Follow Up on the News

The River Runs Red
As of press time, it was unclear to verify ownership of the clay bank except to note that part of it seems to be on City lands, and the other on a large, recently transferred  property.
A couple weeks ago a strong thunderstorm swelled the Birch Creek, washing out bridges and causing clay to be exposed over a long area of the creek behind the Pine Hill Waste treatment plant and sections immediately downstream. While this might be a water quality issue, it is the local business community, just gearing up for it‚s summer season of tubing, fishing, and swimming that is shouting the loudest.
„On the evening of May 13, 2004 a storm dumped between three or four inches of rain on the site of the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park,‰ wrote Trout Unlimited in its May newsletter. „This event lasted a little over an hour and was devastating. The results are not pretty; a tremendous head cut has opened at the site of the NY City water treatment plant.‰
Leslie Malley, the owner Big Indian‚s Weyside Inn, whose picturesque lake has long been a main attraction to visitors, has blamed the changed quality of Esopus Creek water with having turned their resource lake into a mud pit. Malley, a member of the Belleayre Region Lodging and Tourism Association, added that the mud is dealing a huge blow to all aspects of the local tourist industry.
„As long as this recurring situation is allowed to continue, there
can be no fishing, swimming, tubing or drinking water for that matter,‰ she said. „If visitors can‚t pursue these recreations, why bother coming here? That will lead to no lodging stays, no dining, no need for services, etc.‰
Bob Linge, a spokesman for the Tourism Association, agreed.
„This will be a blow to the area economy,‰ he said.
„What has presented itself, with the recent damage from thunderstorm rainfalls in Pine Hill, is a prime example of what is a natural occurrence,‰ said Harry Jameson III, owner of Phoenicia-based Town Tinker Tube Rentals, one of the leading tourist businesses utilizing the creek. „High flows have damaged a stream bank and glacial clay has been exposed which is eroding and causing the heavy turbidity load present in the Esopus downstream waters. How is it going to effect the tubing business? Well first, let me say time heals all wounds and as the water levels tend to subside the turbidity will naturally decrease until we have another heavy rain. So the Esopus will slowly get better as the season continues. Tubing, which I turned into an industry, requires water, the more the better; but a little bit of turbidity has never been a problem before and after twenty five years of dealing with people‚s perspective, I‚m sure it will not make a difference now.‰
Malley said that she thinks the New York City Department of Environmental Protection should be concerned as well. Muddy water, also known as turbidity, is more difficult to disinfect than clear water.
„What about the quality of the City‚s drinking water?‰ Malley wondered. „ Isn‚t that supposed to be DEP‚s main concern?‰
Shandaken Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. thinks so. Cross has toured the site where the clay is exposed, and says he has discussed the matter „in detail‰ with several DEP scientists and officials. While there are other stream issues the DEP has been working on, Cross said he has asked that the Birch Creek problem move to the front of the line and get repaired as quickly as possible.
But Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the Department, said Friday that he is well aware of the Birch Creek problem, but according to the department the turbidity is not effecting drinking water quality.
„It‚s not making it down to the Ashokan reservoir and we‚re not sure it ever will,‰ Michaels said.
As for Cross‚s idea of making the repair of Birch Creek top priority, Michaels said that would not happen. „DEP‚s scope is bigger than Cross‚s scope-but in Cross‚s region it has become our priority.‰
Michaels said a repair plan needs to be prepared before anyone applies for the necessary permits to do the work and the application process itself takes 45 days after submission to the State Department of Environmental Conservation.
But repairs can also take years. Another erosion problem existed on the banks of the Esopus near Phoenicia for several years until a $500,000 project cured it last year.
Also, Trout Unlimited filed a lawsuit last year against the DEP because Trout fishermen disliked how the discharge from the Schoharie reservoir muddied the Esopus went it came out of the Shandaken Tunnel, known locally as the portal. Fly fishing guides complained that the muddy color of the creek prevents them from using it for their business.
The mud from the banks of the Birch Creek appear well upstream of the portal, an ironic twist of nature given the fact that DEP was fined $5.7 million as a result of the TroutUunlimited litigation. That decision is currently being appealed.
„At the end of that two-year period, after all the options have been studied, the DEP will make a recommendation on a preferred course of action for modifying or managing the reservoir and the tunnel. The DEP has not made a commitment at this time to any particular project at Schoharie,‰ Michaels said.
„As much as TU would like to establish ultimate control over the Esopus by litigating with the DEC and DEP for rationing of water transfers, it‚s very evident that Mother Nature rules,‰ noted Jameson. „Only 25 percent of the entire tubidity load comes from the portal and that has been scientifically proven for the past 6 years. 50 percent comes from the Esopus streambed itself and the remaining 25 percent comes from the Stony Clove. Ultimately, the damage in Pine Hill must be repaired to correct the problem and in doing so reduce the turbidity by stopping any further erosion.‰
            „Some might think this was initiated by the construction of the plant on the flood plain, or not adhering to what is assumed to be best practices during construction of the plant,‰ continued the Trout Unlimited report on the red river. „Two points are to be made here. The Resort at Belleayre will expose acres and acres of land to the ravages of nature, and should not be built on the banks of Birch Creek. Secondly, the City of New York should do all it can NOW to remedy this situation- The Esopus Creek is RED all the way to the Ashokan. The addition of this turbidity to the Esopus Creek has decimated the fishing and tourism, and will continue to do so for the immediate future. The raging floodwaters have no doubt swept away this year‚s class of Rainbow Trout in Birch Creek and the Brown Trout fingerlings in the Esopus Creek.‰
     „I know that Supervisor Bob Cross is working with the DEP and I have been asked to offer my expertise through the process as well, added Jameson. „Once again, the biggest problem aside from getting all of the required permits is going to be the question of where the funding to do the repair will come from..‰

