Some Kingston lawmakers are questioning the city and county’s efforts to rezone 19 lots in the city after developers have shown interest in building on the land.

Aldermen Rennie Scott-Childress and Patrick O’Reilly questioned Alderman Don Tallerman’s plan to rezone the properties on both sides of Route 32 to entice developers.

“The idea is to signal to developers that we do want development and we’re going to make it easier by doing the rezoning [ahead of development],” Tallerman said during the Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee virtual meeting Wednesday evening.

The problem, Scott-Childress and O’Reilly said, was that city and county officials already announced plans for a developer to build apartments on some of the land.

It would be more appropriate to let developers buy the land and seek variances on their own rather than rezoning properties when a certain project looks attractive, they said.

“The neighborhood is well informed that there’s a project going in here,” O’Rielly said. “So now we’re saying, ‘Oh, because there’s a project we want, we’re going to take this road where we can just whitewash the whole project by doing some backdoor zoning magic, and then voilà — the whole place is zoned for whatever they want.’”

Shane Perry gave Spectrum News a history lesson about the neighborhood where he grew up, while cruising down Klingberg Avenue, off Route 32 in Kingston.

"He's been here quite a while — Larry Brodehead," Perry said, pointing to the house his friend bought in 1965 before renovating it into a larger home where he raised his four children.

A few doors down, Perry points out another home of one of Kingston's longest-standing residents.

"In 1948, Joe's family bought that house," Perry said. "He still lives there."

Considering the history of this tight-knit neighborhood, Perry believes he and his neighbors deserve a say on the future of their community.

"This is an old neighborhood where people pay their taxes and we love it here," he said, smiling.

Neighbors just learned of the plan to rezone 19 nearby properties to allow developers to build multi-family apartments.

Ten plots are at nearby Golden Hill, the site of the old Ulster County Jail that county and city officials have been eyeballing for renovation.

Nine of the plots are at Lawton Park, on the hill behind Perry's neighborhood.

Neighbors have been wanting to share their concerns about drainage, the environment and congestion, but a recent public hearing was canceled at the last minute and they said their common council representative, Alderman Tallerman, is not returning calls even though they left "several detailed messages."

Meanwhile, discussions about rezoning and possible future projects are moving forward in public and private meetings.​

Vincent Perry, Shane's brother, is hopeful that neighbors here will get to testify before the planning board and common council before the zoning plans are too far along.

"We're unified in it — the neighborhood — and we'll fight this tooth and nail," he said. "We fully expect our elected officials to get on board with us and represent us over a developer."

Several neighbors said they may not have known about the city's plans to rezone land just feet from their homes if local activists Ellen DiFalco and Tanya Garment had not begun circulating a petition.

DiFalco, a former candidate for mayor and long-time thorn in the sides of city officials, is annoyed that the city is planning to rezone the 19 properties for apartments without releasing any plans from the developers.

She would like city officials and developers to meet with neighbors.

"We would live with having to go through the process instead of everything being so dark," DiFalco said. "I don't know what to tell anybody. We're just locked out of everything."

"They sure don't help us out," Larry Brodehead said of the city. "We have to fight for everything we get over here."

At a meeting this week, the planning board delayed a preliminary vote on the rezoning proposal.

City planners said the 19 properties to be rezoned were not properly identified in documents.

Planners said the board will revisit the rezoning plans at its November meeting.