Battle lines were drawn in the matter of the city’s most divisive development proposal in years when more than 200 people turned out for a public hearing Wednesday night on the proposed Kingstonian project. While members of the city’s business community came out strong in support of the proposed housing, parking and retail complex in the Stockade District, affordable housing advocates and other activists called for the city’s planning board to reject the $52 million project, claiming that it would fuel gentrification and lead to Kingston’s poorest residents being pushed out of their homes.

Developers of a proposed retail, residential and parking complex in Uptown Kingston are planning to present studies on traffic, stormwater and other issues at an April 10 public hearing at City Hall. It will then be up to the city’s planning board to determine if the proposed Kingstonian project needs to go through a more extensive — and potentially years-long — environmental review.

A citizen’s group is calling for an in-depth study of potential negative impacts of a large mixed-use project planned for Uptown Kingston.

Those behind the Kingstonian, a mixed residential, hotel, commercial, parking and public space project being pitched for the heart of the Stockade District, said at a public presentation Tuesday, Oct. 23 that they expect to have their first documents before the planning board sometime in November.