It’s shamefully overdue and it’s still years away, but Kingston is getting a new zoning code.

This is a moment a lot of people have been waiting for. It’s the city’s best chance in decades to rethink Kingston, restore Kingston and reshape Kingston. On its surface it may seem boring as hell, but if you find affordable housing, racial equity and gentrification topics of interest to you, then you’ll be interested in rezoning, as the new code will impact all of that, deeply.

First, a little history. John Freaking Fitzgerald Kennedy was president when the city first adopted its current zoning code. In the decades since, it’s been adjusted and amended so often that it’s become a confusing mess, making life difficult for everyone from millionaire developers to regular homeowners wanting to improve their property.

A total zoning code rewrite is not something to be taken on lightly: It’s going to be a long and expensive process, so we understand why past city officials often talked about doing it, but didn’t follow through. We credit the Noble administration and the Common Council for having the stones to actually get it going this time.

What the end result will be is unknown, but both Mayor Noble and Majority Leader Rennie Scott-Childress are saying it will be different from the traditional kind of “use-based” zoning, which set aside some land for industry or agriculture only, other land for commercial space only and still other land for homes only. While it seems to make sense — no one wants their house to be right next to a chemical plant, for instance — the system, especially its zoning of a lot of land for single-family houses, made it harder for people of color to own their own homes and live in certain neighborhoods (“redlining”). It also makes it harder to add housing units at the pace Kingston needs them to be added right now.

The idea is to shift the paradigm to “form-based” zoning, which emphasizes issues like neighborhood density and buildings’ appearance rather than the use-based restrictions of traditional zoning. As we reported back in April when the $500,000 project got the green light, “The new code will also address issues, like parking requirements, in the current code that critics say impede development in the city. City officials have also said that they want the new code to include incentives to build affordable housing and be simple and easy to follow.”

Said Scott-Childress at the time, “We’ve already seen a coming together of folks who are often at odds with each other in talking about this process — opponents of the Kingstonian agree with housing developers that this process is crucial to our future, social justice advocates agree with business entrepreneurs that this process is crucial to our future. It will give us a supreme chance, a great opportunity to reconstitute our community.”

We could not agree more. That’s why we’re urging everybody to participate in the process. It begins this week with a 6 p.m. Thursday online meeting - click here to register - which will offer an overview of the project. This will be followed by meetings set into next week to start gathering public input. While we’ll have to wait a few years to see how much influence the public will have on the final product, we can say with certainty that if the public doesn’t make its voice heard now and at the several opportunities to come, that level of influence will be none.

If you want to require developers to set aside more units for affordable housing, say so. If you want a different approach to how neighborhoods are put together, say so. If you want to make it easier for small businesses in Kingston, say so. If you want housing prioritized over commercial space, say so. If you want a zoning code that preserves our unique sense of place here in New York’s first capital, say so. The public speaking up is important, because you can be sure business interests will try to influence the code for their own benefit.

Kingston has seen its share of land-use blunders over the years: Urban Renewal’s ravaging of the Rondout and the destruction of the old post office being the two most heinous and infamous. A better zoning code is the most important way those kinds of blunders can be stopped from ever happening again. So speak up, Kingston — it’s never been more important than it is now.

Click here for the city's website on the rewrite project, called Kingston Forward.