Under second examination
Lawmakers agree to again review planned Irish Cultural Center after approval expired
A second Planning Board examination of the planned Irish Cultural Center will start next month as developers have reapplied for review.
City Planner Suzanne Cahill said the review will begin at the Sept. 17 Planning Board meeting at City Hall.
In August, officials reported the original site-plan approval for the project on Abeel Street had expired, meaning the developer had to reapply to the Planning Board if the project was to proceed.
Cahill said the board approved the site plan for the center on April 16 and that, under the City Code, the developer had 120 days to secure a building permit for the project or the approval would expire. No permit has been secured.
She also said that, because the approval has expired, the developer, Irish Cultural Center Hud-
son Valley Inc., could not merely apply for an extension of the approvals for the 16,213-square-foot facility.
Much of the information from the original application still would be valid, Cahill said. She said, though, that some consideration would be given to new site conditions at 32 Abeel St., where only excavation has
taken place to date.
In mid-August, the city issued a notice of violation against the developer over conditions at the site.
City Engineer Ralph Swenson outlined issues at the site in an Aug. 13 letter to the developer. He wrote that, among other issues, there was no stabilized construction entrance, the silt fence was not fully embedded, and untreated drainage was migrating off the site and causing erosion to the cityowned
Company Hill Path, a sloped walking surface that connects Abeel Street to West Strand near the Rondout Creek.
In response to that letter, developers initially submitted a plan to fix some, but not all, of the violations at the site.
Megan Weiss-Rowe, the city’s director of communications and community engagement, on Friday said the plan was later updated and “deemed sufficient at this time.” She said the developers
have until Saturday, Sept. 15 to complete the work.
Neighbors have complained the excavation has caused excessive noise and damage to surrounding properties, including Company Hill Path and the
residential property at 42 Abeel St.
The city does not require a permit for excavation on private property, but Kingston lawmakers are considering changes to the municipal code to provide more oversight of such work.
The Irish Cultural Center is to include a 171-seat theater on its ground floor, which would be built into the hillside facing West Strand and Company Hill Path, and a restaurant with a pub space.