Retail zoning amendment rejected

KINGSTON, N.Y. » A proposal to amend Kingston’s zoning code to regulate the creation of “formula retail stores” within city limits is unnecessary and takes authority away from the Planning Board, its members said.

During an online meeting Monday, Dec. 21, the Planning Board voted unanimously in opposition to a proposal being considered by the Kingston Common Council to amend section 405 of the city zoning code to require that “formula retail stores” be reviewed and approved by the city’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission. The proposal would require the stores to obtain a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission.

In addition to opposing the proposal, the Planning Board urged the Common Council to focus instead on updating the city’s zoning code as a whole.

A proposal to update the entire zoning code was put on hold earlier this year by the council over concerns about the cost amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think this is a bit ridiculous,” Planning Board member Robert Jacobsen said of the formula retail store proposal. “This is the purpose of the Planning Board.” He added that the proposal would take authority away from the Planning Board and add another bureaucratic agency for applicants to go through, spending more time and money. Jacobsen said he did not see the proposal as being necessary at all and that aldermen should instead focus on updating the city’s zoning code.

Planning Board Chairman Wayne Platte Jr. said a number of formula retail-types stores have come to the board for review. He said he feels the board has done its due diligence in making sure that such stores fit within the neighborhoods in which they were to be created.

“I think this board has not just rubberstamped these types of businesses as they’ve come through,”

Platte said.

City Assistant Corporation Counsel Daniel Gartenstein said “formula retail stores” are basically any businesses that use a uniform product line, physical appearance, clothing, or something about the items sold and the manner in which they are sold that is duplicated by a parent company and imposed on individual franchises. The areas within the city where the proposal would apply were still being determined, he said.

Gartenstein added that the proposal was still being discussed and specific language for the recommendation was still being drafted. He said no formal action was being requested from the Planning Board at this time.

The formula retail store regulation was proposed by Alderman Don Tallerman, D-Ward 5, who said it would help the city’s small businesses. He has said the proposal would discourage formula retail stores from locating within certain areas of the city of Kingston without banning them.