JANUARY

Tuesday, January 12th
Kingston Planning Board
City Hall
6:00pm

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
KINGSTON RESIDENTS CHALLENGE LATEST CVS DESIGN AND SITING
 
A group of Kingston residents are suggesting changes to the latest version of a proposed new CVS building on the city’s Washington Avenue corridor to make it more consistent with the uptown Stockade Historic District.  The ad-hoc group, including members of the Friends of Historic Kingston, plan to voice their ideas at the next regular meeting of the Planning Board at City Hall, on January 12th at 6 pm.
 
“CVS has over 4,000 stores and we know that they value their market identity and that they have a standard new building that they always prefer.  They like parking to be visible in front,” said Lowell Thing, Chairman of the Friends of Historic Kingston’s Preservation Committee.  “But we also know, that in a number of other cities, CVS has been willing to build something that blends into a historic place and to align the building on the street.  We plan to mention several of those places and show what some alternative approaches might look like.  Kingston is New York State’s First Capital and the Washington Avenue corridor is the most common way to approach it for tourists and those coming to the city for the first time.  So how CVS builds here has economic significance as well."

A proposed development moratorium for the Washington Avenue Corridor has been passed by the Kingston Common Council and Mayor James Sottile has indicated he plans to sign the law.  However, the CVS project was specifically excluded from the moratorium.  Earlier, a petition of more than 1,200 signatures had been submitted to the Common Council urging a moratorium that would have allowed a new Design Guideline to be developed that could apply to the CVS project.
 
Rebecca Martin, an active supporter of including CVS in the moratorium, said, “It’s my belief that even without the Design Guideline, our Planning Board has the right to ask the developer to build in such a way that it fits into our historic community.  We’re hopeful that the developer will agree to make the needed changes.”
 
The Planning Board meeting is open to the public and Kingston residents are urged to attend.
 
Contact:  Lowell Thing (Chairman of the Friends of Historic Kingston Preservation Committee), 331-4985

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