City putting up $198K to match grant for bulkhead work

KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Common Council has approved bonding $197,500 to match a state grant for developing the second phase of improvements along the Rondout Creek.

The borrowing, approved Tuesday, will help pay “to design the plans to put new bulkhead in ... from the Cornell building going out to the Rondout Lighthouse,” council President James Noble said.

The work is part of the Rondout Riverport Shoreline Stabilization and Public Access Project, which is being funded by the state Department of State. City officials say the second phase of the project will build on economic development programs related to the waterfront.

“Eventually we’d like to see that all completed,” Noble said of the bulkhead. “Once you repair it, then there’s property there that can be invested in the waterfront.”

The Phase 2 plan covers about 2,860 feet of shoreline. The first phase, called the Waterfront Revitalization Implementation Plan, targets about 1,400 feet, from the Judge Loughran Bridge (U.S. Route 9W) to the Cornell building.

The Rondout Riverport Shoreline Stabilization project, according to the city, is to include installing bulkhead and docks that are resilient to high water and flooding; stabilizing areas of the shoreline where erosion has occurred; providing public access that will encourage water activities; and boosting the economy through private investments that create new jobs.

The Waterfront Revitalization Implementation Plan has the goal of working with private land owners to “mitigate hazards of extreme flooding, increase public waterfront access and community engagement, [and] increase potential for water-dependent activities on the waterfront.”

The cost of the first phase is expected to be $3 million, $2 million of which is being sought as a grant from the state. That grant would require a $352,941 match by the city, but it can be in the form of in-kind services.