Merger of commissions back before committee

Proposed legislation to merge two city commissions has again landed on the agenda of a Common Council committee.

The Laws and Rules Committee will discuss legislation to merge the city’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission and Heritage Area Commission when it meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday in City Hall, 420 Broadway.

This will be the first time since August the matter has been on the agenda of a Laws and Rules Committee meeting.

The legislation, put forward by the administration of Mayor Steve Noble, calls for the new, merged body to be called the Kingston Historic Landmarks and Heritage Area Commission.

At a previous Laws and Rules meeting, city lawmakers and members of the two commissions

had discussed whether there were other options that could be explored instead of the merger. No decisions were made at that meeting, though some ideas were presented to deal with issues facing the commissions without the city actually merging the two bodies.

Among the possible solutions discussed was hiring a part-time city employee with a background in preservation to act as a sort of concierge who would work with development applicants and guide them through the review process. There also was discussion about the city creating an overall preservation plan and potentially taking away some of the duties of the Heritage Area Commission.

The landmarks commission currently has seven members, while the heritage commission has 11. Neither commission currently has alternates to step in when a regular member is absent or has a conflict of interest.

The proposal would address that and also provide a way to remove members from the new commission. Also included is language about appealing decisions made by the new commission, among other changes.