KINGSTON, N.Y. — The City’s Common Council will not vote on tearing down the Pike Plan canopies on Wall and North Front streets in Uptown at its Tuesday meeting after lawmakers decided to send the plan back to the committee.
After discussing the Pike Plan resolution during a closed-door “client-attorney” session at the caucus meeting on Monday, Aug. 5, lawmakers decided to send the $1 million demolition plan back to the Council’s Laws and Rules Committee. Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress said Mayor Steve Noble learned the city needed to bring in a consultant to work on the demolition plan, leading to a vote delay.
Noble had said previously if lawmakers voted yes on the demolition plan on Tuesday, that demolition could start on canopies in January 2025. Lawmakers did not say Monday if tabling Noble’s proposal would push back that timeline. Still, Scott-Childress emphasized that current structures are in such bad shape that demolition is the only practical action for the city to take.
The Pike Plan is the system of interconnected canopies over sidewalks on Wall and North Front streets that have been a fixture in Uptown for decades. The canopies, designed by Woodstock artist John Pike, were built in the early 1970s and overhauled for two years starting in 2011. They were found to be in poor condition in December 2015 due to poor craftsmanship.
Scott-Childress said once the current structures come down, the future remains open for North Front Street. He did no.