Proposal again off Planning Board agenda
For the fourth month in a row, the Irish Cultural Center proposal will not appear on the agenda of the city Planning Board.
Board Chairman Wayne Platte said the developers of the proposed Abeel Street center have not asked to have the project on the April 10 agenda.
Platte said that the plan, which has been the subject of much controversy, still is being revised.
“Apparently, they are holding back on their end,” Platte said of the developers. “They are not ready. They have not asked to be on the agenda.”
The last time the project appeared on the Planning Board agenda was in December.
If approved by the Planning Board as proposed, the center would comprise 16,213 square feet and occupy three stories high on a 0.44-acre parcel at 32 Abeel St., overlooking the Rondout Creek waterfront.
The building would include a 171-seat theater on the ground floor, accessed from West Strand and Company Hill Path; while the first floor would contain performance space, a kitchen, some gallery space and a tea room/pub. The top floor would include a large classroom area, offices, a recording studio and storage space. A rooftop garden also is planned.
Neighbors of the proposed Irish Cultural Center have gone to court in an effort to overturn the decision that the property is properly zoned for a performance venue.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 15 in state Supreme Court in Kingston, challenges the Nov. 15 decision by the Kingston Zoning Board of Appeals and argues the property does not abut the Broadway/ West Strand zoning district that would allow the project.
The suit was filed on behalf of Hillary and Owen Harvey and Deanna Baum. Besides the Zoning Board of Appeals, the suit names Kingston Zoning Enforcement Officer Joseph Safford, the city and developer Irish Cultural Center Hudson Valley Inc. as defendants.