CHA: Proposed Mega-Resort Development

Proposed Mega-Resort Development

Proposed project site as seen from atop Rose Mountain. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Resort Issues

Community Character
Potable Water Impacts
Stormwater Impacts
Forest & Wildlife Impacts
Visual Impacts

Other Information

DEIS Online
Selected DEIS Comments
DEP Comments
Adjudicatory Hearing

Pertinent information

Background

Click on image to enlarge.

In 1994, the Route 28 Corridor Committee, chaired by developer Dean Gitter, produced a development plan that called for a resort to be developed near the Belleayre Ski Center.
In September of 1998, the developer began to purchase properties within the project site.
In the Spring of 1999, the Shandaken Town Board passed a zoning amendment that allowed golf in the Town and that doubled the maximum density of areas that could be served by municipal sewer.
In October of 1999, the resort project was unveiled to the public.

Description

Click on image to enlarge.

Acreage: 1,960 acres total (1,242 acres east of Belleayre Ski Center, 718 acres west). 573 acres are to be developed. 1,387 acres are promised to be preserved "through deed restrictions or conservation easements."
Eastern portion: 18-hole golf course, 150-room hotel with two restaurants, a ballroom and a spa, 55 attached buildings containing 95 lodging units and 22 four-unit buildings containing 88 lodging units
Western portion: 18-hole golf course, 250-room hotel with shops, two restaurants, a conference center and a spa, 21 eight unit time-share buildings containing 168 lodging units and a 21-lot subdivision

Environmental review process

State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA): requires all state and local government agencies to assess the environmental significance of all actions they have discretion to approve, fund or directly undertake. Actions can be the approval or direct development of physical projects, planning activities that require a government agency decision, or the adoption of agency rules, regulations, procedures and policies. SEQRA requires the agencies to balance the environmental impacts with social and economic factors when deciding to approve or undertake an action. See the DEC web site for more.
SEQRA Regulations - Section of New York State law that defines the SEQRA review process
Lead agency and coordinator of review: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Region 3, Alexander F. Ciesluk, Jr., 21 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY 12561-1696, 845-256-3014, afcieslu@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Involved agencies: Those agencies from which permits, approvals or recommendations are being sought (See below.)
Significant steps in review to date:

March, 2000: The DEC declares itself lead agency in the project's environmental review.

November, 2000: The final scoping document, which identifies the issues to be addressed in the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), is released.

January, 2002: Crossroads submits an 8-volume, 4,000-page DEIS.

May, 2002: The DEC informs Crossroads that areas of the DEIS "have been determined to be inadequate and require further analysis or revision." Attached are the comments of DEC's SEQR fee consultants, Tim Miller Associates and Clough Harbour & Associates.

December, 2002: Crossroads resubmits the DEIS with revisions.

December, 2003: The DEC accepts Crossroads' DEIS as adequate and issues a Notice of Completion, starting the public comment period.

April, 2004: After public hearings, where sentiment is overwhelming opposed to the project, the public comment period ends. At the same time, the Castkill Preservation Coalition, a group of environmental and grassroots organizations, and New York City each file for full party status at an adjudicatory hearing on the project.

May-August 2004: Issues hearing held before Administrative Law Judge Richard Wissler of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The hearing will determine, at the judge's recommendation, which issues, if any, should be adjudicated in public, trial-like hearings. Challenging the developer's DEIS are the Catskill Preservation Coalition and New York City's Department of Environmental Conservation. The developer is represented by legal counsel. The state DEC is also a party to the proceedings, almost routinely siding with the developer. An issues hearing typically lasts about a month. This one went from the end of May through the end of August; it becomes the longest issues hearing in the history of New York State. The judge's decision is pending and will likely be rendered in late 2004 or early 2005.

Catskill Preservation Coalition comprises the following groups: Catskill Heritage Alliance, Pine Hill Water District Coalition, Trout Unlimited, Friends of Catskill Park, Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, Inc., Zen Environmental Studies Institute, The Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., New York Public Research Interest Group and Riverkeeper, Inc. The Sierra Club joins in the petition for party status.

Proposed issues for adjudication: Catskill Preservation Coalition: visual and aesthetic impacts, groundwater and surface water impacts, water supply, noise impacts, traffic impacts, aquatic habitat, impacts on the forest preserve, wildlife and habitat impacts, forestry impacts, alternatives, cumulative impacts, community character, sediment and erosion control, stormwater management plan, stormwater treatment, mining permit, and pesticides. New York City: two State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("SPDES") applications (Wildacres and Big Indian).

Permitting and approval process

"In addition to reviewing the project as Involved and Interested Agencies under SEQRA, those agencies from which permits, approvals or recommendations are being sought will also have separate review processes for the project." (DEIS)
Local (Shandaken and Middletown): Special use permit, site plan approval, subdivision approval
County (Ulster and Delaware): Road improvements and driveways (Bridges & Highways); comments and recommendations to local Boards (Planning Dept.); water supply, wastewater disposal and food service (Ulster Health Dept. only)
Regional (NYC DEP): wastewater disposal, sediment and erosion control
State: stream crossing, wastewater disposal, water supply, SPEDES stormwater discharge from construction, petroleum bulk storage, water quality certification (DEC); water supply, wastewater disposal, food service for Delaware Co. portion (DOH); Route 28 improvements (DOT)
Federal (Army Corps of Engineers): federal wetlands

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March, 2000:	The DEC declares itself lead agency in the project's environmental review.
November, 2000:	The final scoping document, which identifies the issues to be addressed in the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), is released.
January, 2002:	Crossroads submits an 8-volume, 4,000-page DEIS.
May, 2002:	The DEC informs Crossroads that areas of the DEIS "have been determined to be inadequate and require further analysis or revision." Attached are the comments of DEC's SEQR fee consultants, Tim Miller Associates and Clough Harbour & Associates.
December, 2002:	Crossroads resubmits the DEIS with revisions.
December, 2003:	The DEC accepts Crossroads' DEIS as adequate and issues a Notice of Completion, starting the public comment period.
April, 2004:	After public hearings, where sentiment is overwhelming opposed to the project, the public comment period ends. At the same time, the Castkill Preservation Coalition, a group of environmental and grassroots organizations, and New York City each file for full party status at an adjudicatory hearing on the project.
May-August 2004:	Issues hearing held before Administrative Law Judge Richard Wissler of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The hearing will determine, at the judge's recommendation, which issues, if any, should be adjudicated in public, trial-like hearings. Challenging the developer's DEIS are the Catskill Preservation Coalition and New York City's Department of Environmental Conservation. The developer is represented by legal counsel. The state DEC is also a party to the proceedings, almost routinely siding with the developer. An issues hearing typically lasts about a month. This one went from the end of May through the end of August; it becomes the longest issues hearing in the history of New York State. The judge's decision is pending and will likely be rendered in late 2004 or early 2005.