Follow Up on the News
Once word reached Dean Gitter, the mastermind behind the proposed Belleayre Resort at Castkill Park, he immediately asked to address the Democratic caucus in hopes of convincing the majority party to hold off. Gitter was expected to address the Democrats on February 1st.
Last October Gitter said Hinchey’s proposal, called “a lower build alternative”, was not economically feasible.
Gitter spokesman Paul Rakov said Monday, “…We are open to compromise and welcome the opportunity to discuss options with the various parties involved. We believe it is premature for the County Legislature to adopt any resolution regarding the proposed resort until new members of the legislative body are able to get up to speed on its history. At that point, we would gladly present our plan and discuss alternatives that are economically feasible while also addressing the concerns the legislature might have. “
Hinchey’s proposal calls for only one golf course instead of the two planned, and no development on the eastern side of Belleayre Mountain Ski Center. The Hinchey proposal would, in addition, allow for what he calls environmentally sound development on a portion of the smaller, 718 acre western parcel owned by the developer. A portion of that parcel lies over the border in Delaware County.
It was only two weeks ago when legislator Brian Shapiro (D-Woodstock), who represents Shandaken, made a presentation to his fellow Democrats about Hinchey’s plan, which also received support from Shandaken Democrats and the influential Catskill Preservation Coalition. Shapiro said Monday that the Legislature’s Environmental Committee, which he chairs, has already unanimously supported the resolution too.
Shapiro held his ground Monday, saying that he personally is ready to move on the resolution. He said that the project, which was unveiled in 1999, has been under review by the legislature for several years. He also notes that the resolution is not about Gitter's plan, but only about an alternative plan, which Shapiro said the review process requires but Gitter has not supplied.
As for Gitter’s request to hold off on a vote Shapiro said “It’s delaying this without purpose.”
But Gitter is not the only one fighting the Democrats. Ulster County Chamber of Commerce Chairman Kenneth Beesmer also asked the Democrats to hold off. In a letter hand delivered by Chamber President Ward Todd, Beesmer suggested that passing the resolution would be “a terrible way to begin your tenure.”
Shandaken Supervisor Robert Cross Jr., a Republican, also made an appeal to Shapiro to reconsider, although it remains unclear whether he was speaking for himself or for the entire town, as this issue has not come before the town board.
Last Friday Cross went to Kingston and complained to Shapiro and the environmental committee that there’s a relatively small amount of buildable land left in town, roughly 3300 acres, and Hinchey’s plan calls for taking several hundred acres out of the equation. “Who’s interest do you have at heart?” Cross wondered. ”Not the town of Shandaken’s.”
Cross would rather see, at least, some homes on that property if the resort isn’t built because, he said, the town needs to add to its tax base as much as possible.
As for Cross’s concerns, Shapiro has a different recollection of what Cross was concerned with. He said the Shandaken Supervisor, at least when he talked to the environmental committee, was concerned with the State using the power of eminent domain to force Gitter to sell the land.
“I took his concerns and incorporated them into the resolution,” Shapiro said. A draft of the resolution reads that Hinchey’s lower build alternative would “transfer the entire environmentally sensitive eastern parcel of the development site to the State for incorporation into the Catskill Forest Preserve without use or consideration of eminent domain proceedings…”
The resolution also calls for a slew of officials and agencies to be notified of the Legislatures decision, including The Governor, several members of the State Legislature, and the Commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Conservation, whose department now has the resort project under review.
The Democrats plan to vote on the resolution at the February 8th meeting of the entire legislature.
An Administrative Law Judge with the State Department of Environmental Conservation recently declared that the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park requires further scrutiny. The ruling, now under appeal, pertains to Crossroads Ventures, LLC, request for permits to construct and operate a proposed development to be located in the Town of Shandaken in Ulster County, and the Town of Middletown in Delaware County.
The project includes a total of 400 hotel rooms, 351 additional hotel and housing units, a 21-lot single-family residential subdivision and two 18-hole golf courses. It would be developed within 1,960 acres, with a total of 573 acres disturbed and the remainder left undisturbed.
The project is undergoing a lengthy review process that is expected to go on for years unless plans are revised.
When he announced his alternative in October Hinchey said “This proposal envisions a lower-build alternative, which will help ensure that the region's critical resources will be protected. It also significantly reduces the impact of this development on Catskills residents who live in the vicinity of the proposed project.”
Meanwhile in the resort's ongoing SEQRA review, the Catskill Preservation Coalition has filed a 141-page reply brief, answering Crossroads' recent appeal to DEC to overturn its own administrative law judge's rulings compelling the adjudication of 12 or 16 issues for the project.
CPC's January 17 filing argues that Crossroads "unfairly and inappropriately denigrates the ALJ's Issues Rulings and completely disregards the "substantial deference" due an ALJ's decision regarding factual, scientific, and technical matters and the serious deficiencies in the DEIS and permit applications exposed during the Issues Conference."
