Common Council - Regular Meeting

basically taken the owner's recommendation and had changed the designation for their land to t5n thank you very much your time is up oh um you I know you've already submitted written comments but if you want to submit any further feel free to email us so that we have them um but your comments that you did submit earlier were posted on the agenda too okay thank you thank you also i'm just going to be talking for a second because apparently i was not heard on the live stream which is why i was looking a little frazzled so i'm just going to ask if i could be heard now i guess i still need to talk

Can you just get a little closer to the mic? Because it's hard to hear you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. That is all we have signed up and we don't have anybody on Zoom. Anybody in chambers who did not sign up that would like to speak? no then i will close the public speaking portion of the night thank you all We now enter into claims and communications hearing no discussion, they will be on file in the clerk's office, can I get a motion to dispense with the second reading of the general bills and pay same motion by Sarah pasty second by Ben Falk all in favor. Opposed motion is adopted eight to zero we're now enter into the report of committees, starting with reso

On the question. Hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution is adopted 8-0. Moving to Resolution 159, please. Resolution 159 of 2026.

On the question, hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution is adopted 8-0. Moving to Resolution 160, please.

On the question, hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution is adopted 8-0. Moving to Resolution 161, please.

Yes, I would like to thank you, Madam President. I would like to propose that this resolution be sent back to committee for further discussion.

There's a motion. Is there a second? Second by Bob Dennison. Any discussion? Then I'll call for the vote.

Send this back to committee. All in favor?

Aye. Opposed? Motion adopts, or it's sent back seven to one. Man, I couldn't do that math. All right, moving to Resolution 162, please.

Absent. The bond passes 8-0. Moving to Resolution 163, please.

On the question. My alderman Michael tyranny.

Thank you, President shot. I just wanted to thank FPR as well as our comptroller john to me and his team for another successful audit. So thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else hearing no further discussion. I'll call for the vote. All in favor. Opposed resolutions adopted eight to zero. Moving to resolution 164 please.

On the question. Oh, a lot of hands. I saw Alderman Marvelli first, then I'll go with Alderman Dennison, Alderman Hirsch, and Alderman Pasty. So Alderman Marvelli, you're up.

Thank you, Madam President. I will be voting yes on this moratorium because the previous council committed to the public that this parking lot would remain a resource after the new form-based code was adopted. It is incredibly presumptuous of the mayor to think that the Kingstonian, if completed, will satisfy the parking demand. I remain doubtful, but I'm ready to be proven wrong, that visitors and residents will go to the effort of parking in a garage to dine or shop in the stockade. My memory is long enough to remember how corrupted the review was for that project and how the community had a

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in strong support of this moratorium on the North Front Street parking lot, and I thank my colleague Alderman Tierney for authoring it. It is not a decision made lightly, but it is a necessary step to restore the balance in our city. Time and time again, the administration has offered up city-owned property to developers without consulting the council first. We are the legislative body of Kingston, elected to represent the voices of our constituents, and it is fundamentally wrong for major decisions regarding public land to be made entirely behind closed door

can build housing and we can protect our local economy but we must do it together transparently and with a plan that looks at the whole picture thank you thank you alderman sarah pasty uh yes thank you madam president um i i am actually i had discussed voting yes when we met in caucus last night but i am now considering voting no and the reason that i'm doing that is because i believe that it's possible that that some of these projects are already fully underway with money spent and plans developed for affordable housing and plans that include parking and i am a strong proponent for parking pe

Thank you. Anyone else on the question? Oh, sorry. Alderman Michael Tierney.

Thank you, President Schott. It's disappointing to have to introduce this kind of communication. It's not something that I'm comfortable doing. it's not it's something that's frankly antithetical to a lot of what i stand for but what we also stand for here on this council is empowering the community and that we did that by creating a parking study to examine the parking situation here in the city of kingston and what the mayor has done is undermine the work of those volunteers by cutting off an entire section of one of the most highly used parking lots that generate revenue for the city outsid

Thank you. Anyone else? Alderman Ben Falk and then Alderman Ruth Katz.

Thank you, Madam President, as someone who was on the committee to review this particular site, I will be a no on this vote tonight on the moratorium. However, I respect deeply the comments and the input of all my colleagues who agree or disagree with me on this, but given my initial. Support of this project, I want to continue that. Development, thank you.

Thank you, President Schott. I've gone back and forth a lot on this on this issue. And I want to thank my colleagues for spending time talking me through the issue. I'm coming to the conclusion that I will vote yes on this. I want to, I want to for a number of reasons, but there's a parking study going on now. It it won't be long before it's over. So I would say, you know, let's hear from the parking study before we sell more city owned lots. Thank you.

Anyone else? Might as well. You don't want to be left out there.

I'm going to be a yes on this. Okay only because I don't know what the fair market value is. For a municipal city parking lot that generates income. To the city, um, everyone has failed to supply that information towards me so far. Let alone any information, uh, as far as knowing about. Development almost being completely done. I think that is putting the cart in front of the horse.

this body right here has to vote to sell that property so any developer that's putting a lot of time and effort into that is wasting their time so i will be a yes thank you anyone else hearing no further discussion i will call for the vote all in favor yeah i opposed no okay yeah it's kind of weird what to say right yes it passes five three the dissents were sarah pasty ben falk and bob dennison i really thought i was going to vote on that one you guys i was i was almost prepared um moving to resolution 165 please resolution 165 of 2026.

