Kingstonian gets final approval
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> City planners have given their final approval to allow the proposed mixed-use development known as The Kingstonian to move forward.
During a meeting Monday, the city Planning Board unanimously adopted a 23-page resolution approving the site plan for
The Kingstonian. The resolution outlines the history of the project, as well as certain conditions that must be met before construction can proceed.
The resolution, in part, gives the developers two years to obtain a building permit for the project rather than the customary four months “owing to the continuous litigation associated with this project by the project opponents, and upon request by the applicant.”
More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed against the city and other agencies that have granted approvals related to The Kingstonian. Many of the suits have been dismissed in court.
The Kingstonian is proposed to straddle Fair Street Extension between North Front Street and Schwenk Drive, utilizing the municipal parking lot property there and the existing Herzog-owned property on the other side of Fair Street Extension. The project would include 143 residential units, a hotel, commercial space, and a parking garage, along with a public plaza built over the top half of Fair Street Extension, and a pedestrian bridge crossing Schwenk Drive to the Kingston Plaza.
The parking garage is to consist of 427 spaces, of which 277 would be made available for public use.
As part of its resolution, the Planning Board waived a requirement for the developers to provide an additional 181 spaces due to the proximity of parking that will be made available for public use in the nearby Kingston Plaza. The
plaza is owned by one of the developers and 206 spaces there “will be set aside and established as public parking to offset the required number for The Kingstonian project,” according to the resolution.
The project would have been required by the city zoning code to provide 331 parking spaces, according to the resolution. There is also a separate agreement with the city for the development to provide 277 publicly available parking spaces within the garage. The 181 spaces being waived is the difference between the 608 parking spaces that must be provided by the project and the 427 that will be available in the garage.
The Planning Board also concurred with a recommendation from the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission to not assess a recreation fee of up to $417,000 to the developers.
The recreation fee is considered for new developments within the city to offset potential impacts on the Parks and Recreation Department programs and facilities. A majority of the Parks and Recreation Commission voted not to recommend the Planning Board impose such a fee for The Kingstonian.
“The determination was based on the project’s transformation of public land into a public plaza, which will operate in accordance with our public park guidelines,” according to a letter from the commission. “In addition, the developers will construct and maintain restrooms at no cost to Kingston taxpayers. While there was some discussion about demographic projections and possible impacts to other parks and recreation amenities, ultimately the consensus was that the development’s public facilities would satisfy existing and possibly future needs of the community. Additionally, their private facilities offer their residents access to other recreational opportunities that they might otherwise utilize elsewhere throughout the city’s parks and recreation system.”
Members of the Planning Board said they agreed with the commission’s determination and did not want to question their findings.