Board sends community center proposal to county

KINGSTON, N.Y. » A proposal to create a community center in a house on Greenkill Avenue will go to Ulster County planners for input before the city Planning Board votes on whether to approve the project’s site plan.

During a virtual meeting Monday evening, the city Planning Board tabled a request for site plan approval to convert the house at 127 Greenkill Ave. into a community center that will offer programs to older teens and young adults in conjunction with the adjacent Boys and Girls Club. While the matter is tabled at the city level, the site plan application will be referred to the Ulster County Planning Board for its feedback.

City Planner Suzanne Cahill said the county’s comments should be received by next month, which would allow the Kingston Planning Board to make a final determination on the site plan.

The property is owned by the NoVo Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has been donating to local events and organizations for several years. Earlier this month, the city Zoning Board of Appeals granted a use variance to 127 Greenkill LLC to allow the community center to be created in a residential zoning district.

Peter Buffett, co-president of the NoVo Foundation and co-chairman of its board of directors, told city planners the community center would serve people mostly between the ages of 18 and 24 who have aged out of the services offered by the Boys and Girls Club. He said the center would provide them with additional education and continuing opportunities, such as financial literacy classes and connections to work in the community.

“We’re really in deep partnership with the Boys and Girls Club on exactly what the programming will be,” Buffett said. “But that’s who we’ll be serving there.”

Architect Scott Dutton said there is a tremendous desire among many Kingston youths to find a path to career development. He said the community center will create connections for those youths with local mentors and professionals.

Regarding the physical appearance of the center, Dutton said the existing brick building is to be restored, “and we’re proposing a modest addition to the rear that has the appearance of being a carriage house, like you would have expected on any structure like this at the turn of the [20th] century.”

Dutton said the center

would use residential lighting on its exterior and that

the electrical service would be updated, among other changes.

The site plan calls a green space on the property that could be used for parking in the future

if the need arises, Cahill told the board. She said there currently are three parking spaces on the property.

Buffett said the green space could provide the

Boys and Girls Club with the opportunity to have outdoor activities.

Dutton said the community center project would take nine to 10 months to complete.