The Kingston planning board this week declined to make a key ruling on the scope of an environmental review of the Kingstonian, the proposed residential, parking and hotel project in Uptown Kingston.
There’s even been talk of a mass resignation if their planning reviews continue to be countered by errant building permits, incomplete applications regarding the town’s land use ordinance, or no code enforcement.
An independent mayoral candidate says he sees racism and an effort to silence outside voices behind a move by city Democrats to challenge his nominating petitions and potentially remove him from November’s ballot.
County Executive-elect Pat Ryan will take office on Friday, June 7 and deliver his inaugural address in a ceremony in the Ulster County Courthouse in Uptown Kingston at noon.
Voters will be able to cast ballots at any of the centers regardless of where they are registered in the county. To accommodate the new system, state funding will pay for the purchase of “ballot on demand” printers that can produce ballots custom-tailored for voters election districts. The money will also fund electronic poll books that will automatically update every few minutes to prevent fraud by people voting at multiple sites.
Mayoral candidate Ethan Scott Barnett said that he’s confident he will have a spot on November’s ballot after he submitted a petition this week with more than 750 signatures to secure a spot for the “Kingston People’s Party.”
The Lodge issue asks whether previously issued building permits are valid. The other, involving a Tonshi Mountain property where clearcutting occurred in the town’s heavily-restricted scenic overlay, and a stainless steel roof installed that can be seen for miles around, asks whether the town planning board can mitigate a site that should have come before it for approvals but never did because the town building inspector/CEO never alerted the landowner what zone he was in, and hence what zoning restrictions he’d be facing.
Four-term incumbent county legislator Mary Wawro will be challenged this November by fresh-faced Aaron Levine, a 30-year-old Blue Mountain resident who is seeking the endorsement of the Democratic and Working Families parties.
Village Planning Board members seemed wary of a proposal for an AutoZone branch at 298 Ulster Ave., questioning developers on how they would design the building to fit into its suburban surroundings and whether the site’s driveway would worsen traffic conditions in its proximity. Whether or not the addition would jeopardize the “harmony of the village” was discussed at length.
Will the $53 million proposed residential, commercial and parking project proposed for Uptown Kingston face a long (and expensive) review process or a relatively quick and painless one? An engineer for the developers has said a lengthy review will kill the project, while protestors have called on the city to reject the proposal, arguing it will drive up rents for the city’s poorer residents.