Follow Up on the News
In a hastily-pulled together
press conference fronted by an easy-going Governor Eliot Spitzer and
a who’s who of Catskills officials and regional environmental
forces at the Kingston Holiday Inn on Wednesday morning, September 5,
developer Dean Gitter and his Crossroads Ventures LLC was given the
go-ahead for his long-proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park.
Or at least half of it.
The approval basically follows what had become known in the last year
as the “Hinchey compromise,” allowing build-out of the $400
million resort on the western side of state-owned and run Belleayre
Mountain Ski Center and having the state purchase the 1,400 acres of
what would have been it’s eastern half, along what is known as
the Big Indian Plateau, and the majority of what was once the Highmount
Ski Center.
The new proposal calls for all of what would have been built along the
entire ridgeline to be now concentrated within a 663 plus acre site
bordering the Ulster County town of Shandaken and Delaware County town
of Middletown, including two hotels, a golf course, conference center,
major health spa and 259 residences… most with “ski in/ski
out” capabilities. All construction will comply with the strictest
“green” LEED (Leadership Energy and Environmental Design)
certification standards, avoiding slopes greater than 20 percent and
a commitment to organic standards for the gold course.
Greater emphasis on cluster development will further reduce the development’s
overall “footprint” from an original 573 to 273 overall
acres… a 52 percent drop, according to those in attendance (and
their various press releases). And instead of using its own sewage plant,
the new resort would tie into the existing city-owned facility in Pine
Hill.
The Big Indian acreage will be purchased by the Trust for Public Land
for conveyance to the state as Forever Wild open space, while the former
Highmount Ski Center trails and facilities sites will be incorporated
into the existing Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, thus minimizing the
amount of footprint enlargement that entity would need to undertake
to expand its services. And allowing Gitter to build slopeside lodging
and a spa for the ski resort.
“This project will simultaneously revitalize the region’s
economy by creating hundreds of new jobs and protect the environment
through green buildings, watershed protection and land preservation,”
said Spitzer, with Gitter seeming to stifle a proud grin behind him,
and several regional environmentalists approaching what looked like
tears. “I thank all the parties who came to the table and accomplished
great things for the Catskills. Their hard work illustrates that environmental
protection and sustainable economic development can go hand in hand.”
The governor added that the development, as generally approved via an
official Memorandum of Agreement signed by all but four of the environmental
parties, was expected to create 450 full time permanent jobs, 150 part-time
jobs and about 1,800 construction jobs over an estimated eight-year
construction period. He noted that annual property tax revenue of over
$2 million is expected to be paid to the two towns, local school districts
and Ulster and Delaware counties, with an additional amount expected
in sales taxes for both counties.
Spitzer also highlighted that half a million dollars in state funds
would be allocated for other sustainable development projects in the
Route 28 corridor between Boiceville and Andes through a new Central
Catskills Smart Growth Initiative to be administered by the state Department
of Environmental Conservation. He later noted, after Gitter’s
prodding, that the state would also re-start a process to explore scenic
by-way designation for the entire Route 28 corridor.
This is a demonstration that one plus one can equal three,” Spitzer
said, stressing the state’s new emphasis on increasing its investment
in Catskills skiing, via its Belleayre holdings, to match the private
investment being brought in by Gitter and his main Crossroads investors,
Emily Fischer and Ken Pasternak… the latter in attendance along
with what seemed to be a majority of the region’s top business
and political representatives.
Gitter first proposed his mega-resort after having chaired a Route 28
Corridor Study Committee, founded around the same time that the Upstate/New
York City Memorandum of Agreement overseeing local watershed regulations
and development funded was being discussed and signed at the urging
of Spitzer’s predecessor, Gov. George Pataki, ten years ago. The
Gitter commission, as some called his Study Committee, ended up concluding
that what was needed for economic development in the region was a greater
concentration on Belleayre’s potential as a tourism draw, through
both year-round events planning and the possible creation of an adjacent
resort.
In addition to Gitter’s project, the Belleayre Conservancy’s
inauguration of its annual summer concert series also started around
that time.
Once proposed, the Crossroads Venture plan for a Belleayre Resort immediately
drew harsh criticism and increasing activism from first a local and
later the regional and national environmental world. Eventually, this
led to the formation of a coalition of 11 such organizations to challenge
the developers knee-high-sized Draft Environmental Impact Statement
alongside New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection
and, eventually, Spitzer’s own Attorney General’s office
via its Inspector General position.
