Council will not consider zoning amendement
The Green Neighbors Network community garden at 288 Frederick St. in Kingston.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
The Green Neighbors Network community garden at 288 Frederick St. in Kingston.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Kingston Borough Council President Kate McMahon speaks at Monday’s meeting.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Kingston Borough Councilmember Paul Keating speaks at Monday’s meeting.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Sondra Riviello, the Kingston Borough’s administrator, speaks at Monday’s meeting.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Kingston resident Jayanne Czerniakowski, the owner of a community garden on Frederick Street, reads a prepared statement from her phone to Kingston Borough Council at Monday’s work session.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
KINGSTON — Kingston Borough Council said at a work session Monday that it would not consider amending its zoning ordinance to add regulations for community gardens.
The proposal was brought to council by resident Jayanne Czerniakowski, who owns a community garden at 288 Frederick St. that was recently denied approval by the zoning hearing board.
Council President Kate McMahon told Czerniakowski that the borough would not consider further changes to the zoning ordinance at this time due to considerable time and resources that had already been spent on major revisions back in July.
These revisions were made as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle a lawsuit brought by the department that claimed Kingston’s zoning laws were unjust and had a negative impact on the borough’s Orthodox Jewish Chabad community.
“At this time, your application for a garden is the only one that has been received, and that we are aware of, in the municipality. Generally speaking, if we are going to make amendments to our zoning ordinance, it is to address something that has been a wide spread issue,” McMahon said.
Councilmember Paul Keating agreed with McMahon.
“I would never recommend making a single change to our zoning ordinance. It would have to be comprehensive in scope and that is not something we’re going to do right now,” he said.
Sondra Riviello, the borough’s administrator, also spoke on council’s decision.
“It’s literally amending the zoning ordinance for one specific use, which would … which is not something we do,” she said.
Kingston Borough does not address community gardens in its zoning ordinance. Therefore, any community garden would have to be approved by the zoning hearing board under a special exception.
Czerniakowski said her request to change the zoning ordinance was not an attempt to circumvent the zoning hearing board’s decision to deny her garden a change of use.
Instead, she said it was about creating “clear standards for every future community garden in Kingston.”
“I wasn’t asking for just for my garden. I’m asking for people going forward that they don’t have to deal with what I’m dealing with,” she said.
Czerniakowski started building her community garden in April after purchasing an empty lot in her Kingston neighborhood.
A 19-year resident of the borough, Czerniakowski also recently founded a non-profit called Green Neighbors Network, with the goal of connecting “food, nature, education, conservation, and community through hands-on experiences, workshops, and classes designed for both youth and adults.”
Also at the meeting, Czerniakowski said Green Neighbors Network partnered with The Wyoming Valley Art League’s Circle Centre for the Arts to hold classes there, “which would reduce the programming held at the garden.”
Once Czerniakowski receives written notice of the zoning hearing board’s denial of the garden, she will have 30 days to appeal the decision.
Local journalism matters, and your support makes it possible. You can help sustain this work by making a donation or choosing one of our subscription options. Subscribers enjoy valuable benefits, including full access to our e-edition, a reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.
Your support helps ensure independent, high-quality local news remains available today and for future generations. Thank you for standing with local journalism.