EXECUTIVE ORDER
Issued November 28th, 2022
Whereas, the General Municipal Law empowers Mayors to implement temporary measures within a municipality to protect residents’ life, property, and wellbeing; and
Whereas, consistent with that authority, I declared a State of Emergency in the City of Kingston on March 13, 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic; and
Whereas, the detrimental impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic have disproportionately burdened low- and moderate-income renters within the City of Kingston, increasing housing insecurity for our local workforce and demands for municipal services; and
Whereas, the statewide eviction moratorium expired on January 15, 2022; and
Whereas, the City’s Comprehensive Plan, developed pursuant to § 96-6 of the City Charter, called for an expansion of affordable housing requirements, which the Common Council approved before the COVID-19 Pandemic created an impending eviction crisis within the City of Kingston; and
Whereas, the City is in the process of completing a city-wide rezoning project, which soon will codify permanent affordable housing requirements; I hereby
Declare, via emergency order, that, until the City completes the re-zoning, all applicants requesting site plan approval from the City of Kingston Planning Board for developments of between five (5) and nine (9) housing units must maintain at least one affordable housing unit, and all approved site plans for developments of ten (10) or more units must maintain at least 10% of the units as affordable; and I further
Declare, that the Planning Board shall define “affordable housing” to mean units rented to households earning no more than 80% of the Area Mean Income, based on current Ulster County statistics that are subject to annual adjustments; and I further
Declare, that the Planning Board shall define “affordable rent” to be mean rent that does not exceed 30% of an “affordable housing” household’s income; and I further
Declare that the City of Kingston will verify compliance with these affordable housing requirements in accordance with the procedures set forth in Chapter 332 of the Administrative Code.
Sincerely,
Steven T. Noble
Mayor