That challenge resulted in a lengthy trial-like adjudication process
that set up twelve key issues for a final state ruling, later downsized
to six by one of the Pataki administration’s last actions in office.
Such activities were eventually put on hold when Gitter went to first
the federal EPA and then Governor-elect Spitzer for help, with the aid
of elected officials on a town, county, state and federal level.
Negotiations towards a compromise were informally started in Regional
EPA Administrator Michael Steinberg’s New York offices last autumn,
and then pursued in full starting last winter… with what amounted
to a gag order installed by Spitzer’s new consultant on environmental
affairs, Judith Enck.
Meanwhile, one of the key points made by Hinchey two years ago, and
later backed up via letters from the federal Environmental Protection
Agency and various New York City and state agencies, was the protection
of city drinking water by shifting “all proposed development out
of the highly sensitive and impaired Ashokan Reservoir basin.”
At first Gitter publicly scoffed at Hinchey’s proposal…
but eventually it was included in the negotiations, according to participants,
then made their emphasis, as seen in Wednesday’s announcement.
Difficulties arose though when news about the possible inclusion of
the Highmount sale tie-in to Belleayre leaked out, causing ski resort
owners in neighboring Greene County to join together and publicly decry
the governor’s talks via their own press conferences.
On Wednesday, though, no signs of such controversy surfaced in Spitzer’s
or anyone else’s remarks, which stressed the importance of using
an expanded Belleayre Ski Center to increase skiing in all the Catskills.
But neither did any mention of recent scientists reports predicting
an end to the local ski industry in the next 20 to 30 years.
“I applaud Governor Spitzer for his leadership in developing a
solution for the Belleayre Resort project that will help to create new
jobs and spur economic growth while minimizing negative impacts to the
surrounding environment and protecting the integrity of the New York
City watershed,” Congressmember Hinchey said in a release passed
out at the event, not being available himself. “When I introduced
the lower build alternative for this plan as a starting point for these
negotiations almost two years ago, I envisioned a final project that
greatly resembled what was agreed to today… While this project
represents a dramatic improvement from what was originally proposed,
I still intend to follow the subsequent review process carefully, particularly
with regard to its size and potential impacts on the hamlet of Pine
Hill.”
Speaking on behalf of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Department
of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd, DEP General Counsel
said at the Holiday Inn that the resulting compromise was a “win/win
for all of New York State.”
Spitzer added that he expected Bloomberg to be on hand to tee off at
the resort’s golf course when inaugurated.
Gitter himself talked his Corridor Study 15 years earlier, and how the
past eight years of review and controversy had proved “trying.”
“ I never once doubted the sincerity of the environmental organizations
who were opposing it,” he said, talking of a “mutual respect”
for the environment “I also can’t assume that everyone will
be happy with this… there are those who will say we went too far
and some who will say we didn’t go far enough.”
He asked for people to now move on, to a big clap.
Eric Goldstein of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Tom Alworth
of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, who chaired
the Catskill Preservation Coalition that led much of the adjudicatory
fight against Gitter’s project in recent years, talked about the
benefits of the compromise finally worked out, as well as the local
impacts they would still be keeping an eye on.
“This is a very smart project,” said Alworth. “We
are now looking to help this project be a positive reflection on our
Catskills.”
Signing on to the negotiated compromise alongside the NRDC and Catskill
Center were Trout Unlimited, NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research
Group), Zen Environmental Studies Institute, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers,
and Riverkeeper
Still holding out and declining to sign the agreement were three local
and one national organization – Catskill Heritage Alliance, Friends
of Catskill Park, the Pine Hill District Coalition and the Sierra Club
– who handed out a press release while the celebratory talk was
going on at the Holiday Inn entitled “Revised Belleayre Resort
Still Wrong For Catskill Park, Local Communities.”
“The final MOA was released to CPC member groups only yesterday,”
the release reads. “Because it is not substantially a lower-build
compromise the four groups said they could not endorse it by signing.
They will continue to oppose this or any other project of similar size
and scale.”
After Spitzer and CPC Attorney Marc Gerstman discussed the price being
paid for the Gitter lands ($14 million), anticipated start date for
eventual construction (late in 2008), and a new SEQRA process to be
undertaken for the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to be
prepared by Crossroads including all elements of the newly signed MOA,
Catskill Heritage Alliance chairman Richard Schaedle explained how there
were still 200 some housing units being built on slopes he and other
opposing environmental groups felt were too sleep, as well as 19 structures
being built at elevations of over 3,000 feet.
