Larkin Announces Funding To Improve Kingston Sewer Plant

Senator Bill Larkin (R-C, Cornwall-on-Hudson) today announced the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) has approved a $500,000 grant for the City Of Kingston for improvements to the City’s sewer treatment plant on the Rondout waterfront.

The grant will be used for a portion of the cost of engineering, machinery, equipment, installation, chemicals, and other costs related to sewer plant odor abatement.

"The Rondout waterfront has been undergoing revitalization for several years now," said Senator Larkin. Approximately $15 million in private investments have been made in the last two years alone. But, the odor problems associated with the sewer plant have at times hampered our efforts to strengthen and expand Kingston’s downtown retail and commercial district as well as some of the goals we have for the waterfront. This grant will help mediate this situation and therefore help this development continue, and ultimately lead to the creation of new jobs for City residents."

Since 1990, the City of Kingston has been awarded one loan and eight grants totaling approximately $1.5 million from six ESDC funding sources. Two of those grants are currently in the process of being disbursed. A $50,000 Community Capital Assistance Program grant will be used for an odor study of the City’s wastewater treatment facility, and a $250,000 Empire State Economic Development Fund grant will be used for a portion of acquisition and demolition of an existing dilapidated building to facilitate the construction of a 50-room boutique hotel along the City’s Rondout waterfront.

The sewer plant project is expected to be completed by this April.