Crossroads Proceedings 

           Last Tuesday, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Adjudicatory Law Judge Richard J. Wissler read into the record a number of exhibits for his later consideration, from the 10 bound volumes of Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) materials that were the subject of the review to petitions from four entities seeking to gain "party status" in the subsequent process and enter issues for consideration to a large box filled with several hundred pages of testimony and letters from the public and a number of concerned agencies, including the federal Environmental Protection Agency, regarding the project.
            He also noted the purposes of the current proceedings: To determine which parties, and issues raised by those parties, could be considered "substantive" and "significant" enough, based on environmental concerns, to warrant inclusion in first Wissler's ,and later DEC Commissioner Erin Crotty's decision regarding the Crossroad's DEIS completion, and whether it might need any mitigation- or downright refusal.
            Wissler added that the current Issues Conference process would likely not end until the end of June, with a decision likely by late summer, at the earliest. Appeals of whatever decision was reached would likely last into the Fall, with the entire adjudiocatory process not ending until "late Fall or Winter." And only then would actual permit processes begin.
            The official time at which all this started, according to Judge Wissler, was 10:14 AM.
            But by then, the battle stances of the various partners involved in what promises to be months of review of Crossroads Ventures' massive double-golf course, double-hotel resort surrounding the state DEC's own Belleayre Mountain Ski Center had already been laid out in an informal press conference in the parking lot outside the fire hall.
            Tom Alworth, Executive Director of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development and organizer of an ad hoc consortium of eleven national, state and local environmental organizations calling itself the Catskill Preservation Coalition, had called the press conference to discuss some of the issues it was hoping to have heard, and included in the coming month's process.
            "The Coalition will be looking at a Forest Preserve issues," Alworth noted, referring to the fact that in addition to being in the New York City watershed, it was also firmly situated in the Catskill Park, one of two large forest preserve tracts, with the Adirondacks, under the direct stewardship of the DEC. "The DEC, as lead agency, is in for some tricky business."
            Alworth noted that as far as the organizations he's working with can tell, the proposed Belleayre Resort could increase traffic to the Catskill Park, which is currently in its centennial year, by ten times.
            Did his Coalition see any possible conflicts of interest on the DEC's part?
            "We'll see if it becomes an issue," he replied. "The jury is still out."
            Gitter's attorney for the process, Dan Ruzow, noted that a supplemental report had been submitted to the DEC in recent weeks answering charges made in some of the submitted comments from the City DEP and other agencies.
            "This is an iterative process," he said, repeating a term used by Gitter in recent interviews. He added that, as far as he could see, the most contentious sessions of the current process were likely to come on June 8 and June 22, when visual impacts and stormwater impacts, respectively, are to be discussed.
            He and Alworth traded statements about the recent decision by the Coalition of Watershed Towns to protest the city's comments, with Ruzow expressing his pleasure at CWT's new involvement, feeling they raised important Home Rule issues around the project review (see accompanying story); and Alworth speaking about the important issue being sustainable development as a key to the Catskills' future, and the fact that he did not see the proposed resort as being sustainable.
            "This is not an Upstate versus Downstate fight," Alworth said. "And unlike some reports I've read, I do not believe this indicates, in any way, the death of the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) between the City and the Catskills. That idea is ludicrous."
            When asked whether the growing brouhaha around the project was helping or hindering the financial commitment of the project's lead backers, Emily Fisher and Richard Fisher, both of whom live at least part-time in New York and pride themselves for their board involvement with a number of key City-based cultural organizations and national environmental organizations, Ruzow said "It's strengthened it. We're in this for the long haul. Our loyal investors believe this vision will work."
            Alworth, too, said the Resort issue has galvanized support for the Catskill Center and other environmental groups involved in it.
