Follow Up on the News
In a colorfully blunt talk punctuated by images of his project “hijacked by environmentalists,” stalked by the City’s “hired assassins,” and opposed by “environmental Jihadists,” the controversial developer also lashed out publicly for the first time at the state’s ongoing review process and by inference, at decisions made by presiding judge Richard A. Wissler to permit wide public input into the ongoing review of the project.
“The SEQRA process is broken and needs to be fixed,” said Gitter, who asserted that his project’s public review “has be hijacked by professional environmentalists who make their living by obfuscation, delay, distortion, perversion of process, and just plain dirty tricks.” That process stinks,” he said.
Gitter, long regarded as a regional champion of SEQRA, appears to have reconsidered that position in light of his project’s increasingly protracted timeline.
Each year since 2001, he has publicly expressed hopes of breaking ground the following year, though recent statements on the subject more consistently include the phrase “in my lifetime.”
Gitter, who’d been invited to speak on the progress of his plan to build a nearly 1,300 room resort on 1,960 acres surrounding the state-run Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, now in its fifth year of review, was charactistically confrontational. At his last address to the Chamber in 2002, Gitter drew heavy flak for referring to those who opposed his project as “not as far along their spiritual paths” as those who support it. Although steering clear of that subject this time, he did take aim -in addition to the SEQRA laws - at New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, and at the eleven member groups of the Catskill Preservation Coalition opposing the project as “interveners” in the SEQRA process.
Singled out for attack from amongst the environmental community were CPC lead counsel Marc Gerstman, a former state DEC lead counsel, NRDC attorney Eric Goldstein, and Catskill Center for Conservation & Development Director Tom Alworth, whose presence Gitter noted in the audience.
According to Gitter, these “environmental holy warriors are smart, organized, and relentless.”
He took particular umbrage that Riverkeeper’s Bobby Kennedy Jr. once sent a letter to the Kingston Freeman urging full adjudication of the issues raised at last summer’s SEQRA Issues Conference. And he seemed similarly irked that Alworth and Goldstein once met with the editorial board of the Albany Times Union, a common practice for those seeking to influence public opinion and one he frequently engages in.
“That’s not environmental protection,” said Gitter of the process, “it’s environmental persecution.” None of the three alleged holy warriors singled out seemed terribly concerned by Gitter’s comments.
“First of all,” said Alworth, “when someone calls you a jihadist and makes apologies to any Taliban who might be present, I mean, frankly, how seriously can one take that person? To the substance, I think the way Dean portrayed both the participants and the process was pure hyperbole and absolutely incorrect. I think it was unfortunate he said many of the things he said. It was a pretty unbelievable rant.”
Regarding the City’s role in the project’s review, Gitter, who has long sought to portray the proposed resort as a test case of the viability of the 1997 MOA with the watershed towns, repeated his frequent assertions that its regulators have sought not only to obstruct his project, but to suppress all economic development in the watershed and reduce the population in the Catskills. He also accused the NRDC and other “fundamentalist organizations” of pressuring the city into that position, saying “they are virtually guaranteeing that the MOA would, in time, be dead as a smelt.”
Responding to Gitter’s “hired assassin” comment, Craig Seymour of RKG Associates, the city’s prime consultant on the project, said that “We were hired to provide technical advice on the adequacy & correctness of the applicant’s information, not to kill anything. While we agreed with some of the analysis provided, we also found their consultants sometimes didn’t provide the depth of analysis that was needed. If anything, that’s what’s slowed the process down.”
Gitter’s comments on his project’s obstacles may reflect concern with the changing political environment in which its review is proceeding. Governor Pataki, who in the past has interceded for the developer, may or may not be willing to risk further political capital on the project. Ulster County’s legislature, long supportive of Gitter under Ward Todd and Richard Gerentine’s leadership, has recently taken a more circumspect view, and continued GOP leadership there appears less than entirely probable. Finally, future control of Shandaken’s town board under supervisor Bob Cross, Jr. and his pro-Gitter majority seems hard to predict. Leadership changes at any of those governmental levels could precipitate an end to, or a significant downscaling of the project.
“We are not going away,” Gitter concluded. “This project will not succumb. This project will be approved and we will build it.”
Decisions from Judge Wissler as to which issues will go forward into the next, adjudicatory hearings phase of the project’s review are expected in the coming months.
At the end of the day-long get together, Lucas, who sat quietly on the sidelines of the pow wow wearing a work jacket and baseball cap, found out that while that may have been the case in previous years, this year he was wrong.
Claiming the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has been making decisions that harm the Catskills - beginning with its objections to Dean Gitter’s proposed Belleayre Resort voiced last Spring - the Coalition of Watershed Towns has convinced the State Department of Environmental Conservation to step into the fray.