"The rule of law," said CPC attorney Marc Gerstman, formerly DEC's own lead counsel, "is that the Commissioner must defer to the factual findings and technical conclusions of the ALJ. There's an old saying that if you have the facts, argue the facts. If you have the law, argue the law. If you have neither, pound on the table. That's what their last filing was, trying to take the judge to task for doing his job extremely well."
The Coalition Takes Sides
Coalition Attorney Jeff Baker reviewed the group’s mission statement and said that in his opinion large parcel is something that does not fall within the statements parameters.
Taking a position one way or another on large parcel, Baker said, “Is not within the scope of what the Coalition was set up to do.”
But LaMonda fought back. “I totally disagree,” he said, and launched into a tirade against large parcel. Committee Chair Pat Meehan had to remind LaMonda that the issue was whether the Coalition should involve itself in matters beyond that are related to the watershed deal and/or the New York City DEP.
The Committee didn’t decide anything Monday other than to agree they would consider it, but it was clear that all involved, except Cross, are ready to send that message to Albany, despite fact based warnings from Cross and Woodstock Town Supervisor Jeremy Wilber.
Both say the law as it stands now evens out the school taxes in districts like Onteora, where several towns are. Olive, they say, has been under taxed for decades thanks to the City of New York paying taxes for its Ashokan reservoir, valued at $340 million, to the town instead of directly to the school district, which is what the law would require.
Frank Bachler, Supervisor of the Delaware County Town of Meredith, led the way for the rest of the committee, saying he was appalled that some towns like Shandaken and Woodstock in Ulster County would even consider doing something to another town that would cause taxes to jump by over 50%.
“Delaware County would never do it…. I just think its wrong,” he said.
Bachler said the way he reads the Coalitions mission statement the Coalition can get involved with any watershed issues it wants to.
This one he said is “Very divisive,” and needs the Coalitions attention. All but Cross agreed, again claiming that Olive has had a tax break for many years.
Middletown Supervisor Len Utter said Olive’s not to blame for that good fortune.
“It’s the luck of the draw,” he said. “A house in (the Delaware county town of) Colchester pays about a third of what my house (in the Delaware County Town of Middletown) pays in taxes. I don’t hold that against them.”
The decision, however, may bring repercussions. Committee Chair Patrick Meehan said that the new interpretation of the Coalitions mission might open the floodgates for all sorts of special interest groups or individual municipalities to seek the Coalitions support for a variety of causes.
Until Monday the Coalition was seen exclusively as an advocate of the watershed region, created solely to battle its arch nemesis, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. That Department holds considerable power in the region and has the authority to impose regulations.
In fact it was just such a circumstance in the early 1990’s, when the Department announced plans to severely regulate land use in the region, that the Coalition was formed. Then the Coalition was the voice of a unified group of over 50 watershed communities that successfully spoke out against the over regulation. Now, Meehan noted Monday, the Coalition is using its power to help some watershed communities at the expense of others.
“It’s a Pandora’s box,” Meehan warned.
Cross predicted that as a result of Monday’s decision the Coalition could now expect Shandaken residents to come before the committee and ask it to get involved in all sorts of issues.
“You can deal with it if you want, but I’m telling you they’re gonna be here,” Cross warned.
In response Meehan said, “Well, I guess these meetings are going to get more entertaining than have been in the past.”
Evidence of turmoil to come was seen immediately after the meeting when Bachler was embroiled in an argument with Wilber over the large parcel issue.
While City officials say they welcome the Corps input, they don’t expect to close the Shandaken tunnel until they want to. Shandaken officials complain the tunnel is shooting water into the Esopus full blast and fear it will cause flooding when combined with the natural forces that have been hitting the region with more and more regularity
The DEC conducts mandatory inspections of these high hazard dams every two years and in between such inspections, The City’s Department of Environmental Protection conducts periodic inspections of the dams.
Hinchey has been getting lots of calls from watershed dwellers lately. They wonder, he said, if their property is safe after hearing recent news that at least one New York City owned dam in the Catskills is in bad shape, and others may not have been inspected properly.
Hinchey wonders too, and while he said his confidence in New York City’s ability to take care of these problems and prevent others isn’t completely shaken, he thinks they could use the expertise of the Army Corps of Engineers as they take on the task.
While lauding recent steps taken on the State level to hold inspections annually instead of every other year, Hinchey said he was alarmed by recent reports that City officials allegedly fudged routine dam inspection reports. Regardless, Hinchey says the Army Corps would be invaluable asset.
