Affixed to the front of the buildings in the uptown neighborhood of Kingston, the Colonial Revival canopies erected to shelter the sidewalks a half-century ago seem ever more likely to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Mayor Steve Noble said as much when he announced his plans to see them dismantled. The common council approved a $1.2-million bond measure to pay for the demolition. And now, after five months of legal combat, county Supreme Court judge David Gandin has dismissed arguments made on behalf of the plaintiff, property developer and speculator Neil Bender, for why they should remain.
Bender owns seven of the buildings adorned by the canopies.
The plaintiff’s lawyers asserted the original installation contracts the building owners signed with the city obligated the city to maintain the canopies. They felt that the reason the city failed to do so could only be a calculated ploy to neglect them. When the canopies exhibited severe deterioration, the city conjectured, their removal would be “the only economically feasible option.”
Plaintiff’s lawyers also asserted that the canopies should be preserved because of the historic value they represented.
In his ruling, Gandin boiled down the case to who-owned-what. He ruled that Bender’s lawyers had erred when they argued that the canopies were fixtures belonging to the building owners. He noted that the canopies were identified in the original contracts as appurtenances, not fixtures, and as such they belonged to the city.
Since Bender had no say over something he didn’t own, the point he made in support of preservation was moot. The city could do what it liked. And what it liked was to tear down the canopies.
Lawyers for Bender filed an appeal Tuesday morning, January 28.
Join the family! 