On Friday, December 10th, the annual meeting of the Watershed Partnership and Protection Council was held in Hunter, where dozens of officials from several involved agencies got together for what promised to be a refresher course on the happenings with the unique watershed partnership forged in 1997.
The Watershed Protection and Partnership Council was created by the historic New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement, signed on January 21st, 1997, to provide a regional forum to aid in the long-term protection of New York City’s drinking water, and the economic vitality of the upstate watershed communities. This landmark agreement was an attempt to forge a new partnership to protect New York City's Watershed and ensure the economic vitality of the Watershed communities.
But the feeling of partnership was scarce on Friday when Coalition Attorney Jeffrey Baker made an appeal to Erin Crotty, the Commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Ignoring the feel-good vibe that was in the room for the rest of the session, Baker accused City officials of dragging their feet on allowing full recreational use of the thousands of acres, to the detriment of the region, while enjoying the land acquisition rights the City was granted in exchange.
Baker also complained that the City is in the process of drafting revisions to other regulations that would govern land use throughout the region, and that as written they give the City “unfettered discretion” in matters that will kill many small development projects before they even begin.
City Officials fought back, with acting Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner David Tweedie stating that his agency has acted within its legal rights. He then added that “the body language in the room” indicated that the agency might not have communicated very well with upstate about things.
After Tweedie said his staff would take another look at the recreational use issue, Baker said that Tweedie’s agency, left to its own devices, has spent 8 years looking things over with little progress and that enough was enough.
“We are not interested in bilateral discussions with the city,” Baker said.
Furthermore, Baker said the Coalition’s review of the draft regulations indicates that the DEP would require mammoth engineering costs for small development projects that create minimal environmental disturbance. The result, he said, is that a $25,000 expense on a small sub-division, before the applicant even knows if the project would be approved, is enough to keep many projects from even getting on the drawing board.
Following their bosses’ lead, Department of Environmental Protection officials defended the agency’s actions. Attorney Sandy Jackson said her office has met all legal requirements when it comes to opening up City-owned lands for recreation. Deputy Commissioner Mike Principe stood by the draft regulations, saying he was aware of the Coalition’s objections but that “there are things in those regs that are very important to us.”
In the end, Crotty established a list of stakeholders within the room with the intention to assemble the group and discuss the issues. The meeting, she said, will take place after she has “an offline discussion” with Tweedie, who has been acting Commissioner for only the past few weeks, following the resignation of former Commissioner Christopher Ward.
With that, Crotty announced it was time for a lunch break. By then it was almost 2 pm. Several officials, including Tweedie, took that as an opportunity to hop into their SUVs and rumble away.
The troubles between the City and Coalition re-started when the Voalition came out against the DEP for raising objection’s to the Belleayre Resort project last Spring.
Meetings were set up at the time by Baker and his former attorney-partner, Dan Ruzow, who is now working for Gitter’s project.
More recently, Baker and some of his associates have provided testimony on behalf of the Belleayre resort project before a state DEC judge hearing cases for and against which issues should be adjudicated as part of the large project’s compex SEQRA review.
No mention was made of Gitter’s project at the meeting last week.
Ulster County’s representative at the meeting, former legislator and current county Chamber of Commerce director Ward Todd, made no comment at the meeting.
Todd is considered by many to be a close supporter, and friend, of Gitter, the developer.
According to District Superintendent Justine Winters, the decision to set and release such a schedule before this year’s closing is part-and-parcel with recent decisions to do everything possible to increase communication regarding all district matters, the better to avoid a repeat of last year’s vote against the board’s proposed budget.
Onteora is currently operating under a restrictive contingency budget based on 2003-2004 figures.
“We started meeting this week with all our faculty members at the various schools,” Winters said on Monday, December 12. “We want to involve everyone in this process as best we can.”
She noted how a number of recent meetings addressing issues raised by the public at meetings, including Special Education, the INDIE Program, and sports, have not been attended by those who originally raised such issues. Winters added that she’s hoping better scheduling, and communication of such scheduling, may overcome such instances in the future.
According to the just-released Budget Presentation Calendar, Transportation and Cafeteria departments will give a presentation on their budget needs at a January 11 meeting at the Bennett School. Technology and Capital Projects, including long-term debt, will be the subject of a January 25 meeting at the Phoenicia School.
On February 1, Athletics and Extra-Curricular school activities, as well as budget requests from the district’s Building and Grounds Department, will be the focus of the district’s regular meeting at the Middle-Senior High School. Instruction will then be the focus of a February 15 meeting at the Woodstock School, with Pupil Personnel Services and BOCES presented at a March 8 meeting at the Middle-Senior High School.
