stronger linkages to Hyde Park from the facility,” Nassetta said. “I’m afraid everybody will be at the facility and the town center area will dry up,” Nassetta said.
Hyde Park resident Barbara Sweet suggested installing a low-powered radio station along Route 9 to broadcast information as motorists drive through town.
“It would be giving them short pieces of information of places in Hyde Park and parking information,” Sweet said. “It would be low-powered so it doesn’t interfere with the bigger radio stations. There could be signs along the road telling them what AM frequency to tune into.”
The not-for-profit consulting group Project for Public Space, according to Waldstein-Hart, will now develop an operation and management plan for the market component of the center. An architect will then work with the project’s four partners and develop a site plan, which should be done by September.
“We hope to be able to start building it next spring,” Waldstein-Hart said.