Iannucci: “… a very wise document”
KINGSTON – Apparently, only developers and environmentalists have taken the time to examine the voluminous Kingston Waterfront Brownfield Opportunity Area Implementation Plan, also known simply as “Riverport.”
The 500-page document might take somewhere between a week and a month for an average person to fully digest. It is all available online at http://kingston-ny.gov/Hudson-Riverport .
Some of the Rondout district is expected to wind up under water due to rising sea levels and climate change. So, whatever gets built near the river must take that fact into consideration, according to the plan.
One man came from Poughkeepsie and spoke in favor of the plan, at a public hearing held at City Hall Thursday night, regarding Riverport’s Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS), mandated under the Site Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Only four aldermen were present; less than a quorum. The hearing was closed by City Council President James Noble several minutes later, when no other speakers came forward.
“Chief among our concerns were that the findings and recommendations of the Sea Level Rise Task Force be incorporated into any future plans,” said Peter Bernard, urban designer for Scenic Hudson, the sole person to speak. “We are pleased to see they are very well incorporated throughout the [DGEIS] document. Sea level rise and resiliency planning are front and center in the plan’s findings, good flood mitigation and resiliency strategies have been worked into the recommendations for future development, and the plan contains good language on creating an ecologically sensitive waterfront. From our initial look at the plan, it appears Kingston has demonstrated leadership among Hudson River communities.”
The DGEIS is difficult to locate, because it is incorporated inside another document called The Hudson Riverport Implementation Plan, Volumes I, II, & III, plus appendix. The website’s home page fails to mention where to find the DGEIS document, which is buried within other files. “That’s the nature of the beast,” explained Gregg Swanzey, the city’s director of economic development and strategic planning. “You have to go into detail.”
Downtown property investor Robert Iannucci, says he read the plan twice. He owns roughly 20 acres of land along East Strand, heading out towards the old Millens scrap yard, which he would like developed into a multifaceted pedestrian marketplace.
“I think it’s a big document and takes a lot of time to digest,” Iannucci said. “I also think it’s a very wise document, and there’s not a lot to criticize. There’s nothing that jumps out and sticks in my craw.”
Iannucci noted the plan makes the whole neighborhood shovel ready, relieving the taxpayer from conducting their own separate impact statements. “He doesn’t have to come up with a plan, throw it at the city, and have a battle. You’re already working through a rational framework, where nobody gets hurt.”
