Irish center subject of hearing
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> The Irish Cultural Center, for which site plan approval has expired, will be the subject of a public hearing in October.
The hearing before the city Planning Board is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, in City Hall, 420 Broadway.
The Planning Board will re-examine the proposal after the hearing, but City Planner Suzanne Cahill said she does not expect a decision on the site plan that evening.
The Planning Board approved the project’s site plan in April, but the developer did not obtain a building permit within the required 120 days. That meant the site plan approval expired and must be obtained again for the project to proceed.
Earlier this month, city officials said violations had been corrected to the city’s satisfaction at the site where the Irish Cultural Center is to be built, a Kingston official said Tuesday.
City Engineer John Schultheis said the developers corrected all of the problems listed in a violation notice the city issued in August. But ongoing mainte-
nance is necessary for the site at 32 Abeel St. to stay in compliance, Schultheis said.
Excavation at the site, which overlooks the Rondout Creek in Downtown Kingston, took place earlier this year, and the violation notice was issued by then-City Engineer Ralph Swenson on Aug. 13. (Swenson retired earlier this month.)
The Aug. 13 notice said several problems were found during an Aug. 9 visit to the site by Swenson’s staff and members of the the Kingston Planning Department. Among the problems: There was no stabilized construction entrance, a silt fence was
not fully embedded, and untreated drainage was migrating off the site and causing erosion to the city-owned Company Hill Path, which connects the site to West Strand. The notice also said the slope along the property lines was not stabilized, and the driveway at 42 Abeel St., next door, was unprotected at the top of the slope to the excavation.
Neighbors have complained that excavation at the site, which covers slightly less than half an acre, has damaged surrounding properties and Company Hill Path.
The Irish Cultural Center is planned to be a 16,213-square-foot facility that would include a 171-seat theater and a restaurant with a pub space. The ground floor is to be built into the hillside facing West Strand and Company Hill Path.