The Department of Homeland Security plans to relocate a Coast Guard station from its current home in Saugerties to a long-vacant piece of waterfront property on Rondout Creek. City officials said they first learned of the proposal recently and have been given few details about the plan.

“We believe that there is some interest by the Coast Guard and/or potentially other interested parties in some of the land along this area of Abeel Street,” wrote Noble, who this month asked the Kingston Common Council to approve an easement at the site to facilitate potential sewer and water infrastructure construction and maintenance. “That's really all the definitive details I have at this point in time.”

But government documents suggest that development of the plan for a Coast Guard station on the Island Dock property at 320 Abeel Street has been underway since at least December 2025 and includes the completion of an environmental assessment at the site and a bidding process expected to conclude next month. Records show that on September 9, Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Michael Thomas Rathburn, an Environmental Proponent assigned to the agency’s Office of Shore Forces, issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) following an environmental review that included consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The document affirms a contractor’s environmental assessment that found the proposed project at the site would have no significant negative impacts and would comply with federal laws including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Historic Preservation Act. The FONSI also refers to concurring opinions from state authorities, including the Department of State and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The documents suggest the environmental review began sometime last year. The finding clears the way for construction at the site under federal environmental law, which supersedes and replaces New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act for construction of federal installations.

The project described in the FONSI and on a website for companies seeking government contracts includes redevelopment of a 2.2-acre parcel on the Island Dock property, a manmade island built in the 1840s to store coal that subsequently functioned as part of a military shipyard turning out vessels, including Coast Guard cutters, during both World Wars. The scope of work includes construction of a pier, boat ramp and other facilities in line with the mission of the Coast Guard Cutter Wire, a small harbor tugboat with a seven-member crew, and an Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) currently based at what the document describes as a flood-prone and undersized facility in Saugerties. The project would also include brownfield remediation at the site. The project is estimated to cost between $20 million and $50 million.

When completed, the site would become home to the 65-foot Wire as well as a 49-foot buoy tender, a 26-foot Aids to Navigation Boat and a 16-foot skiff. The station would also be home to about 30 Coast Guard personnel assigned to the Wire and the ANT. The Wire’s main mission in the winter is breaking ice along the Rondout Creek and Hudson River to keep the waterways navigable. The vessel also assists with homeland security patrols in New York Harbor, search-and-rescue missions, and maintenance of navigational aids. The Coast Guard’s public affairs office for the Northeast region did not respond to emails from Kingston Wire seeking comment.

While state officials participated in the environmental assessment, it appears that local governments including Ulster County and the City of Kingston were not privy to the plan. Kingston Common Council Majority Leader and Chair of the Laws and Rules Committee Michele Hirsch said the first she heard of the proposal was earlier this month, when she received a request from Corporation Counsel Rebecca Mantello to dissolve an old easement on a causeway connecting Island Dock to Abeel Street and approve a new one. Hirsch said that, in a closed-door session with the committee, Mantello said that the project would go forward whether or not the council granted the easement.

“If we can’t [obtain the easement] in time, my understanding is that the federal government could actually then just take everything by eminent domain,” said Hirsch. “So, in the end we have no say.”

At the Laws and Rules meeting, Hirsch, along with Ward Six Alderman Bob Dennison, expressed concern about the project, given its sudden emergence and connection to Homeland Security, the same department that oversees ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The department has faced strong bipartisan local opposition to efforts to purchase warehouse properties in Orange County for use as ICE detention facilities. There is no indication in the documents obtained by Kingston Wire that the proposed facility on Abeel Street has any connection to immigration authorities.

“We want to lead with trust, that this is just the same operation that currently exists with the Coast Guard up in Saugerties, and we’re not becoming a staging area for ICE,” said Hirsch. “That would be a nightmare.”

The proposed Coast Guard facility would be the first redevelopment project on a large swath of Rondout waterfront property owned by Brooklyn-based developer Robert Iannucci, who died in December 2025. Starting in the early 2000s, Iannucci began buying up a number of parcels that had been left vacant and, in many cases, contaminated following the departure of industry from the waterfront in the mid-to-late 20^th century. Over the years, Iannucci floated several proposals for redevelopment of the properties, but none came to fruition.

On Friday, Iannucci’s friend and colleague Dan Ahouse declined to discuss details of any deal, except to say that the Coast Guard was among the entities interested in acquiring some of the late developer’s Rondout waterfront holdings. Ahouse added that there were ongoing “conversations” with different parties and that he believed there was potential for a number of projects that would eventually bring development and add value to the city’s waterfront.

“After Rob’s passing, work continues to find partners who can redevelop his properties in line with his and the city’s vision,” said Ahouse. “I think it’s going to be an exciting time for the Rondout waterfront.”