A proposal by Rupco to build housing for low-income seniors at the site of the former Kingston Alms House could be back before the city planning board as soon as next month after a judge overturned a September 2018 decision denying site plan approval for the project.
A State Supreme Court ruling will put Rupco’s proposal to build 66 units of affordable senior housing at the site of the former Kingston Alms House back before the city’s planning board.
The fate of a proposed 66-unit affordable senior housing complex at the former city alms house could be decided in State Supreme Court after the housing nonprofit Rupco filed suit to challenge the Kingston Planning Board’s rejection last month of site plan approval and a special permit for the project.
Members of the city’s planning board will have to explain why they rejected a proposal by Rupco to build 66 units of affordable senior housing at a site on Flatbush Avenue that once held the city’s alms house. The board will also have to hold a second vote to formally accept or reject Rupco’s site plan for the project.
Recalling the stunned silence that greeted the planning board’s 3-2 vote Monday to reject the site plan for Rupco’s Landmark Place project for the old city alms house, I feel pretty safe in saying that no one in the room, maybe not even those who voted against it, expected it to fail.
After 20 months of review, hundreds of public comments and a 17-minute reading of the resolution calling for Rupco’s Landmark Place project’s site plan and special use permit to be granted final approval, the crucial number at Monday night’s Kingston Planning Board meeting was three.
The closing comes as Rupco continues to seek city approval for its plan to create 66 units of low income supportive senior housing at the site.
When the previous vote was taken, aldermen believed a supermajority of seven votes was required for passage. The measure received five votes, but a court later ruled that was enough. Now, three aldermen are saying if the council had known a simple majority would be sufficient, the outcome may have been different.
The funded projects include a proposed mixed-use retail, hotel and parking facility in the Stockade District and the creation of a more scenic and more bike-and-pedestrian friendly streetscape in Midtown.
“What Restore Kingston Pride means to me is prosperity. Where most of the people you know in the neighborhood are working great jobs that pay fantastic salaries and a small portion of that income goes back to the city encourages more of those companies to take a chance on our community.”