POUGHKEEPSIE – The hotly debated sale of city-owned property at 36 North Clover Street in Poughkeepsie, also known as Wheaton Park, will wait another week. It was one of two items on the agenda for a special meeting Monday night.
A motion to table was made, which, under generally accepted rules of parliamentary procedure, is not debatable, but debate followed.
Before that happened, Corporation Counsel Paul Ackerman explained some new changes to the developer’s plan.
“It is a design document which provides for open space,” Ackerman said. “It is a minimum open space. There’s a provision in there, provides that there could be more open space as determined by the developer and during the Planning Board process.”
Open space has been a point of contention to many residents who fear plans for residential units will mean less space.
It was Majority Leader Tracy Hermann who moved to table, claiming they just got the latest revisions on Monday, hours before the night’s meeting.
“[I am] very concerned about how that opens myself up, and others up, to potential litigation,” Hermann said. “That does not support openness and transparency in government; something that we propose to do.”
Democrat ShaRon McClinton concurred, saying the public should be allowed to speak, again, at the regular council meeting next Monday. Citizens were not permitted to speak at last night’s special meeting.
The motion to table passed with opposition from Democrats Lee David Klein and Joseph Rich.
