Board reviewing Alms House feedback
Planning Board chair unsure if permit decision will happen at next meeting
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Planning Board Chairman Wayne Platte says his panel has much in the way of answered questions about the proposed affordable housing project on Flatbush Avenue.
However, Platte says he is uncertain if a decision on issuing a special permit and approving a site plan to allow for construction of the complex, known as The Landmark, will actually occur at the board’s June 18 meeting.
The controversial project is being proposed by RUPCO, an affordable housing provider.
“We did get a packet from RUPCO and they took all the public comment, and addressed the comments that came from the public,” Platte said Thursday. “I think it is pretty comprehensive.”
Platte said he had read most of what is contained in the packet, but had not completed his own review.
“It appears (RUPCO has) addressed issues and topics that have come up at the public hearings, but I haven’t finished it,” Platte said.
On May 21, city planners tentatively agreed to a reduction and reconfiguration of the parking spaces that are
part of the proposal to create housing at the former Alms House property on Flatbush Avenue.
During a meeting, engineer Dennis Larios told the city Planning Board that approximately 130 parking spaces were initially proposed for the project at 300 Flatbush Ave. He said he felt that was an excessive amount of parking and the desire was to instead create
93 spaces, with the ability to build more in the future if necessary.
After much discussion, board members agreed they were in favor of reducing the overall parking being created as part of the proposal.
RUPCO’s project is proposed to comprise 34 apartments in the existing vacant Alms House structure and 32 more units in a fourstory building that would
be constructed on the site. The housing would be open to people 55 and older, and some of the units would offer support services for a mix of homeless populations with special needs.
The historic Alms House building would contain a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments, while the new building would contain onebedroom apartments. Of the apartments, 35 would offer
supportive services for special needs populations, including a minimum of seven apartments dedicated to the frail or/and disabled elderly.
During the meeting, the Planning Board accepted written responses from RUPCO to public comment that had been made on the proposal.
Board members had planned to look over those comments before meeting again to continue their review of the overall project.
Constructed in the 1870s as a place to care for the city’s poor, the Alms House later was used as a tuberculosis ward in the 1950s and, most recently, housed Ulster County offices.
In April, RUPCO completed its purchase of the property for $950,000 from the Ulster County Economic Development Alliance.