            National Resources Defense Council Senior Attorney Eric Goldstein added that the current project was thankfully the exception to the rule of Upstate development patterns, and hence needing greater scrutiny than other projects.
            Later, Alworth said that he was hoping the issue of DEC's own expansion and possible privatization plans for its Belleayre Mt. Ski Center would be allowed into Wissler's decision-making. He added that the agency recently refused to release its plans, after being petitioned under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), saying that they were still in "a draft, interagency form."
            Among lawyers in attendance for the May 25 hearing were counsel for New York City, the state DEC, a number of key environmental groups, and Jeff Baker, representing the Coalition of Watershed Towns and Delaware County, in a last-minute plea for inclusion in the talks that was okayed, for the current process, by Judge Wissler. Filling out the crowd were several representatives of Crossroads, including a PR agent handing out copies of the Coalition of Watershed Towns' recent resolution slamming New York City's comments, representatives of environmental groups, and a plethora of press.
            Of all the four entities seeking party status in the proceedings, as well as of all the entities seeking involvement in the process, only the Town of Shandaken was absent. Wissler noted that he had received an e-mail from Shandaken planning board attorney Drayton Grant saying they would rely on their submitted comments and would be providing no witnesses or testimony.
            A recent story on the underlying reasons for Shandaken's reluctance to be present in the process ran into flack from Shandaken Town Supervisor Bob Cross Jr. and Grant about statements made off-the-record by various sources as to why Shandaken was not backing up its report at the current hearings. The story noted that there had been discrepancies regarding the draft of a commissioned report submitted to the state by hired  environmental consultants, which had been objected to by Crossroads representatives as being too harsh.
            Ruzow, on behalf of Crossroads, said on May 25 that he had no objection to Shandaken not being present in the proceedings, and suggested that instead of being considered a full party to the proceedings, they be relegated to "Amicus" or friend of the court status, since they would have a chance to review the project later via their planning board.
            He then questioned the involvement of two of the Catskill Preservation Coalition's members - the Zen Environmental Studies Institute in Mt. Tremper and the New York Public Interest Resource Group (NYPIRG), as well as the legality of such an ad hoc organization.
            After much testimony from the various members of CPC, by both their attorney, Marc Gerstman, and their attendant representatives, Ruzow dropped his objections.
            After New York City's phalanx of lawyers and scientists gave a long presentation outlining their interest in, and basic concerns with the proposed project, Ruzow again objected- to both the extent of their comments, which Ruzow said he feels the courts need to test, implying Wissler's adjudication as an arena; as well as to the nature of the material they brought up, a series of giant photos showing erosion in other projects in Westchester and Margaretville in particular.
            Ruzow said he and his clients had "serious questions" about the city using the adjudicatory process for watershed planning versus individual project review processes.
            At several points Baker, representing the Coaliton of Watershed Towns, spoke in support of Ruzow, his former law partner.
            During the afternoon session, discussion centered on matters involving wastewater treatment, with DEP Engineer Brenda Drake characterizing hydraulic loading estimates in the Crossroads DEIS as massively incorrect and Ruzow raising the issue of the DEP's denial of use of its Pine Hill treatment facility for the project. There was also discussion of mining issues, involved in the excavation process.
            Addressing the planned visit to the proposed Belleayre Resort site on May 26, Judge Wissler said that he had been asked by Gitter, as owner of the property, to exclude former Shandaken Supervisor Peter Di Modica, a representative of the Pine Hill Water District Coalition, and Judith Wyman, director of the Friends of Catskill Park, from the field trip. Wissler said he'd originally allowed the exclusion, along with exclusion of the press and any and all photographs, because the purpose of the site visit was for him to be acquainted with what was being discussed, and nothing more. But then he added that Gitter had dropped his request to exclude Di Modica and Wyman.
            "I'm pleased with the directness and the forthrightness of all these folks," Wissler said at meeting's close on May 25th. "I'm pleased with the progress we're making."

