Alms House zoning hearing set for June 8
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> City Laws and Rules committee members have set a June 8 public hearing on changing the former Alms House zoning designation from single-family residential to multifamily residential.
The hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Common Council chambers at 420 Broadway.
“This is a unique part of any change to the zoning code,” Alderwoman Lynn Eckert, D-Ward 1, said. “They just recently (adopted) this so that when there is a proposed change to the zoning code you have to have a public hearing before we vote on it.”
RUPCO is seeking approval from the city Planning Board for renovations that would allow 34 housing units in the existing structure and to construct a four-story 40,000-square-foot additional building that would have 32 units.
City Planning Board members earlier voted 3-2 to issue a “negative declaration” for the project at 300 Flatbush Avenue. That resolution, which stated there would not be significant environmental impacts, cleared the way for the Common Council to review the proposed zoning change.
Planning Board members in December had recommended that the zoning on the 14.86-acre property be changed from an RR designation allowing single family residences to an R-6 designation for multiple residences.
If Common Council approval is given for a zoning change the project would go back to the Planning Board a third time for a site plan review.
Objections to the project have been consistently lodged since an announcement in July 2016 that RUPCO had proposed to purchase the property for $950,000 from Ulster County. Among concerns have been plans to dedicate some of the housing units for the homeless, the impact on the city sewer system, and expectations that a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement would be sought.
RUPCO officials plan to rename the housing complex Landmark Place. The Alms House was the first structure the city built after it incorporated, according to city Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission Chairman George Donskoj.
It first was used as an infirmary for poor people and then as a hospital.