Council OKs ceding municipal parking lot
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The property at North Front Street and Fair Street Extension that currently is used for municipal parking will be transferred to the Kingston Local Development Corp. with the intention that control of the parcel ultimately will be given to the developers of the proposed mixeduse project known as The Kingstonian.
During an online meeting Tuesday, the Common Council voted 8-1 to transfer the property at 21 North Front St. to the local development corporation. The council’s resolution notes, in part, that any development of the property must include public parking and a public park with restrooms, and that if any requirements of the transfer are not met, the property would revert back to city ownership.
Voting against the resolution was Alderman Jeffrey Ventura Morell, D-Ward 1.
Ventura Morell said his vote had nothing to do with his position on The Kingstonian. He said the issue before the council was solely the transfer of the property to the development corporation.
“I think the transfer of city property to a private
developer should be something that’s handled by the council,” Ventura Morell said.
Other council members said transferring the property to the Kingston Local Development Corp. was the proper path to follow and that the developers eventually taking control of the property was part of the original request the city issued for development of the site.
Alderman Don Tallerman, D-Ward 5, questioned why the city would ask for proposals to develop the property if it was not willing to turn the parcel over.
“It goes without saying
that the property would have to be transferred, and we knew that from the start,” Tallerman said.
Council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3, noted that local development corporations “are created in order to help develop local communities’ economies.” The transfer is a means to increasing the public good derived from that particular piece of property, he said.
Alderwoman Rita Worthington, D-Ward 4, said she was on the fence about her vote because two members of the board of the Kingston Local Development Corp. had expressed
concerns about the property being transferred to the nonprofit organization. She said her concerns were not related to the developers.
Worthington was referring to comments made by Pat Courtney Strong and Miles Crettien during a public hearing last week.
Scott-Childress said a former chairman of the Kingston Local Development Corp. board also spoke at the hearing and was in favor of the transfer, while Alderman Tony Davis, D-Ward 6, noted that Strong and Crettien do not make up a majority of the board.
The Kingston Local Development Corp. has 11 members, with Mayor Steve Noble acting as the president.
Estimated to cost $58 million, The Kingstonian would straddle Fair Street Extension between North Front Street and Schwenk Drive. It would comprise 143 residential units, including 14 considered “affordable”; 8,900 square feet of commercial space; a 32room boutique hotel; and a 420-space parking garage, with 277 spaces available to the public, according to the developers. Part of the project would be built on the property at 21 North Front St.