The Superintendent’s Budget recommendations for the 2004-2005 school year will be presented at the district’s regular meeting, again at the Middle Senior High School, on March 15, along with an Open Public Discussion of those recommendations.
Further discussion of the Superintendent’s recommendations will be the focus of a meeting scheduled, again for the Middle-Senior High School, on April 19… when the Board of Education is also scheduled to adopt its own budget proposal for the coming year.
Further discussion of the budget will come up, according to the new calendar, on Wednesday, April 27, as well as on May 3, both meetings set for the Middle-Senior High School.
The district-wide budget vote and election of new trustees is set to take place in all three of the Onteora District’s elementary schools from 2 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, with a special meeting to accept votes cast set for 9:30 p.m. at the Middle-Senior High School.
Unless noted, all meetings take place on Tuesdays and start at 7 p.m.
The next meeting of the district’s new Communications Committee, initiated to help avoid a budget defeat next Spring, has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 4, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. in the MS/HS Cafeteria.
At the same time, Tom Rosato announced on December 8 that he was resigning from the Onteora school board in order to care for his ailing parents. The board asks any member of the public interested in taking his place for the rest of the school year to submit a letter of intent and, possibly, a resume by January 10.
The candidate chosen will serve until the end of June and may run to fill out the remaining two years of Rosato’s term at the school board election in May. Three other seats will be up for election in May — those held by board president Marino D’Orazio, Neil Eisenberg, and Kathy Hochman.
“It’s going to be very interesting,” D’Orazio commented. “When four seats are up on a seven-member board, there’s a chance the whole makeup of the board could change.”
This year’s defeat of long-time board member Meg Carey and the rejection of two budget proposals were attributed to widespread dissatisfaction with the board’s decisions to close the West Hurley Elementary School and to invoke the large parcel legislation, which raised the taxes of Olive residents by fifty percent or more.
Rosato served for four years on the school board and was reelected this May. He served a partial term several years ago, resigning in protest over the controversial Indian mascot issue. Employed as supervisor of buildings and grounds at Ulster County BOCES, he made use of his professional experience to form and chair a Facilities Committee that oversees the maintenance of Onteora’s infrastructure, as well as any construction projects the district undertakes. He has also been a part of the recently created committee on the future of the district.
D’Orazio acknowledged that Rosato’s resignation comes at a difficult time. “We have a lot of very big issues that are going to be happening again this year, like the large parcel bill. I hope we don’t get into a situation where everyone is worried about one issue. There are so many other things we need to worry about. The Future of the District Committee is going to be making recommendations to the board about long-term goals, such as how many elementary schools we should have. There’s a feeling we should have a separate and distinct middle school with three grades.”
Rosato said the committee is also considering the district’s technology needs. “The facilities need a lot of work. We’re behind the times with technology. We’re looking at what the community needs and can afford. In the last four and a half years, I’ve accomplished quite a bit, and I’m leaving at a time when I would’ve liked to accomplish more.”
Despite the challenges, D’Orazio expressed optimism about the future, praising Justine Winters, who took over as superintendent of schools this summer. “We have a really good superintendent with a new team, a new assistant superintendent and a new business administrator, Victoria Garone, from Webatuck, Justine’s old district. She’s very good so far and extremely qualified. Everyone seems happy and excited with the new superintendent. She’s very positive but not afraid to tell it like it is. The board doesn’t run the district on a day-to-day basis. That’s the superintendent’s job.”
Any applicant for the seat on the board must be a qualified voter of the Onteora school district and a full-time, continuous resident of the district for the past year. The deadline for application is January 10, 2005. Send a letter of intent and, if possible, a resume to: Jeanne Shultis, District Clerk, Onteora Central School District, PO Box 300, Boiceville NY 12412 or jshultis@onteora.k12.ny.us
The County Hit’s InLegislators were able to whittle down a 24 percent tax increase in the tentative budget to about 11 percent by maintaining cuts to contract agencies and imposing a tax on hotel and motel rooms (although an increased tax on mortgages was not enacted).
To the chagrin of minority Democrats, though, management salaries and the so-called ‘flex’ plan for county managers, which provides enhanced benefits not available to rank and file workers, including a year-end payout that could amount to $2,500, if left alone. Democrats claimed that elimination of the payout alone could have saved $300,000.
And for the town of Olive, the combined budget hikes and recent instating of “large parcel” legislation by the legislature will mean an average 91 percent tax hike for the coming year.
“We didn’t cut any jobs in this budget,” said county legislative chairman Richard Gerentine, in casting his positive vote at the tail end of the marathon meeting. He praised the work of the county administrator’s office during the two-month budget deliberations, noting that originally county administrator Art Smith had faced spending requests that would have raised property taxes by 40 percent, a figure Smith had reduced before legislators began working earnestly on the spending plan in late October.
