Big progress in little Kingston
New zoning codes adopted by the Ulster County city will improve lives and set an example for other cities to follow.
For about 100 years, nearly all North American cities and suburbs have operated under inflexible zoning codes that dramatically shape how we live, albeit in ways we often don’t notice.
At their best, zoning codes protect neighborhoods from industry and other noisy, potentially dirty things nobody wants to live near. But the regulations also often put stores and businesses exceedingly far from homes; restrict residential construction to the detriment of affordability; and prioritize parking and vehicles to the exclusion of walking, biking and public transportation.
The end product is communities that are less vibrant, less economically diverse and less interesting than they should be, and metropolitan areas that sprawl across what used to be countryside, resulting in increased social isolation, more obesity and fewer children who can walk or bike to school.
It is time to remake our zoning laws. Kingston is one of the few communities to have done just that.
The small Ulster County city, population 24,000, recently implemented new zoning rules that are formbased, which means they regulate the size and scale of new buildings but mostly ignore what will happen inside their walls. Notably, the new rules eliminate parking requirements, allow backyard apartments and so-called granny flats, and legalize multi-family housing and corner stores. The intention is to encourage more varied types of housing and denser neighborhoods where homes are nearer to shopping and jobs.
There’s nothing new about any of that. American cities used to be built that way, resulting in neighborhoods, such as Albany’s Center Square or Schenectady’s Stockade, that remain among our most cherished. Many European communities, meanwhile, never stopped developing that way, which helps explain why they’re so compelling to visiting Americans.
Yet Kingston’s new codes are a dramatic break from what we’ve grown used to, and officials in the city, along with the grassroots group Kingston Code Reform Advocates, deserve an ovation for pushing through with a years-long process that included significant public input and, we presume, no shortage of headaches. It would have been easy to give up and stick with the status quo.
Indeed, opposition to zoning reform is often loud and bipartisan, as evidenced by the backlash that confronted and ultimately thwarted recent proposals by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who aimed to loosen construction restrictions as a way of tackling New York’s extremely high housing costs. Change is challenging, to be sure. But reforms like the ones in Kingston should have across-the-spectrum appeal.
Conservatives, perhaps, can appreciate that the changes reduce government micro-management and give the free market, private homeowners and small businesses more flexibility. Progressives, meanwhile, can welcome how the changes encourage development patterns that are greener and more sustainable. And everybody, we hope, can appreciate lower housing and transportation costs, cities that are livelier and more fun, and neighborhoods that encourage walking and social interaction.
Larger cities such as Albany, Schenectady and Troy can learn from what’s happening in little Kingston, as can newer suburbs developed almost entirely under modern zoning rules. No, the changes aren’t easy. But the rewards would be immense.