Funding sought for project's next phase

A resolution to OK spending on the Broadway Streetscape's next phase is before the Kingston Common Council.

City lawmakers are considering a resolution that would allow Kingston to spend $62,700 on the next phase of the municipality’s planned Broadway Streetscape project.

City Grants Manager Kristen Wilson told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday that the resolution was an administrative one intended to notify the state Department of Transportation that Kingston has funding for the project. She said the city has grants for a portion of the total cost of the Broadway Streetscape project and has authorized bonds to borrow for the remaining expense. The grants require the city to spend money on the project before being reimbursed, Wilson said.

The $62,700 to be spent would allow the city to acquire right-of-ways for the project, according to Wilson. She said the funding would be reimbursed by one of the grants.

The committee adopted a resolution authorizing the spending, but it must still be voted on by the full council. The council meets again Feb. 6.

“We just recently submitted final design documents to the New York state DOT for their review and we’re also in the right-of-way phase right now,” Wilson told the committee. She said the right-of-ways are being sought for very small pieces of property outside the city’s highway boundary.

“There’s 14 of them,” Wilson said. “And they’re very small. They’re like one-foot sections . ... ” She also said the city has worked on those properties before, but federal highway processes have become more stringent, so Kingston must now acquire the lands.

Wilson said most of the people who own the properties in question probably do not know they own them.

The Broadway Streetscape project is a renovation of the length of the roadway from Grand Street to St. James Street, Wilson said. She said the renovation would include the rehabilitation of the sidewalks and the addition of green infrastructure. It would also include the addition of a bike lane and a coordination of the traffic signals on Broadway, Wilson said.

The project would also reduce Broadway from four lanes of vehicle travel to two in the project area, with a third lane strictly for vehicles that are turning.

Wilson said the total cost of the project is just under $6 million.