Friends of Catskill Park chair Judith Wyman, one of the key early opponents
of the Gitter project, noted how the compromise was “only slightly
smaller than the outsize original. That’s not an acceptable compromise.”
Alworth later countered by noting the difficulties faced by any negotiation
involving 15 represented parties. Conference calls were held weekly,
plus regular get-togethers.
“Over time, one realizes that there are some groups that are never
happy. That makes things more difficult,” he said. “I’m
proud of what we accomplished… Now, there is no reason not to
critique the negotiated deal, but to just be angry and throw rocks doesn’t
help anyone. We have to move forward.”
In a separate interview, Gerstman, the lead environmental attorney in
the negotiations and a former state employee, said that the main reason
for the groups signing on to the deal was that all felt they wouldn’t
have done better waiting through adjudication.
He added that he was unlikely to continue working with the hold-out
local organizations, and wished they’d sign on so they could serve
as advocate watch-dogs in the process yet to come. He noted that it
has become increasingly difficult for lawsuits against deals such as
that announced last week to be challenged in the courts.
Meanwhile, Shandaken town supervisor Bob Cross, Jr., not running for
re-election after being plaguyed by discussion of Gitter’s resort
for his four years in office, expressed genuine gladness that as far
as he could tell, things had reached a resolution.
“I greatly admire the way this was handled by the governor’s
staff, with special thanks to Judith Enck,” he said. “Most
of the environmental concerns have been dramatically reduced with the
new proposed project. I feel that this project is needed to help sustain
the existing businesses that rely on tourism in the entire region, and
not just Shandaken.”
Gitter, still smiling, said he hoped the way forward would be seen as
too important, now, to allow any more tying down of progress.
“This is the Catskills renaissance,” he said, adding that
he was now going to get away on a vacation… departing within the
hour.
“I’ll be back in a few weeks,” he added.
A U&D Rail Trail At Last?
Of the amount pegged for
the county in a new draft Transportation Improvement Program document
released by the UC Transportation Council on August 28, and set for
further discussion on September 27 following a three week public comment
period set to conclude September 17 after a sole public informational
meeting to be held at Ulster County BOCES Conference Center in New Paltz
on September 11, $76 million will be for highway projects, $20 million
for bridges, and over $6 million for improvements to local public transportation.
On a local basis, bridge repairs have been scheduled for Route 28 over
Birch Creek and in Big Indian, in Shandaken, And the Route 213 Tongore
Bridge in Olive.
In addition, all of Route 213 between Route 209 in Stone Ridge and its
intersection with Route 28A in Olive has been scheduled for next year,
and over $13 million has been pegged for the creation of an Ulster and
Delaware Rail Trail from Kingston to Highmount, to be built in two stages,
the first lasting from 2010 through 2012 and the second from 2012 into
the following decade.
“The Ulster County Transportation Council serves as the Metropolitan
Planning Organization for Ulster County, responsible for ensuring that
federal transportation funds are programmed through a locally driven,
comprehensive planning process,” the 121 page document –
filled out with many pages as yet blank – reads. “The Transportation
Improvement Program is an important product of the overall transportation
planning process, since it is through the TIP that the UCTC commits
to the implementation of transportation projects. The TIP represents
the formal capital program that assigns federal funds to highway, bridge,
bikeway, pedestrian, transit, and demand management projects for implementation
over the next five years.”
Members of the UCTC include the head of the county legislature, mayor
of Kingston, Saugerties and Ulster town supervisors, state DOT commissioner
representative, state Thruway director, seven town supervisors and one
“rural voting member” representing the towns of Denning,
Gardiner, Hardenburgh, Marbletown, Olive, Rochester and Shandaken.
The schedule of meetings that led to the creation of the current proposal,
now on ther verge of becoming reality, included meetings about a possible
rail trail two autumns ago that brought out a number of train fans worried
that a rail trail would preclude completion of the resuscitation of
the Catskill Mountain Railroad, which has been leasing the county-owned
Ulster and Delaware rail bed since the early 1980s.
Some in the county legislature started questioning the CMRR’s
stewardship of that property after the entity sprayed along tracks in
the City of Kingston this past spring, against a county Environmental
Council’s recommendations.