The Roman numerals, if you're not looking at that. So it takes a second on the question. Hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote all in favor. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have your hand up? I did have my hand up. I apologize.

No, that's all right. I mean, I basically, what I wanted to do is just thank, um, This has been a long time coming, working on Fairview Avenue. There have been many months when I've been in discussion with the residents, with the management of Fairview Gardens, which fronts onto Fairview Avenue, and with the engineering staff who have been very helpful and thoughtful in terms of looking at how this road might be better suited to help the public safety issues that have arisen surrounding Fairview Gardens and the exiting driveways onto that roadway. So I want to thank everyone who's been involve

Thank you. Anyone else? Then I call for the vote. All in favor? Opposed? Resolution is adopted 8 to 0. Moving to resolution 166, please.

Anyone else. Hearing no further discussion i'll call for the vote all in favor. Opposed.

On the question, hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution is adopted 8-0. Moving to resolution number 168, please.

On the question, Alderman Michelle Hirsch.

Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules to enter into a discussion about adding one more task force member.

There's a motion to suspend the rules. Is there a second? Second by Sarah Pasty, all in favor to suspend the rules. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Rules have been suspended so we can have more conversation, but it will still be, I will call on you so that we keep it clear, especially for the audience. Alderman Hirsch.

Yes. Thank you again, Madam President. So I am looking to add one more TAB, task force Member based on a letter that the Council received this morning from our sustainability coordinator Julie noble she is asking that we. TAB, place our environmental specialist on the task force as they were one of the authors of the. TAB, Kingston green energy plan of 2025.

Or does anybody have any comments? Alderwoman Sara Pasty.

I agree with Alderwoman Hirsch about adding a ninth member and adding a person who has an environmental specialty. Looking at the list of members, of suggested members for this council to look at best, it does seem important to include somebody who has the expertise in environmental science. to be able to assess perhaps some of the long-term consequences of a best facility, as opposed to representatives from our staff who'll be looking at short-term incident-related issues like fire and building safety. So I would say that this is an important voice to have on this council. So I would second A

I just would like to add that our task force will be bringing in outside experts. So I don't believe that they're going to be relying on this one particular person, but I believe that they will bring value to the task force.

Anybody else so what we're going to do, because I know this is the 1st time we suspended the rules for this particular council. So I'm going to call us back into order and then I'll have Michelle make the motion to make the change. And then I'll ask for a 2nd, we will vote on making the change and then we'll vote again on the actual resolution. Okay. So I am calling us back in order.

Alderman Michelle Hirsch, would you like to make a motion? Yes, thank you. I'd like to make a motion to amend Resolution 168. To add? Yes, to add one more task force member.

Okay. Is there a second? Second by Sarah Pasty. Anybody want to speak on the amendment? Okay, then i'll call all i'll call for a vote to make this amendment all in favor aye opposed the amendment is made, I think the title still stays the same, but why don't we read it one more time.

Anyone on the question Alderman Michelle Hirsch.

Thank you Madam President. I want to say that I obviously am in support of this resolution. This issue we've worked on closely together alongside each other to ensure our city proceeds with clarity and careful planning. As we look across Ulster County, we have watched neighboring communities struggle with the complex issues surrounding battery energy storage systems or BES as it's been known. Kingston's current land use regulations were not written with utility scale battery storage in mind. If we do nothing, we risk having outside projects dictate the terms of our development. By passing this

On the question. Hearing no discussion call for the vote all in favor aye opposed resolution is adopted 8 to 0 moving to resolution when 70 please.

On the question. Hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution is adopted 8-0. We're now moving into our big batch of local laws, starting with the second reading of local law number four, so that will include a vote.

On the question. Hearing no discussion, I'll call for the vote all in favor. Opposed local laws adopted eight to zero. We now have a bunch of first reading so there'll be no vote on it. So we'll start with local law number five.

May I have the first reading of Local Law number 6?

Moving next to the first reading of Local Law number 7, please.

Moving to the first reading of local law number 10, please.

Moving to the first reading of local law number 11.

Is there a motion, Alderman Michelle Hirsch? Yes, thank you, Madam President.

I would actually like to make a motion to send this Local Law 11 back to committee as it ties into Resolution 161, which is also going back to committee. Thank you.

There's a motion. Is there a second? Second by Bob Dennison. All in favor to send this back to committee?

Opposed? We will send Local Law 11 back to committee. All right, thanks for your patience. So there when we do local laws, they have to go in order. So because we just sent this one that number 11 back to committee, number 12 has to now become 11. That that is confirmed.

What was that? um because we have had issues where local laws are not actually in effect because this wasn't followed before so this came from the state um so i will ask for a motion from you guys to amend this so that this could be local law number 11. so i'll if you could read it first then we'll make the amendment

and that concludes our communications for the evening before we adjourn i have my a very short message pretty simple get a mammogram or encourage someone else to get a mammogram. So if you have not scheduled yours, go do that, please. But also pay attention and listen to your body. My mother, she always received her annual mammograms and her breast cancer was missed until it was stage four and too late. She also received genetic testing and they were negative. So my sister and I thought we were going to be fine. And then seven months after I lost my mother, I was diagnosed with breast cancer w