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The Kingston Common Council is formally asking Mayor Steve Noble to drop a lawsuit against the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal that seeks to remove the Stony Run apartment complex from Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) regulations.
The council will vote Tuesday on a resolution requesting the immediate discontinuation of the lawsuit, which was filed in Queens Supreme Court on December 30, 2025. The resolution follows a unanimous vote by the council's Community Development and Housing Committee earlier this week to advance the measure to the full council.
According to reporting by the Daily Freeman, the lawsuit aims to remove ETPA protections from the 266-unit complex on Hurley Avenue and instead place it under a workforce regulatory agreement that the city reached with property owner Aker in April 2023.
"The Common Council is of the opinion that the city of Kingston has not been adversely affected by the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal's ruling that Stony Run must continue operating under the ETPA," said Majority Leader Michele Hirsch, D-Ward 9. "We are hesitant to allocate time and resources to back a private entity using taxpayer funds."
Tenant advocates argue that removing ETPA protections would lead to significant rent increases. June Nemon, a tenant organizer, estimated that existing tenants could face rent hikes of 30% to 50% if the complex is deregulated, while noting that newer tenants who moved in after the workforce agreement are already paying higher rents.
The city filed the lawsuit after the state agency denied Kingston's petition for an administrative review of its July 18, 2025 ruling that found Stony Run should remain under ETPA protections. That ruling came after Aker had sought to remove the building from ETPA regulations.
Bartek Starodaj, Kingston's director of housing initiatives, defended the lawsuit before lawmakers, arguing that the city was excluded from Aker's attempt to remove the building from ETPA and that the regulatory agreement "clearly restricts rents."
However, tenant advocates disagree with the city's position. "Even if that were true, it ignores a simple truth: private agreements do not supersede state law, and Stony Run's rents are supposed to be governed by ETPA," Nemon said.
This dispute comes amid broader tensions over rent stabilization in Kingston. In a separate but related development, the Common Council recently voted unanimously to override Mayor Noble's veto on continuing rent stabilization under ETPA for the city.
The resolution being considered Tuesday also directs the city clerk to provide a copy to the Commissioner and Tenant Protection Unit of the Division of Homes and Community Renewal and requires the Corporation Counsel's office to provide the Common Council with a comprehensive litigation report within 30 days.
If approved, the resolution would authorize Common Council President Andrea Shaut or pro bono counsel of her choosing to file a letter in the lawsuit on behalf of the council, notifying the court of the resolution and expressing the city's opposition to the exemption application.