Platte wants decision on Irish center
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Planning Board Chairman Wayne Platte says he would “be inclined” to push for a decision on the Irish Cultural Center site plan at the board’s April 16 meeting.
A public hearing is already set for the 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 420 Broadway. But Platte says it is probably time for the five-member board to decide whether to approve the center’s site plan.
If the plan is given the green light this month, it would the last city government approval needed for construction to start on the center, on Abeel Street in the city’s Rondout Historic District.
“I would be inclined to have a vote on it, but I don’t know how the rest of the board feels,” Platte said.
In March, the Planning Board had set April 16 as the date when a public hearing would take place on the Irish Cultural Center site plan, after meeting with representatives of the center.
The center’s attorney, Ronald Pordy, and architect, former Alderman Brad Will, provided an update on the proposal, which had undergone what they said were minor changes since it was last before the Planning Board in July 2017.
The site plan for the proposed 16,213-square-foot facility and a related parking waiver request will be the subject of the public hearing.
The center is proposed to include a 171-seat theater on its ground floor, which would be built into the hillside at 32 Abeel St. The first and second floors of the center would include a restaurant with a pub space; a small stage for performances; offices; a recording studio; archives; and room for educational programs, among other features. The roof would include garden space for growing food to be used in the restaurant, as well as a viewing platform looking south toward the Rondout Creek, which the site overlooks.
The site is a vacant 0.44acre parcel bordered on two sides by private properties and to the rear by the cityowned Company Hill Path, which connects Abeel Street to West Strand.
Pordy has said city zoning law requires 55 parking spaces at the site. He said the center’s proposal is to provide eight parking spots and seek a waiver for 47 spaces.
Members of the public have raised concerns about the project, including its size and proximity to neighboring residences, as well as a lack of parking in the area. Three neighbors unsuccessfully sued the city to challenge a zoning decision that declared the project to be within the city’s Broadway/ West Strand zoning district and, therefore, allowed on the vacant Abeel Street site.
Pordy said the developers previously submitted information regarding the project’s parking.
He said the site is close to two municipal parking lots, including one on West Strand. There also is parking at the Trolley Museum of New York on East Strand, as well as on-street parking in the area, Pordy said.
He also said the center would provide a shuttle bus during peak use times.
Last July, the Planning Board issued a negative declaration of environmental significance for the project, stating it would not harm the environment. And in March, the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals issued a “preservation notice of action” needed for the project to proceed, reversing an earlier decision of Kingston’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission that had blocked the project.