Planning Board delays action on Alms House
A vote on whether to approve RUPCO’s site plan for its proposed apartments has been put off until August.
An expected vote on approving the site plan for affordable housing at the Alms House site was postponed this week.
The Planning Board was to vote on the matter at its Monday night meeting, but the action was delayed after the board received a letter from Michael Morriello, attorney for developer RUPCO, who noted several members would be absent.
“Owing to the two-year period of legislative/administrative review and the comprehensive record made to date, I believe it is prudent to await meeting attendance by a more complete complement of the Planning Board members prior to the proceeding,” Morriello wrote.
City Planner Suzanne Cahill said the vote now is expected in August. Site plan approval is the last major step that’s required before construction can begin.
RUPCO recently purchased the Alms House property, at 300 Flatbush Ave. in Kingston, from the Ulster County Economic Development Agency for $950,000 and expects to create apartments in the existing 19th-century building and in a new building that’s to be constructed on the site.
The project, to be called Landmark Place, is to comprise 34 apartments in the existing vacant structure and 32 more units in a new four-story building. The housing would be open to people 55 and older, and some of the units would offer support services for a mix of homeless populations with special needs.
The historic building would contain a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments, while the new building would contain one-bedroom apartments. Of the apartments, 35 would offer supportive services for special needs populations, including a minimum of seven apartments dedicated to the frail or/and disabled elderly.
RUPCO completed its purchase of the property this past spring after a lengthy approval process and a court battle over the property’s zoning.
RUPCO has said the Landmark Place project will create an estimated 50 construction jobs and 10 permanent jobs.
Constructed in the 1870s as a place to care for the city’s poor, the Alms House later was used as a tuberculosis ward in the 1950s and most recently housed Ulster County offices.