Betsy Blair, a board member at the HRMM, asked whether there was any consideration of sea-level rise, which could result in more frequent flooding, such as occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Shope said that Clearwater planned to construct the concrete floor of the barn two feet above the flood level. New buildings could also be elevated on piles, which would enable them to be raised higher in the event of flooding. Blair suggested there needed to be consideration of “stepping buildings back or developing alternatives as the water rises.”
Yet another subject under discussion was a rethinking of the generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) for the waterfront, which would update the existing zoning. Gill said coordinating an environmental review for all of the waterfront parcels now would expedite the review process when the next wave of developers arrives. “Coming up with zoning parameters and a pre-package of the EIS standards means each individual developer wouldn’t have to through the review process,” he said.
Furthermore, “the existing plan is outdated. It’s very suburban,” Gill said, resulting in the kind of uniform development seen along the east side of lower Broadway. The current guidelines require buildings to be set back from the creek, which he said is a mistake; instead, buildings should be constructed right along the creek’s edge, and in a variety of styles and sizes, which would spur the kind of lively waterfront all these Hudson River cities once had.
Allowing stores and other kinds of businesses to be located on the waterfront would attract more people in winter, when the Rondout currently is dead. Gill said the parking guidelines should also be changed. The current zoning requires too much space for parking. Instead, they should be rewritten to reflect a denser, more urban setting, he said.
GILL PROJECTED a rendering of the waterfront that depicted a mishmash of buildings overlooking a walkway full of people — something like what one finds now in Alexandria, Va. “These renderings are meant to be controversial,” he said. “Some of the buildings are funky. It’s what Kingston should be about. The idea is to create a street on the waterfront.”
Finkle acknowledged the guidelines need to be updated. One aim would be to have standards that encourage development that “connects streets to the waterfront walkway and creates ties to the neighborhood.”
