A mountain of discord Big ski center is panacea or poison By LYNN WOODS

A mountain of discord
Big ski center is panacea or poison
By LYNN WOODS

When a revamped plan for a mega-ski resort in the Catskill Park was unveiled as part of an agreement in principle (AIP) between Governor Spitzer’s office, developer Crossroads Ventures L.L.C., the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and seven environmental groups in September, it was hailed as a model of green development that would help boost tourism and jumpstart the economy.

The buildings would be designed to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (leadership in environmental and energy design) certification; hybrid vehicles would convey guests to the adjacent state-owned Belleayre Ski Center; and the golf course would be “organic.” Although the environmental groups were part of a coalition that had long fought the project, they gave their approval in exchange for the state’s purchase and preservation of 1,200 acres in the Ashokan Reservoir watershed previously slated for development.

Hundreds of residents who attended two public scoping sessions held by the New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) at the Belleayre Ski Center on Dec. 11 and 12 said the project would destroy a pristine wilderness area. They said it would likely pollute streams that feed the New York City watershed, intrude on the views of hikers in the adjacent forest preserve lands and trigger other development in the area also owned by two principals of Crossroads Ventures, Dean Gitter and Ken Pasternak.

Many also questioned the economic viability of the proposed luxury resort. They said they feared it would ultimately become a casino. Gitter has said he has no such plans, but opponents are pressing for legally binding provisions that would prevent this in perpetuity.

Crossroads first proposed The Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park in 1999, to be located on 1,960 acres straddling Belleayre Mountain, adjacent to the state-owned Belleayre Ski Center, and Big Indian, which is in the Ashokan Reservoir watershed. The developer’s draft environmental impact statement was submitted and reviewed by the lead agency, in this case the DEC, as required under the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process.

Numerous issues raised by a coalition of environmental groups were brought before a DEC administrative law judge, who identified 12 issues for adjudication. At the end of 2006, on the last day of former Gov. George Pataki’s administration, half of those were thrown out by a deputy DEC commissioner, and negotiations began with the office of the newly elected Spitzer.

The revamped plan for the resort shifts the development proposed for Big Indian to Highmount, which is on the western side of Belleayre and drains into the Pepactan Reservoir. The amount of developable acreage was cut in half to 663 acres, although the built infrastructure was only reduced by 15 percent. The $400 million twin-resort complex would consist of two large hotels, 139 townhouses, 60 single-home timeshare units, and 60 other multiunit timeshares, for a total of 629 units. Altogether there would be 77 buildings, and facilities would include a 30,000-square-foot spa and underground parking facilities.

The agreement also calls for the state to invest an estimated $47 million to expand the trails at Belleayre Ski Center. The state would also construct a new trail and chairlift up Highmount, enabling resort guests to ski right from their lodgings.

Many people at the scoping sessions expressed concerns about possible depletion of the aquifer in addition to the resort facilities, the state also plans to increase snowmaking at the ski center, which is hugely consumptive of water harm to wildlife, increase in traffic and potential cost burden for the additional road maintenance on the local towns and Ulster County, and diminishment of the dark night sky. “In New York City, you see less than 1 percent of the stars that Galileo saw,” Jim Router, a local school teacher, told DEC officials. Here in the Catskills, “I bet it’s close to what Galileo saw. Our night sky is a precious resource.”

Some residents said they were worried about the impacts caused by the extensive blasting of the mountainsides. Of particular concern was destruction of a steep rock face on Belleayre Mountain to accommodate lodging units and construction of a road and 19 mansions at 3,100 feet, on the ridge line of Highmount.

Daniel A. Ruzow, a lawyer at the Albany-based law firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, who is representing Crossroads, said the placement of the buildings on slopes with a grade less than 20 percent, which is specified in AIP, was a challenge. He said the 19 timeshare units were being built near the top of Highmount because of the flat plateau. An additional 10 timeshare units might be added along the road up Highmount to the height of 2,900 feet. “There’s a certain density we need to make the project feasible,” he said. “The environmental groups at the negotiations participated in the decision of where the buildings are sited.”

Some people expressed outrage that the plans for the new proposed resort on Highmount had been secretly negotiated for months and weren’t revealed to the public until the announcement of the agreement. (Parties to the negotiations were under a gag order.) They also expressed shock that an administration with a stated commitment to smart growth and fighting climate change should be promoting a project that opponents claimed would not only stress the natural resources of the environment but also destroy the small-scale rural character of the neighboring communities.

Supporters of the project, which included several small-business owners, said that it would give the area a badly needed shot in the arm to help restore what had once been a flourishing tourism industry. They pointed out there had once been thousands of hotel rooms in the vicinity, but almost all these facilities had closed, along with many restaurants.

Lewis Kolar, a retired banker in Andes who is president and chairman of Partners for Progress, said his organization “provides a voice for the silent majority. I know first hand the plight of local businesses. I’ve witnessed the continual decline of the built environment. Belleayre offers the most comprehensive answer to the spiral downward.”

The Ulster County Chamber of Commerce gave its seal of approval. Chamber board member Gene Gruner said the chamber had established a template for intelligent growth and “Belleayre scored highly. It’s time to move forward and build the resort.”

