KINGSTON – The City of Kingston presented the final draft of its Food Systems Plan at a public meeting at City Hall Wednesday night.
The move makes Kingston the first municipality in the Hudson Valley to develop a blueprint for the city to improve food quality, food security and to make food accessible to all residents in ordinary times and during emergencies.
Residents were able to attend the meeting in person and virtually to ask questions and comment on the proposal, which took two years to create with the help of a local consultant.
City of Kingston Director of Health and Wellness, Emily Flynn, says part of the goal of the plan is to create a food system that is resilient and can withstand government changes or world events, such as a pandemic.
“This plan was created before the most recent federal reduction in SNAP education and SNAP funding,” said Flynn. “This isn’t a plan to solve that problem, but it is a plan that if we’re able to implement many of its great recommendations, the city will be in a better place for those kinds of shocks to our food system.”
The plan’s designers listened to 241 residents from a cross section of the Kingston community by conducting surveys, workshops and public engagement events.
They say they learned that Kingston’s biggest food challenges are food access, transportation and affordability.
One goal of the proposal is to encourage more food retailers to accept SNAP benefits to eliminate what they call food deserts—areas in Kingston where people can’t easily access food—if at all.
The draft will be subject to public comments and suggestions until January 7th.
The final plan could be approved by the Kingston Common Council as early as February 2026.
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