However, the scope of the current proposal, at least in budget form
as presented within the new TIP proposal, suggests that accommodations
may now be made to include both rail and bike and walking paths within
the long right-away that rail trail aficionados are hoping will create
a linked trail system throughout the county, as well as Catskills and
Hudson Valley regions.
The actual process of infrastructure repairs included in the new TIP
is scheduled to begin in 2008.
More on this entire process in our next issue, after we get a chance
to look into the details of the various elements in the plan, from the
rail trail to new busses for rural transport and a major welcome center
for the county – as well as possible rail improvements throughout
the Hudson Valley – via the current process.
The final resolution to
make a deal with Mariner Tower ll LLC, which passed unanimously, included
several last minute changes supplied by Cross, which he created aloud
and penned in to the legal document at the meeting.
Councilman Peter DiSclafani, a candidate for town supervisor this year,
tried to table the matter until next week in order to have time to read
it through and make sure it was as good a deal as possible. Councilman
Robert Stanley agreed, but Cross and board members Joe Munster and Jane
Todd, who is also running for town supervisor, defeated DiSclafani’s
motion.
The board also conducted a swift environmental review of the plan to
build the tower on the town-owned Glenbrook Park and determined there
would be no environmental impact from the project.
Many present at the meeting were pleased to finally see progress toward
bringing cell service to town, but several were concerned about the
shroud of mystery the board kept over the identity of Mariner Tower
and who its owners were. No information was available on the company
and repeated requests from the audience for basic information were ignored.
When Cross finally started to say that Mariner Tower representatives
were actually in the room, Todd stifled the Supervisor to prevent him
from revealing who they were.
Finally Cross said they were a company from Kennebunkport, Maine. Internet
searches discovered a company in Kennebunk with the name Mariner Tower
LP, but it remains unclear what connection this company has, if any,
with Mariner Tower ll, LLC.
The deal requires Mariner to sign a lease agreement with Shandaken within
the next two months to build the tower at Glenbrook Park. Within three
months Mariner must deliver a study showing how to provide the town
with “maximum cellular communications.”
The tower, which does not have a height specified yet, needs to be built
by July of next year.
Critics of the plan, like Big Indian resident Chuck Perez, question
the way the administration is going about getting cell service for the
town.
Perez, who wants cell service in the community, wondered why the town
was agreeing to build a tower on a specific site before a study was
done to see where the towers should go.
“It’s putting the cart before the horse,” Perez said.
The cellular issue included talk about a 43 acre Phoenicia parcel owned
by Cross’s wife and Todd’s daughter. Recent published reports
indicated that the property may be used as a cell tower site, but both
Todd and Cross said this week that was not true. Cross produced a letter
from a previous landowner stating that a restriction was placed on the
property preventing cell towers. Cross complained about local newspapers
printing information about the restriction no longer appearing on the
most current deed. Todd said there was no requirement to file the information
with the County, but Cross described the matter as a filing error. Regardless,
both insist the restriction remains.
“It runs with the land,” Cross said.
“I like serving my
constituents and my community,” says Frasier, who was first elected
in 1988 after serving 8 years as deputy clerk and 7 years before that
working for local attorneys. “I like my job,” she says.
”I like serving the public. I’m a people person.”
Frasier grew up in Highmount, went to Fleischmann’s and Margaretville
High Schools, married her husband Charlie 34 years ago, and has four
grown children and four grandchildren. Her long history of community
service includes 16 years of work with the American Cancer Society,
13 years as a Girl Scout leader, past bookkeeper for the Phoenicia United
Methodist Church, and Treasurer and Corresponding Secretary for the
Glenbrook Park since its inception.
As an indication of how seriously she takes her job, Frasier appears
to take every opportunity to further her education. “Every time
something’s offered,” she says, “I take the class.”
She’s currently a Certified Municipal Clerk and working on her
Master Municipal Clerk accreditation. In 2002 she was named Ulster County
Clerk of the Year, along with receiving a Pride of Ulster County Award
from the county legislature. This year, she’s been nominated as
New York State Town Clerk of the Year.
“As Town Clerk I try to be non-partial when serving my constituents,”
says Frasier. When you come before me it does not matter if you are
Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, Independent, or of the
Tree party. You are a person with a problem and I am there to try to
help you solve it. I treat everybody equal.“
“I have always stayed within my budget, “ said Frasier,
“making sure that nothing gets wasted. When it comes to preservation,
it is my job to preserve the town’s history…All of the old
books are wrapped in acid free paper and stored in a fireproof room,
every month I write the town history as I record the minutes of the
meetings.”
