On a brisk Monday afternoon last week, passersby at the intersection of Greenkill Avenue and Route 32 in Kingston would have noticed an intriguing instillation of book shelves, benches and cafe tables on the side of an empty parking lot.
The intersection, referred to as “Five Ways to Die” by locals, is the future home of the Lucky Green Ladies cannabis dispensary, the owners of which are from Massachusetts. The busy intersection also hosts a convenience store, pizza parlor, bakery and liquor store, each with its own parking lot. The Empire State Trail also runs through the intersection.
The Lucky Green Ladies’ application to the Kingston Planning Board recently caught the attention of advocates due to its request to encroach on publicly owned land. The plans would create 13 parking spaces - more than the 5 parking space maximum currently allowed by Kingston’s new zoning code, which was adopted last August.
According to advocate Tanya Garment, the new zoning code is aimed at increasing housing, and improving walkability and bikeability in the city. In order to achieve this, the code abolished parking minimum requirements, and instead lays out parking maximums, which are correlated to the size of the building. “You can get a waiver from the planning board if you say you need more. The Green Ladies are allowed five spaces by right, and they could fit eight total on their property, but instead of that they would like 13. Five of those would be on the public right of way, 17 feet deep by 40 feet long. Which actually, is a huge opportunity that is being lost, where we could actually have some public space. It would a place for a bench, a place for trailhead signage.”
In addition, three of the proposed parking spots are currently designed to allow the cars to back out into the street, which advocate Rose Quinn says would create a hazard, especially since the are is adjacent to the Empire State Trail.
To demonstrate what the space could be, Garment spearheaded a pop up event. With planters, benches and bike parking, a public space was sketched out, drawing interest from some walking by, including Kristin Demyan, who lives on Wall St. and brought up safety concerns for the area. She says she fears for her life every time she goes through the intersection there. “Nobody knows how the navigate, people are trying to speed through. People are backing out, not paying attention. It’s not safe at all.”
There’s a lot that could be done to improve “Five Ways to Die.” The design of the intersection is blatantly car-centric, with long crossing distances for pedestrians and already existing encroachment on the public right of way in the Stewart’s parking lot. Adding more parking to the mix surely won’t help the situation. And re-thinking our use of public space could greatly enhance it.
The technique used by local citizens at the Five Ways to Die intersection is commonly known as tactical urbanism. An effort by citizens to physically and spatially arrange ephemeral placemaking objects in an effort to reimagine a volume of space into something more benevolent than currently exists. It is an effective way to allow others to think about repurposing public space.
When municipal government bodies tasked with waivers from existing zoning codes, review applications they are principalbly informed by whether or not a hardship exists that is not the making of the applicant. The waiver that the cannabis business is asking for does not qualify as a hardship. The code is explicit. It was in place at the time of the waiver therefore there is no hardship. Waiver denied. Citizens should not accept any other outcome.