Board losing 2 members amid Irish center appeal
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The city Zoning Board of Appeals will become smaller as it prepares to make a key decision about the proposed Irish Cultural Center.
Mayor Steve Noble said the number of members on the board will be reduced from seven to five at the end of the year, when the three-year terms of all the current members expire.
“A few months ago, the Common Council updated the city code as it relates to the Zoning Board of Appeals in order to be consistent with state law,” Noble said in an email. “The terms will begin in January, and the board will ... [have] five voting members and three alternates.
“As everyone’s term ends at the end of December, all current and prospective members have been asked to submit our ‘boards and commissions application,’ which I instituted last year,” Noble added. “Also, per the ethics law, all mem-
bers of the zoning board must complete a financial disclosure form.”
Noble said he is accepting applications and has advertised them in his weekly newsletter.
“I would expect to make new appointments later this month or early in the new year,” the mayor said.
The timing of the change is significant because the board recently received an appeal from the developer of the Irish Cultural Center that challenges the Kingston Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission’s rejection of the proposed center.
The zoning board could act on the appeal at its January meeting.
The landmarks commission voted 4-3 on Sept. 25 against issuing a “preservation notice of action” for the center, which would be on Abeel Street and overlook the Rondout Creek. The notice is required before construction can take place.
The project also requires approval from the city’s Planning Board, which still is considering the center’s proposed site plan.
Noble has been publicly neutral about the project.
The Irish Cultural Center, if built, would be a 16,213-square-foot building at 32 Abeel St. and would include a 171-seat theater and a 70-seat pub. A banquet area has been dropped from the initial proposal.
If approved, the center would be built on a 0.44acre parcel bordered on two sides by private properties and to the rear by the cityowned Company Hill Path.