"With the support and expertise of the Corps, it is my hope that the NYSDEC can increase the frequency and scope of dam inspections within the watershed, provide greater scrutiny of (New York City’s) inspection process and allay the fears of watershed residents," Hinchey wrote in a letter to Lt. General Carl A. Strock, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in Washington, DC. "Initial discussions with NYSDEC indicate a willingness to partner with the Corps on this matter.”
Apparently, the Corps New York District office is not permitted to get involved without permission from its Washington headquarters.
They have been involved however in related matters as recently as last fall, when they were invited to work with the City’s Department of Environmental Protection on repair plans for the damaged Gilboa dam in Schoharie County.
“Yes, the Army Corps was involved with the Gilboa Dam situation. They took part in a workshop on the subject and reviewed the City's plans for stabilizing the dam,” said Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection. “The Corps will also be involved in another Gilboa workshop in February about the anchoring cables that are going to be installed.”
Hinchey has also gotten Congressional approval for a complete study of the watershed. He is working to get the funding for such a study, which he says is the first step toward ensuring the long-term integrity of the dams and prevent future flooding.
He said that so far New York City has only been concerned with supplying drinking water to downstaters. Now is the time, he added, for the City to prioritize flood prevention as well. Hinchey believes that within the next decade the entire water supply system should re-engineered with flood prevention issues in mind.
In a January 9th letter to Hinchey, the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection said her agency is ready to work with any Federal level agencies on the problem.
Commissioner Emily Lloyd wrote that she appreciates the offer to help to minimize the impact of work at the Schoharie reservoir on communities along the Esopus.
“DEP looks forward to working cooperatively with any federal agencies that you identify which might have expertise or assistance to provide,” said Lloyd.
However, Lloyd also says they won’t shut the tunnel anytime soon. She said the need to reduce water levels in the Schoharie is critical so it would be imprudent to limit flows through the tunnel while there is a heightened risk of failure at the Gilboa dam.
The dam is supposed to be stabilized this spring, and Micheals has said that once that’s accomplished the tunnel issue can be reconsidered. In an attempt to reduce concerns about possible flooding related to the tunnel, Lloyd disagreed with the many residents along the Esopus that blame her agency for flooding and claims that the wide open tunnel only adds three and one half inches to the Esopus just as it’s about spill its banks. That, however, is in Boiceville where the nearest flood gauge is. Lloyd admits the levels upstream from the gauge are “clearly more pronounced,” a remark that made Shandaken Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. chuckle.
Cross said Monday that any claim that the tunnel doesn’t significantly contribute to flooding is preposterous. Cross, whose office is a quarter mile upstream from the tunnels outlet, said the Esopus is at the highest level he’s ever seen at this time of year. His own estimate is that the tunnels discharge is adding up to two feet to the elevation of the Creek in town.
“We are more vulnerable to flooding than we’ve ever been before,” he said.
As far as the Army Corp. is concerned, one major trouble spot on the Esopus is above the tunnel where the Creek threatens to take out Town Hall and Route 28. Its such a concern that it might be one flood prevention project thing will happen sooner than later.
Hinchey said a plan of the Army Corp. is underway to stabilize the Esopus Creek just upstream from Shandaken Town Hall.
The trouble spot is on a sharp bend in the powerful creek.
A severe storm in early April 2005, coupled with the effects of the spring thaw and heavy rains days earlier resulted in a hundred year flood event throughout the Watershed and most of Ulster County. Damage to property caused by the storm, said to be worst in decades, was in the tens of millions of dollars. Since that event, the bank of the Esopus has been rebuilt behind town hall with earthen fill and rock, but whether it can withstand another major flood remains unclear.
Shortly after the April flood Hinchey toured the flood-damaged areas and then called for a federal, emergency declaration, which subsequently was given. At Hinchey's request, the Army Corps of Engineers at the time inspected several sites throughout Ulster County to determine an appropriate course of action that they could follow and reported back with a proposal that would involve a restoration project in Shandaken where the Esopus Creek is threatening the town hall and route 28.
This project may dovetail with other Army Corp efforts. In 2004 the New York City Department of Environmental Protection performed the first phase of an assessment of the Esopus Creek. That information is now in use as a foundation for further investigation to evaluate the conditions of the streams overall health, identify areas of concern and propose recommendations to address those concerns.
According to Jeremy Megliaro of Cornell Cooperative Extension, which is working with the City on the Esopus Creek assessment, it is actually Dr. Craig Fischenich of the Army Corps. Research and Development Centers Environmental Laboratory that’s overseeing the assessment. That assessment will be completed in the fall, Megliaro said Friday.
“It’s a priority site for the town,” Megliaro said. “The town has been in contact with the Congressman’s office about it.”
While the City works primarily from a position of providing pure drinking water for downstate consumption, Hinchey said last week that City officials should begin weighing flood prevention measure with equal importance.
Hinchey will be pursuing funds this year for the project. An estimate was not immediately available.
