On the eve of a public hearing on a plan to incorporate an Uptown street into the Kingstonian mixed-use development, Mayor Steve Noble issued a statement supporting the measure and pushing back against what he called “misinformation” spread by project opponents and “rampant misunderstandings” about the plan.

Noble’s statement comes as Uptown real estate investor Neil Bender steps up his campaign to derail the project with a full-page newspaper ad claiming that the street closure will slow fire department response times and endanger public safety.

The public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 12 at George Washington Elementary School will address the plan to abandon Fair Street Extension to make way for the Kingstonian, a 143-unit apartment complex slated for construction on the site of what is now a city parking lot adjacent to the street.

The lower part of Fair Street Extension will serve as the entrance to a 420-car garage at the site while the upper end will hold a public pedestrian plaza. Other elements of the project include commercial and restaurant space, a 32-room boutique hotel and an elevated walkway across Schwenk Drive connecting the complex to Kingston Plaza.

The project, proposed by a development group that includes Kingston Plaza owner Brad Jordan and New Windsor-based developer and restaurateur Joe Bonura, has an estimated cost of $60 million. That cost will be defrayed by $3.8 million in public funds, part of a $10 million state Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant awarded to the city in 2016. Developers will also benefit from a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement that will allow them to waive about $26 million in city, county and school taxes over 25 years, and other state grants totaling $3 million.

In exchange for the tax break, the developers have promised to build, operate and maintain a little over 200 spaces for public parking on the site, assume construction and maintenance costs for the plaza and build public bathrooms. The PILOT also includes job creation and wage requirements and a “clawback” provision that would allow the tax break to be rescinded if developers don’t hold up their end of the deal.

Supporters of the plan, including many Uptown business owners, say the project will also generate millions in new consumer spending and sales taxes in the neighborhood while addressing a critical need for new housing in the city.

But the plan has also generated opposition from some who say that the building is out of scale for the historic neighborhood while the PILOT agreement will take money away from city schools. Project opponents also accuse the city of cutting corners and ignoring conflicts of interest to ensure a smooth approval process for the project, which comes after a decades-long effort by three mayoral administrations to redevelop the parking lot site.

No project opponent looms larger than Bender, principle of William Gottlieb Realty, who inherited a massive downtown Manhattan real estate portfolio and who in recent years has expanded the company’s reach to Kingston, where he owns six Uptown properties. LLCs controlled by Bender have waged an unrelenting campaign against the Kingstonian, filing at least 10 legal actions challenging aspects of the project or the city’s approval process.

Recently, Bender opened a new front in his war against the Kingstonian, hiring an architectural historian to argue before the city’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission/Historic Area Commission that the scale and design of the project violates federal historic preservation guidelines. Bender also commissioned a report by a public safety consultant, making the case that the closure of Fair Street Extension will slow response times by the Kingston Fire Department and endanger the lives of Kingstonian residents.

Those allegations were included in a full-page ad in the Daily Freeman last week calling on residents to turn out at Wednesday’s hearing to oppose the street closure. The ad drew a response from Kingston Fire Chief Chris Rea, who on Monday addressed what he called “false statements” in a post on the department’s official Facebook page. The post went on to rebut the ad’s assertions regarding the impact of the street closure on response times and public safety.

Noble’s statement issued on Tuesday afternoon addressed both the street closure and the larger issue of the Kingstonian as he sought to clarify what he called “misunderstandings.” Noble noted that the street closure was not a transfer of property to the developers since land would remain in the city’s hands with the upper portion of the street transformed into a public park and the lower portion forming the entrance to a public parking facility. Noble also pointed out that the council had already approved a number of elements in the project, including the PILOT agreement, the creation of the public plaza and the transfer of the parking lot site to the developers.

The mayor suggested that pulling the plug on the Kingstonian could endanger the entire $10 million DRI funding package. “Rejecting this resolution would undermine the Council’s prior work and jeopardize the Downtown Revitalization Grant funding this project will bring to our City,” Noble wrote.

In addressing the project as a whole, Noble said that despite the PILOT agreement, the city would receive $3 million more in tax revenue from the Kingstonian than they would if the property continued its use as a public parking lot. Noble also pointed to projected benefits from increased parking and foot traffic in the neighborhood. The mayor added that the project would align with the city’s environmental objectives by meeting or exceeding the “Bronze” level of the National Green Buildings Standards. The city will also use an unidentified “third-party audit process” to ensure compliance with the city’s “environmental ethos,” Noble said.

Noble’s statement was sent as an official communication to the Common Council as part of the public hearing process and will be entered into the record along with comments from the public. Those wishing to submit their own written comments can do so until 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14 by emailing them to City Clerk Elisa Tinti at etinti@kingston-ny.gov. People can also email the clerk to sign up to speak at the in-person hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at George Washington Elementary School at 67 Wall Street.