A Brownfield Opportunity Grant will boost redevelopment in Kingston.
In partnership with Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, Kingston is receiving a grant for more than $238,000 from the New York State Department of State. Mayor Steve Noble, a Democrat, says the joint project will be called "Midtown Thriving: A Community Vision to Revitalize Vacant Properties.
"Midtown Kingston has long had its share, like many cities in New York, a center, it was the center of industry, many, many, many decades ago," Noble said. "And now, left behind in the wake of all industry are a variety of underutilized, vacant and in some cases contaminated sites. And so this Brownfield Opportunity Area study will take some early work done, that was called a pre-nomination study in 2019, to be able to take it one step further, to be able to work more in hand with the community, identify the sites that are underutilized, vacant, and potentially contaminated, and build out a vision for this area. It covers, you know, almost 300 acres of our city."
Pattern for Progress CEO Adam Bosch says Pattern will lead development of a final plan, which is expected to take two years to complete. He says it starts with enlisting local residents and businesses to identify target properties and pathways to revitalization.
"Should it be housing, should it be mixed use? Should it be parkland, should it be other things? So in the end, when you go through a process, like we're getting ready to go through with Midtown Thriving and Kingston, what you're asking the community to do is get together with some planners, and identify the places that they'd like to see revitalized, and how they'd like to see them revitalized for the benefit of the community," said Bosch.
Bosch says submission of the final plan to the state will complete the nomination and unlock tax credits to encourage redevelopment of properties according to the community's vision. Noble says the project has great potential.
"We know we need housing in Kingston, so housing will be a component, first floor retail and commercial space is critical," Noble said. "Here in Kingston, we have a lot of live and work spaces that have really been vital to our arts and kind of our arts engine, if you will. And so having new buildings or renovated buildings that have that in mind, I think we'll be a part of this. And again, also access to some green space, there may be some areas that are not as contaminated, that may be able to be turned into green space to be able to, you know, this is a little bit of a green space desert in the heart of the city. So we'd love to be able to find some pocket spaces too for the neighborhood to be able to visit and you know, recreate within."
The planning process includes meetings and workshops bringing together city residents and planners, beginning with an in-depth analysis of present conditions and opportunities for revitalization. Bosch says public engagement opportunities will be announced in the coming weeks.
"Ultimately, it's not up to us," Bosch said. "And it's, that's why it's a community driven process. In fact, the state Brownfield Opportunity Program is designed specifically to be a community process, because ultimately, it's not Patterns' decision. All we're there to do is the technical work. So some of the mapping, the surveying, and we are there to actually bring the community together to identify which of the locations is key to them. So if there's 20 locations in the area, you might whittle that down to five or eight or 10, that are most important to the community, and then to help the community understand what could ultimately be done at those locations based on zoning, based on community desires, based on things the city wants or needs. And so really, we're in the job, we're in the position of sort of doing the technical work, but also steering the community through a process to determine what it wants for itself."
The City of Kingston has announced it will be seeking local members for a Project Advisory Committee. More information can be found at EngageKingston.com/midtown-thriving.
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress is a nonprofit organization that provides objective research, planning, and educational training throughout the region. More information can be found at www.Pattern-for-Progress.org.