BUT NO PRESS

     HEAVY TRAFFIC

       In a preliminary presentation to Administrative Law Judge Wissler, Ketchum said that baseline traffic data prepared for the developer by Creighton Manning and Associates under-reports existing volume by 40 percent, that it fails to take into account the growth of the Belleayre Ski area or traffic from the proposed 372 time-share units containing 832 bedrooms, and that, among other things, shuttle bus trips between the resort and ski area may be overestimated and parking spaces underestimated.
            Based on data already submitted by Ketchum, his firm projects that the resort's additional traffic volume of approximately 500,000 cars per year will result in one additional death and 37 additional injuries from traffic accidents annually on Route 28. He also posits that the increased volume will reduce the average speed of traffic and increase travel times throughout the 28 corridor but especially as one get closer to Kingston, where annual traffic volume on the road is approximately four times the level at the resort site itself.
            Ketchum also raised a new issue of "externality costs," representing the indirect fiscal impact to the region from the additional traffic loading. Such costs according to Ketchum include things like vibrational damage to structures, traffic accidents and deductibles not covered by insurance, and other normally hidden costs primarily borne by the region's residents. Ketchum's calculations peg such costs of the resort traffic at $27 million per year, although he said DOT's formulas place the cost at about $7 million.
            Asked to comment on the disparity between the two figures at the conclusion of Ketchum's presentation, Chuck Manning, principal of Creighton Manning Associates, Crossroads' traffic consulting firm, would say only "It's a type of analysis I'm not familiar with, so I'd have to look at it.

  Valuation  

        "I don't have the exact figures before me," said Councilman Bruce LaMonda, as acting town supervisor during Supervisor Berndt Leifeld's absence over the holiday weekend. "We had heard through the legal grapevine that ORPS didn't agree with the set numbers but 7 percent would relate to about $3 million on the land portion of it. They didn't give us any increase on the value of the buildings, the new police command center, the dams, the roads, the aqueducts and all of that- just on the eight or ten thousand acres of land that they own."
            Again stressing that the figures may not be accurate but that he felt they were "ballpark," LaMonda said the town was looking for an increase in the upper $200 million to $300 million range. He said the city's own estimate for this year was entered at $115,930,000 against Olive's appraisal of $393 million on a full value assessment of $490,774,640.
            The numbers were dancing about so quickly, it was difficult to do the math before he said "So, we're over $300 million apart." Anyway, miles and miles apart...
            LaMonda said that the town quickly began the appeal process on the apportionment rate through their Latham-based tax law firm, Hacker & Murphy, LLP, upon receipt of the ORPS figures.
            "The town board had agreed, previously, that if ORPS didn't come up with a significant increase that we were going to start the appeal process immediately," LaMonda said, adding that he was not at all surprised by the lowball figure from ORPS. "We thought we were going to get somewhere up around $275, $280 million, maybe even as much as $360 million. It was our understanding that the review board recommended to ORPS that we get a substantial increase but someone named "Snow" intervened- I still haven't been able to find out who he is- and went to the director and said ŒNo, they should only be entitled to around 7 percent of the land value.' And that's what the director went back and told the board."
As he was preparing to chair Tuesday's town board meeting and introduce a resolution for Olive to keep its options open on a possible CWC-sponsored water treatment plant to be constructed in Boiceville, downstream from a proposed large resort, LaMonda summed it up; "Right now, everything is still in Limbo. We're appealing, as we agreed we would as soon as the rate came in- if it wasn't a significant number and we're reviewing the option of an Article 78 if we're not satisfied with the appeal process."
An Article 78 is a lawsuit designed by the New York State legislature to challenge actions and decisions of government agencies before the State Supreme Court and must be petitioned within a 60 day or 120 day time limit following an official action- in this case, an unsatisfactory outcome of the appeal filed against the ORPS decision.