Paul Rakov, director of marketing at the Emerson Resort & Spa, which is owned by Gitter, said the resort would generate significant trickle-down dollars. “We’ll spend a tremendous amount of money locally, just to support the operation of the resort,” he said, noting the Emerson has paid about $30,000 to a local company just in signs. “There’s lots of secondary businesses that will benefit. We’re talking about massage therapists, creative designers, floral arrangers, party planners and meeting coordinators.”

Rakov said room rates at the Highmount resort would be in the $495-a-night range. Wildacres, which would be located on Belleayre and include 12,000 square feet of conference space, would cater to middle-class families and business groups, with room rates in the $195-a-night range.

Most of the environmental concerns expressed by residents are already included in the DEC’s draft scope, which outlines the issues it needs to address in reviewing the supplemental draft environmental impact statement for the altered project. But many people said they questioned whether the DEC could be trusted to do a fair and objective review, given the state’s partnership with the developer and its track record so far in reviewing the project.

“I think this would get much more support if all outstanding questions were answered with full and truthful information,” said Brian Shapiro, an Ulster County legislator, D-Woodstock, who is chairman of both the Legislature’s environmental and ethics committees. Shapiro asked the DEC to do an assessment of the costs associated with the increased road maintenance to the affected towns and county; conduct a comparative review of like-sized resorts with equivalent demographics; analyze work force requirements and housing availability; ensure ironclad provisions against gambling at the facility; and thoroughly review the soundness of funding sources.

Spitzer said in announcing the agreement that the project would create 1,800 construction jobs, 450 full-time positions and 150 seasonable jobs. But at the scoping session, some residents said many jobs would be low paying and not attractive to young people in the area. They wondered where the workers would come from and how they would be housed.

“The paradigm that big development is a panacea and everyone will get rich has never worked,” said Judith Wyman, chair of Friends of Catskill Park, which was one of the environmental groups involved in the negotiations that did not sign the agreement. “Even in Shandanken (where a portion of the project is located), property values have tripled in the last five years. The median home price went up to $269,000. We want our kids to stay here, but with $9.50 an hour, you can’t afford an apartment here.”

Others questioned whether the resort would be able to compete with numerous similar destinations out West, many of which are located near an airport. The Belleayre Resort would be reached by driving 37 miles west on Route 28 from Kingston, or from Monticello on Route 49A.

Crossroads Ventures plans to hand over operations and possibly ownership of the complex to a management brand chain, such as a Marriott or a Hilton.

A report released in August 2006 by the state comptroller on the developer’s business plan and economic feasibility criticized the project as a “speculative venture that may well endanger existing resource use and end up placing unacceptable burdens on the state, city and local taxpayers.” According to the report, Crossroads Ventures used outdated data for its analysis. It failed to compare the proposed projects with ones of similar size and impact, as required under SEQR.

The DEC is not requiring Crossroad Ventures to submit a revised economic analysis, according to Judith Enck, deputy secretary for the environment in the governor’s office. “We’re doing an environmental review of the project. There’s no analysis of financing,” said Enck. “We can only require what the law requires us to look at.”

The SEQR law itself, however, states that the intent of the Legislature was that “the protection and enhancement of the environment, human and community resources should be given appropriate weight with social and economic considerations in determining public policy, and that those factors be considered together in reaching decisions…It is not the intention of SEQR that environmental factors be the sole consideration in decision-making.”

Ruzow said Crossroads Ventures “disagreed with the comptroller’s report” and that “the financial information regarding the project is now revised.” However, he reiterated that the developer is not required to reveal this information in the supplemental draft environmental statement. “It’s private business. This is America,” he said. “Businesses only need to reveal their dealings if they seek public funds.”

The developer would be eligible to apply for tax credits under the 585-b provision of the real property tax law, Ruzow added. Once the project is built, the developer would have to pay 50 percent of the required property taxes, with the amount increasing in 5 percent increments up to the full 100 percent amount in 10 years. He said there would also be “abatements for certain taxes if we seek IDA funding” as well as possible jobs-related benefits. “We’re exploring all of these options.”

Another concern brought up at the DEC scoping sessions was the $14 million price tag in the agreement for the 1,200 acres (plus another 78 acres at the Highmount site). Rachel Weissman, a realtor in Phoenicia, said that amount is twice the market value of the land. Enck said in an interview after the scoping sessions the state was no longer committed to paying that amount. “We will pay the fair market dollar figure,” she said, without explaining if that would be more or less than the $14 million figure and how the initial number was arrived at.

Ruzow said his client expected to get much more. “I hope $14 million is the minimum price. It can’t be less than that amount and it could be more,” he said. He said 460 acres adjacent to Ski Windham in Greene County had sold for $7.6 million in July.

Gitter has said that he plans to break ground on the new resort next fall and be in business for the 2009-10 skiing season. Ruzow said “that’s optimistic.” The Highmount resort is still at the conceptual level and no detailed plans have been released yet.

Meanwhile, an umbrella group called Save the Mountain, which includes the environmental groups that did not sign the agreement along with new supporters, is collecting signatures on a petition headed to Spitzer opposing the project. “We’re getting our legal team together and preparing ourselves for a vigorous review process,” said Julie McQuaine, the president of JMPR Associates, a public relations company based in New York City, and coordinator of Save the Mountain.

Critics of the project said they are not against the right kind of growth. “I’m fully supportive of economic development and tourism,” said Shapiro. “There’s room for both the environment and a beautiful hotel and spa in the Catskill region.” But in this case, “I’m very concerned because there are so many unanswered questions.”