KINGSTON — Controversy has sprouted up about a budding community garden.
Kingston residents filled a municipal council meeting to near capacity Monday night primarily to air their support or voice their concerns about the Green Neighbors Network community garden planned for Frederick Street.
Jayanne Czerniakowski, the founder and head of the Green Neighbors Network and a Frederick Street resident, said the garden would be a community asset. She touted the support the garden has received from neighbors and local organizations, including a Pennsylvania State University master gardener and the Luzerne Conservation District.
“We’ve had an outpouring of positive support from the community,” Czerniakowski said. “All of these reputable companies and places are on our side with it….For the life of me, I cannot understand why anybody has a problem with any of this.”
Robert Connolly, a Frederick Street homeowner, was specifically critical of the garage to be located on the garden lot. Connolly said he served on a committee to repair the town from the 1972 Agnes flood and argued projects liked this threatened the stable zoning laws that have been crucial to the long-term growth of the municipality.
“Kingston borough is probably the shining example of a community in Wyoming Valley and that’s because we have adhered to a strict zoning code,” Connolly said.
Connolly also maintained many neighborhood residents were not sent a letter informing them of the project or the hearing (something which Czerniakowski disputed.) He said he had distributed a petition against the garage that he said had garnered 32 signatures from Frederick and Pringle street residents and submitted the petition to council. In addition, Connolly said he was retaining an appraiser to draft an impact assessment of the garage on the neighborhood.
“It’s going to lower the value of their property and it’s not conforming to the code,” Connolly said. “With this petition here, the people here support the community garden, all 32 signatures. They do not support the building of that garage.”
An information paper at a community garden in Kingston on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The meeting Monday followed a public hearing council held April 20 on the question of whether to issue conditional-use approval for the garage to be located on the Frederick Street property. Municipal officials said a council vote on whether to approve the conditional use set to occur Monday had been rescheduled, so officials could further research the project. Municipal Administrator Sondra Riviello said the property would also need to secure an additional use variance from the municipal Zoning Hearing Board to serve as a community garden. (Czerniakowski said the Monday meeting was the first time she had heard the garden needed the additional zoning approval.)
Council member Paul Keating, addressing Czerniakowski, said he understood the benefits of the garden, but expressed some skepticism toward the project. He said it was not “clear cut” the municipal zoning ordinance allowed for the full garden project and was concerned whether it would disrupt the neighborhood.
“I listened to all the good and I’ve also listened to things that concern me,” Keating said. “We have to be consistent and we have to be fair and reasonable with everyone.”
Keating said he would seek to impose strict standards for the use of the project and particularly the garage.
“If we were to grant a conditional use…I am going to advocate for quite a few conditions to be attached to this,” Keating said. “I think there’s a lot of things we have to evaluate as to whether or not this changes the scope of that neighborhood and the peace and good order of that neighborhood….”
Czerniakowski and her boyfriend, Mark Hoffman, pledged that the garage would be used only for personal vehicles, storage, and some small uses related to the garden. The garage would additionally be outfitted with a bathroom for gardeners to use, as well as a spigot to be used to water the garden, and security cameras to monitor the site. They denied any rumors that the garage would be put to a commercial use or used to hold large, open public events.
Chavah Granovetter, a secretary and board member for Green Neighbors Network, said the garage specifically would be a useful resource for the garden. She also cited an New York University study that indicated community gardens generally increase property values.
Daniel Granovetter, Chavah’s husband, also spoke in support of the garden. He urged council to accelerate the approval processes for the Green Neighbors Network garden given planting season was fast arriving.
“It’s all going to be about planting, it’s going to be about harvesting, it’s going to be about farmwork, so there’s really no concern about big parties,” Granovetter said. “It’s going to be feeding a lot of people.”
Christian Krupsha, another resident, said the ordeal exemplified his broader concern with zoning in the municipality. While stressing he did not oppose the garden per se, Krupsha said he felt the garage would be used in a way that violates the spirit of good zoning practices.
Krupsha said that the planned use of the structure on the property as a garage and as a facility to help the gardeners was an alarming case of dual use that could be disruptive to residents. He said ambiguities in reforms to the municipal zoning law the council enacted in 2023 facilitated these kinds of dual uses that disturb communities. (The 2023 zoning ordinance drew a series of legal challenges, including a federal suit that alleged the ordinance discriminated against the Orthodox Jewish Chabad community. Kingston entered into a consent order with the U.S. Department of Justice in February that requires the municipality to reform the ordinance within 120 days.)
“As an aside, this community, it’s a wonderful thing,” Krupsha said. “The issue that I have as a member of Kingston is this weakens zoning law. The owners frankly are flouting the purpose of the zoning that they are seeking.”
Czerniakowski said she would be willing to work through other approval processes for the garden, while abiding by the restrictions the council imposes. She also appealed to the council to grant the necessary approvals, calling the garden a positive development for the neighborhood’s future.
“We don’t move forward without change,” Czerniakowski said. “How do you think we got to where we are today?”
Council has 45 days from the April 20 public hearing, or June 4, to render a decision on the conditional-use approval for the garage on the garden. It is unclear when a zoning meeting for the garden’s use variance would be held.
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