“The process was very tough, very trying but I think we made great progress going from 40 percent down to 24 percent and now less than 12 percent,” added Gerentine. He said the legislature had tried to maintain as many services as possible and had removed the home heating energy tax, which amounted to about half a million dollars, a figure roughly equivalent to one cent per dollar of the county property tax.
Democrats saw it differently. “I am definitely not supporting this, because we have not done a good job of going back and looking at the fundamentals of this budget,” said legislator Peter Kraft. “I think it’s important we get a grip on the fact that our budget problems are long-term. Rather than address the problem, we are using short-term fixes.”
Two Democrats, Jeanette Provenzano of Kingston and Joan Feldmann of Saugerties, joined with all 17 Republicans to create the final 19-14 margin in favor of the plan.
The meeting featured about 90 minutes of public comment, with several speakers protesting the $7,500 in taxpayer money going to the Federated Sportsmen program to enhance pheasant hunting by raising and releasing birds to be shot by hunters. That money ultimately remained in the budget. Other speakers criticized legislators for raising taxes or urged full funding for cooperative extension programs. No speaker praised the legislature.
Earlier in the process, Democratic legislators had offered an array of spending cuts, including a generously publicized across-the-board cut of 3.5 percent in each department, starting with freezing management salaries at 2004 levels and to be achieved by not filling vacancies. The minority members said that would have reduced the tax-levy increase nearly to zero. Department managers filed spending plans based on a 3.5 percent cut without sacrificing management raises in the cuts.
Still, Democrats charge that budget fat remains in numerous patronage positions as well as buried in budget lines with labels such as “miscellaneous contractual expenses.” They particularly targeted the flex plan, which pays not only medical expenses for managers, but can also reimburse such costs as divorce proceedings, traffic tickets and expenses related to filing personal bankruptcy claims, plus year-end bonuses ranging up to $2,500. But Republicans refused to consider any changes to the flex plan.
Mike Stock of Woodstock, the Republican majority leader, said that the legislators should not consider changes in the flex plan during budget deliberations. He said he pledged to look at the flex plan at the beginning of the year, not at budget time. “The point is we came in with a package that we think could pass the budget,” he said.
Stock said that Republicans opted to impose a hotel-motel tax instead of the mortgage-tax hike that Gerentine had initially endorsed, because Stock said, it was easier to calculate the financial outcome of a tax on lodging, and because he believed that the long boom in refinancing mortgages would end with rising interest rates. He said it was easier and more lucrative to tax lodging than tax mortgages. He said officials estimated that a hotel-motel room tax would garner about $2.4 million in 2005.
That figure may face scrutiny. Though the legislature authorized a two percent tax to begin in January on each hotel room, it wants to switch to a flat $5-per-room tax beginning in July. There is some question as to whether state legislative action would be required for the switch.
Stock received support from Democrat Joan Feldmann, a real-estate broker who said she could not have supported a tax on mortgages because she feared it would financially harm first-time homebuyers. She said she voted to support the budget because the tentative budget would be adopted if the vote went against the proposal put forth on December 13. “However, there’s no way I can give this county a 24 percent tax increase, so I vote yes,” said Feldmann.
Provenzano said that Democratic efforts at budget reductions could have accounted for all the savings necessary to enact a budget without additional taxes. But if taxes were going to be enacted, “A hotel-motel tax is the way to go because that is going to be our future.”
Other Democrats were far more skeptical. “We’re still miles and miles apart,” said legislator Hector Rodriguez. “The reality is there still is a lot more that could have been cut.”
Ways and means committee chairwoman Sue Cummings said that Democrats should be willing to unite behind a budget that was a compromise, saying she herself had agreed to cuts in programs at contract agencies such as the Ulster County Development Corporation and Cornell Cooperative Extension. She said that “it’s not a Republican budget, it’s not a Democrat’s budget, it’s a vote for all of us.” Added Cummings, “Part of the problem from the beginning was [Democratic legislators] wanted to attack and go after the [county] management.”
But political comments in the heat of the moment are often forgiven. At the end of the lengthy meeting Donaldson, the Democratic minority leader, stood up to publicly compliment Cummings on the skill with which she had chaired recent contentious meetings of the ways and means committee, a statement applauded by other Democratic legislators.
Opponents of the spending plan charged that the 2005 adopted budget was arrived at without addressing many structural budget concerns, a point tacitly conceded by the Republican majority leadership, who promised to start work on the 2006 budget as early as January. While only one seat separates the majority from the minority and all 33 seats of the county legislature are up for grabs next November, predictions from both sides of the aisle are that the 2006 fiscal year looks even more problematic than 2005’s.