Whither The Vote?

            Board president Marino D'Orazio said on Monday, "The inclination of the board is to propose a budget in the four-percent-plus range. Tom Rosato has some ideas, and I have some ideas. The issue is going to be what programs and what positions, if any, will become part of a proposed budget. That was the feeling at the beginning˜if this budget went down, we would suggest another." In April, Supt.Hal Rowe and his administrative team proposed the original budget, with a six percent increase over this year's budget, as well as a second option, with a 4.3 percent increase, in case of the first budget's failure.
            When asked how the board would  convince taxpayers to vote for the second budget, D'Orazio said, "We'll try very hard to explain to the public what it means to have this budget versus a contingency budget. Voting it down doesn't really save the taxpayers any money. A contingency budget will have almost a three percent increase, as mandated by law. It's simple to say, if we vote down the budget, nothing happens to taxes, but that's not the case. The difference between the budgets is really minimal, and a contingency budget hurts the kids. Then we have to make do with the bare minimum, and everything is up for grabs. Most of the expenditures in the budget are beyond the control of the school district, such as contracted salaries and mandated programs."
            Rowe remarked, "I don't think the last budget was defeated over the budget but from anger and concern over other issues," such as parents' dissatisfaction with the closing of the West Hurley Elementary School, the board's plan to apply the large-parcel option, which may raise Town of Olive taxes by over fifty percent, and the recent Woodstock property revaluation, raising many homeowners' taxes in that town. Rowe quoted from charts published in local newspapers indicating that Onteora was proposing the second lowest budget-to-budget increase in the county. "We were second highest in tax levy increase because we don't have any fund balance, since it was given away by another board at another time. But our budget increase certainly wasn't out of line, there are just too many volatile issues right now and people who are really persistent about keeping them going."
            Outgoing trustee Meg Carey lost the school board election but will retain her seat until July, so she will be voting at next Monday's meeting. She stated, "My position remains that I want to support what the administrators recommend. They are the ones who live the budget and know in most detail how the students and staff are affected. I truly believe when the administrators make their recommendations, they believe it's in the best interest of the whole district. I anticipate slight variations in their recommendations, but I don't expect any major change."
            Regarding the second budget's chance of passing, she commented, "My understanding is that a school budget has never before been defeated by such a huge margin. It makes me question whether there's any budget these numbers of people will support. The issue is much bigger than the West Hurley school closing. Taxes are already known to be much higher in Woodstock because of the reval, and Olive's very concerned about their taxes. I'm curious how it's all going to be revealed to us."
            D'Orazio said he had invited several politicians to "give their opinions about whether it's appropriate for us to enact the large-parcel law this year." Senator Larkin, one of the authors of the bill, attached comments to the legislation indicating that its purpose was to avoid large fluctuations in taxes each year as large commercial properties were bought and sold. Olive officials have pointed out that the parcel in question, the Ashokan Reservoir, does not undergo such changes, and therefore the legislation should not be applied in this case. District clerk Wendy Stefano said Tuesday afternoon that Bonacic would not be able to make the meeting, and she had not yet received word from Larkin or Cahill.
            Complicating the issue is the contention of Woodstock officials that their town bears the brunt of school taxes, while Olive pays an unfairly small proportion of taxes. "A lot of that has to do with the fact that the Olive government has not chosen to revaluate their properties, which we've said they should do," said D'Orazio. "Then if the legislation were enacted, it wouldn't have a huge impact." Olive supervisor Berndt Leifeld has said the town is preparing to do a reval, but because one hasn't been done in many years, the process will take at least a year or two.
            "It's a very divisive issue," D'Orazio continued. "Every single year, we're faced with this decision. As a school board we may become victims of a yearly jockeying for position depending on what town [candidates and board members] are from. It's a horrible, probably unintended effect, another example of higher government laying it on the lowest form of government we have, which is the school board. Voters look on the school board budget as one chance to make themselves heard. I hope people who really were instrumental in voting against it may feel they have made their point, and it's no longer about teaching someone a lesson but about not hurting educational programs."