The start to the evening was not especially promising, as we packed into the cocktail lounge of the upper lodge, scanning the crowd for locals we might know. Shandaken supervisor Bob Cross was there, along with recently elected town board member Rob Stanley, state senator John Bonacic, and congressman Maurice Hinchey. (Developer Dean Gitter was conspicuously absent this year.) Sparrow accosted Hinchey and peppered him with questions about the war, Hillary, and George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, Violet learned that the majority of the attendees were non-locals who came up regularly from New Jersey, Westchester, New York City, Long Island, often with their families, to ski the slopes of the state-owned mountain. She personally had memories of driving up from Poughkeepsie as a teenager to ski at Belleayre with a friend and her family, whose passion for the sport was infectious.
Sparrow: The women’s gowns were surprising, complex. One resembled a black corkscrew, another a bright red Christmas present, with a ribbon. There were lots of glittering chartreuse rhinestones. Clearly contemporary Republican fashion is much more influenced by the 1916 French Dadaist avant-garde than I expected. The men, of course, have less variation than the females. Nonetheless, I observed a tartan tuxedo tie, and a bunch of Navajo silver around one fellow’s neck. It’s surprising how many men in tuxedos resemble Mafiosi.
After an hour of squeezing between bodies—often letting the caterers lead the way with their trays of circulating canapés—we allowed ourselves to be herded into the dining room, where the band, Special Delivery, started off with a series of slow numbers, and people immediately started sedately to dance. We joined them, pretending, like many of the others, that we know how to dance in a couple, even though we grew up jiggling to music that required no body contact. After fifteen minutes or so, the music speeded up, and we separated to wriggle and fling our arms around like we were born to do, and from then on the music began to rock as the dance floor grew more and more packed.
Mel Litoff, head of the Belleayre Music Festival that brings world-class performers to the slopes every summer, said the leaders of the seven-member band, a keyboard player and a shimmering female vocalist, were his son and daughter-in-law.
The saxophone solo on “My Girl” was actually better than on the original. (I swear!) Though Special Delivery paid more fealty to Billy Joel than I would prefer, they had also deeply studied The Four Tops. Their sneering, shaved-head drummer was understated and excellent.
As the ranks of caterers ferried in the food, the band stopped, and we all sat down for the speeches and presentations. Carol Shiner, organizer of the event, described the origins of Friends of Belleayre, which formed when then-governor Mario Cuomo was considering closing the ski area in the 1980’s. (There were boos from the crowd, but when Hinchey, a Democrat, spoke later, he said Cuomo had mulled closing or privatizing the slopes due to a budget crisis.) Joe Kelly, a weekend skier, came to the rescue by collecting thousands of signatures in a two-week period, in favor of saving Belleayre, and organized the Friends to support the effort. The first Snow Ball, a celebration of the group’s success, was attended by 65 people. (This year’s event drew 200 or more.)
After mercifully short speeches by Kelly, Bonacic, and Hinchey, Ward Todd was presented with an award for his efforts on behalf of the ski area over the years in his various roles as county legislator, county Chamber of Commerce head, and native son. Then a fast-paced Power Point presentation displayed photos of Todd from childhood on, along with lists of his accomplishments, to a musical accompaniment.
The “PowerPoint presentation” has replaced the after-dinner speech. Probably the most surreal moment was dozens of people screaming “Ward Todd!” to the brilliant disco song “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang. (Thus, the line became “Celebrate good times — Ward Todd!”)
Todd stood with Belleayre general manager Tony Lanza, watching the show with a stunned and bemused look on his face. At the end, his brief speech included a description of Belleayre as “the best ski area in the world!”
At an affair of this kind, you notice the deficiencies: the stone dance floor, the plastic chairs. When one of my small red grapes was slightly bruised, I was momentarily appalled. The food was delightful. The salad had hints of walnut and apple, and a spritely glob of dressing. I asked for an entree with no cheese and no mushrooms, and received slightly braised tofu with vegetable confit. Who knew that tofu had infiltrated the Ward Todd-lovers?
By the time the next round of dancing took off, many of the dancers were a bit tipsy, careening merrily around the floor, and the slow numbers were few. The band did a medley of Wilson Pickett hits in memory of the musician, who passed away January 19, leading into Lanza’s annual belting out of Pickett’s “Mustang Sally”. A group of women in front screamed, “Ride, Sally, ride” into the mic on each chorus.
At this point, the Republicans have it all — they can swing-dance to “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, and also wildly rock to “Twist and Shout.” They’re probably having more fun than Democrats! One leaves such an event worrying about the Trophy Wives. Are they really happy? Do they have secret youthful boyfriends? Call me a conservative, but I think the world was better when no one married their mistress.
When we left at 11:15, the party was still going strong, and we were glad we hadn’t missed it.