Irish Center lacks valid building permit
The proposed project’s developers can perform work to bring sewer waste lines to the Abeel Street site, however
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Nearly eight months after it expired, the proposed Irish Cultural Center project on Abeel Street still does not have a valid building permit for the construction of the structure, the city’s director of communications and community engagement said.
Summer Smith said the developers do, however, still have a valid building permit open for repairs to the stone wall along the city-owned Company Hill Path near West Strand that would help with site stability.
She said the developers also may perform work on Company Hill Path to bring sewer waste lines to the project site at 32 Abeel St. The permit for that work is scheduled to expire at the end of the day on June 17, 2021, Smith said.
“A request was made last year to renew a building permit for construction of the structure but our request for additional information has not been answered to date,” Smith said in an email Wednesday, April 7.
The building permit for the Irish Cultural Center’s foundation expired in August 2020. Before that time, site work was done on the Abeel Street property to prepare for the project’s construction.
The work, though, led to complaints from neighbors and violation notices being issued by the city. One of the violation notices was issued after a neighbor’s son nearly fell into the construction site when the ground gave way beneath his feet at the property line.
The Irish Cultural Center was approved by the city Planning Board to be built in Downtown Kingston, on land overlooking the Rondout Creek and abutting Company Hill Path. The plan calls for a 16,213-square-foot building comprising a 171-seat theater on the ground floor, which would be built into a hillside; film and music program space; an art studio and exhibition gallery; a dance studio; and a restaurant with a pub space, among other amenities.
Information was not immediately available as to whether the site plan for the project issued by the Planning Board was still valid.