Uptown rezoning hearing Jan. 15
The city Zoning Board of Appeals will consider a request to include the proposed Kingstonian project in the Mixed Use Overlay District Uptown.
A request to rezone a portion of the Uptown property where The Kingstonian mixed-use development is proposed to be built will be the subject of a public hearing in mid-January.
Alderwoman Andrea Shaut, D-Ward 9, said the Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee will have a hearing on the rezoning request at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15. She said the committee will discuss the request immediately after the hearing.
The Laws and Rules Committee has not previously been able to take action on the rezoning request because the city Planning Board only recently completed its own environmental review of The Kingstonian project, which is proposed to be built on two sites at
the corner of Fair and North Front streets. Earlier this month, the Planning Board issued a negative declaration of environmental significance for the project, meaning it concluded the project would have no significant adverse environmental impacts.
The Planning Board still has to review and approve the site plan and other aspects of the project, while the Common Council will rule on the rezoning request by the developers.
The request is to have a portion of the involved property rezoned so the entire project could fall within the city’s Mixed Use Overlay District. If approved by the council, a parcel at 51 Schwenk Drive would be added to the district.
The project’s inclusion in the Mixed Use Overlay District, though, has raised other issues that will have to be reviewed by the city Zoning Board of Appeals.
Attorney Victoria Polidoro of Rhinebeck last month submitted an appeal to the zoning board asking it to overturn a decision by city Zoning Enforcement Officer Eric Kitchen. Earlier in the year, Kitchen had ruled that The Kingstonian would be permitted in the Mixed Use Overlay District and would not be subject to a requirement that it make 20 percent of its housing units “affordable.”
Polidoro said her firm represents the owner of the Uptown properties at 61 Crown St., 311 Wall St., 317 Wall St. and 323 Wall St., all of which fall within the city’s Mixed Use Overlay District, also called the MUOD.
The properties are owned by corporations led by New York City-based developer Neil Bender, according to published reports.
“My clients are now compelled to appeal the ZEO’s (zoning enforcement officer’s) determination because it lacks a rational basis and unfairly benefits the owners of The Kingstonian project to the detriment of owners of existing structures in the MUOD,” Polidoro wrote. “We note at the outset that the applicants are supportive of The Kingstonian project, but concerned that the determination would encourage the demolition of existing structures and replacement with new structures in order to avoid a mandatory 20 percent affordable housing requirement, and place owners of existing structures within the Stockade District at an economic disadvantage in adaptively reusing historic properties for residential uses.”
As proposed, The Kingstonian project would involve the demolition of the Herzog’s warehouse (which was originally a hotel) and the adjacent Uptown Grill diner to make way for new construction on those sites, as well as on a neighboring property owned by the city and used as a municipal parking lot.
The Kingstonian is proposed to include 143 apartments, of which 129 would be rented at market rates. In addition to the apartments, the project is to comprise 8,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, a 32room boutique hotel, a pedestrian plaza, a footbridge crossing Schwenk Drive between the new development and Kingston Plaza, and 420 parking spaces, of which 130 would be reserved for the residents.
The Kingstonian’s cost is expected to exceed $52 million, more than $46 million of which is to come from private funding. The project is to receive $3.8 million from the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant awarded to Kingston by New York state, as well as other government funding.
In addition to considering the appeal filed by Polidoro’s firm, the Zoning Board of Appeals is also to consider four variance requests by The Kingstonian developers. The requested variances deal with setback rules, parking, landscaping, and flood control.
The Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to meet again at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, but it was not immediately clear whether The Kingstonian project would be on the agenda.