This year and for the first time in a number of years, Frasier, a Republican,
is being challenged on the ballot by Carol Shalaew, who’s running
on the Democratic line.
“I think Laurilyn has done a great job,” says Shalaew. “But
I do believe it’s time for a change. I’ve seen her attitude
and sometimes she can be not as friendly as she should be. She may be
getting burned out. And change is good, sometimes for everybody. I think
it would be a change for the better, if not for the best.”
Shalaew’s had her home in Phoenicia for 7 years, though she’s
lived here full- time only for the past two. She’s been actively
involved in local politics, animal rescue, and other volunteer work.
In describing her background, Shalaew says she’s been a businesswoman
in New York City since 1965, and that her experience at different venues
or jobs is very important to the perspectives she’s developed.
In her formerly citified career, Shalaew was accustomed to functioning
in some fairly high-powered environments, with long careers both in
public relations and managing some of the City’s highest profile
restaurants. For 12 years she managed Tavern on the Green, the highest
grossing restaurant in the country, after serving as their banquet and
PR director. She also served as manager for both the Grand Central Oyster
Bar and the Russian Tea Room. In the public relations sphere, she served
as PR Director for the Ritz Carlton and New York Penta Hotels, and for
several years ran a PR company of her own.
“Shandaken is a wonderful place,“ says Shalaew. “I
love this town, and I want to contribute as much as I can. Because of
the issues we’re facing, it’s important we have people in
office who are sensitive to the issues, and who’ll actually listen
to what people want and need. I feel like I’m someone who can
do that. My door will always be open. I think I can streamline the office,”
she says, “and maybe cut costs down the road. But the main thing
is I want the office to be a friendly place.”
“Oh,” she added. “I want to work with the town board
as well… The new town board…”
In Public Be Heard, a number
of Phoenicia parents again spoke about their fears of their school being
closed and general opposition to the board’s approval of a 5 through
8 Middle School plan for the district’s future. At the same time,
Phoienicia PTA head Christina Himberger read a letter thanking the district
and its new transportation director for having responded so quickly
to concerns about new bussing routes. At the Onteora School Board’s
August 28 school board meeting, which was dominated by transportation
matters by and large (see letters), school lunch manager Christine Downs
presented healthy new strategies for the school year, including “Try
it Tuesdays,” a monthly fun food tasting idea using seasonal vegetables.
“I would like students to try new foods, especially vegetables,”
said Downs. “Which would be once a month, whether a student buys
lunch or not can taste the vegetable of the day.” Also, the prices
on a la carte food will be increasing and an emphasis put on buying
complete meals at a better value. Downs said it is less expensive to
the district and healthier for kids. The school district will hosted
a two-day teacher college on the Columbia University writing program
at the Emerson Resort’s conference facilities in Mt. Tremper.
“We have nearly 50 teachers being trained in writing workshop,”
said assistant superintendent for curriculum Deb Fox. A majority of
Onteora teachers have been trained in the reading workshop program and
Fox explained that this is the next level of training teachers in a
hands-on approach to writing. The Director of Elementary education position
was changed to a Coordinator of Elementary Education, a spot once held
by Laurie Cassel. Superintendent Leslie Ford said, “In looking
at that this year, my suggestion was that we take the position that
was held by one person and ask two of our administrators to adopt it.”
The primary responsibilities are curriculum development and overseeing
testing. As promised at every school board meeting, the parent of a
Phoenicia elementary school student, Sante Mosley spoke to the board
on why rural schools are important. He urged the school board to rethink
their plan of a 5-8 middle school and closing an additional elementary
school. He asked the board instead to join the New York State Rural
School Association at a cost of $500 with mini-grants available from
the State to waver the fee. He also said through the organization, grants
are available for technology. Every school board meeting, Mosley presents
statistics on why rural community schools are better, especially in
poorer communities. He believes that the school board is modeling their
school configuration idea on wealthy Armonk and Chappaqua school districts,
a plan that does not fit in with local median income statistics. Mosley
said he plans to meet with Assemblyman Kevin Cahill in September. The
school board held a workshop on district goals for the 2007/08 school
year. Although not complete a rough outline included, student achievement,
performance, teaching, community participation, communication, fiscal
responsibility and respect. Also, it turns out the district did approve
an extension of its conract with the INDIE program through the coming
school year.