Planning dept. to hold distressed areas talks

KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Ulster County Planning Department will hold three meetings in May to gather input about ways to revitalize distressed commercial corridors Midtown Kingston, Kerhonkson, Ellenville and Saugerties.

The sessions are being held as part of the state Department of State’s Brownfield Opportunity Areas program. The program “provides communities with guidance, expertise and financial assistance to complete nomination plans, which are revitalization strategies for neighborhoods or areas affected by economic distress,” a state description of the program reads. “Through the ... program, these areas are transformed from liabilities to community assets that generate business, jobs and revenues for local economies.”

The program puts focus on broad areas instead individual parcels that have been impacted by contaminated, or “brownfield,” properties.

The upcoming meetings are scheduled for:

• May 9, 6 p.m., Kingston City Hall (Common Council chamber), 420 Broadway.

• May 10, noon, Saugerties Public Library, 91 Washington Ave.

• May 16, 6:30 p.m., Ellenville Municipal Building, 2 Elting Court.

At the meetings, residents, business, property owners and community groups will be asked to “share their ideas on a report to identify revitalization targets and strategies that could bring new funding and financing incentives to the area,” the state said.

Areas under review for revitalization include:

• In Midtown Kingston, residential and business properties in neighborhoods on both sides of Broadway, from Albany Avenue to Garden Street, as far north as Foxhall Avenue and south to Clinton Avenue.

• In Saugerties, along Ulster Avenue from North Street in the village to state Route 32, including properties between state Route 32 and the state Thruway, and north to People’s Road.

• In Ellenville and Wawarsing, along the eastern side of U.S. Route 209 from the Rondout Creek to the village at state Route 52/Center Street and then some areas along Clinton Avenue.

• In Kerhonkson, along U.S. Route 209 from a about a half-mile east of Samsonville Road going west to Turkey Hill Road in Wawarsing. The area would include property on the east as far as Main Street in Kerhonkson and a halfmile west to the Mombaccus Creek.