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Community Character

The issue:
The character of our community has created a unique sense of place distinguished by:

• the integrity of our mountain wilderness, much of it publicly owned, which, with clean air and water and a clear night sky, is at the heart of the healthful environment we enjoy and is a paramount engine of our economy;
• a way of life centered in the traditions and values of small towns, villages, and hamlets;
• locally generated businesses, culture, and recreational opportunities that are a magnet for visitors and affordable to those who live here;
• freedom from outsized development;
• an economy that builds on these strengths.
  
  Our position:
  Whether it succeeds or fails, the proposed Belleayre resort would so fundamentally alter and undermine this sense of place as to destroy our community character.
  
  The developer says:
  
• There will be “no effect” on community character because the resort will be self-contained, but...
• The resort will require the importation of “hundreds” of new workers for low-paying jobs, while “mid and upper-management jobs would probably be filled by non-resident personnel who relocate to the resort area”—hence, an influx of new residents using local services and resources, and…
• Local businesses will have to compete with the businesses of the resort—shops, restaurants, services, etc.—by lowering prices, lengthening hours, etc.
  
  Points of understanding:
  
• If it succeeds, the resort would be a population center that will dwarf surrounding villages and hamlets and could become the political power-broker in the region.
• Blast apart a mountain, and you can’t put it back together again. Put a city in the middle of a wilderness, and it isn’t a wilderness anymore. Yet our mountain wilderness is the key to our economic viability.
• If the resort succeeds, community-based, locally-grown businesses and activities would be deadened by the Mall on the Mountain, which will inhale tourists to the “destination resort.”
• Planning experts say: “A strong correlation exists between community character and economic vitality. Protecting the character of our communities, including open space, projects an image of quality and creates an inviting atmosphere that increases property values and provides a competitive edge for attracting businesses, residents, shopping, and tourism.” That’s what’s happening here now; the resort would kill this trend, putting an end to the current revitalization.
• In mountain towns from New Hampshire to Colorado, examples abound of cookie-cutter “destination resorts” undermining the unique sense of place, pricing local residents out of their homes and hometowns, and turning community character into an exhibit. Want to be the animals in the golf-resort zoo? Or a distraction when the tourists want a break from the casino?

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Potable Water Impacts

The issue:
The Belleayre resort project would put a tremendous strain on the local aquifer…
• According to Dr. Andrew Michalski of Michalski & Assoc., we have an aquifer that transmits water quickly but offers little storage capacity;
• Engineer Joseph Habib pointed out that the flow data of the streams & springs in Pine Hill were flawed;
• We are enjoying an expansion of the tourist economy in Pine Hill, mostly due to the rebirth of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center.
  
  Our position:
  The region is already experiencing natural growth and we feel that it is unfair for the Mega-Belleayre Golf Resort to hog all of the water resources at the expense of other projects that help local businesses survive in the hamlets.
  
  The developer says:
  
• All other projects that are planned including in Pine Hill alone; one hotel restoration, one planned new hotel on Route 28, one housing subdivision and even any plans for the growth of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center are speculative and would have to consider their impacts on water resources after the massive Belleayre Golf Resort.
• The flawed flow data has now been fixed.
  
  Points of understanding:
  
• Future and current projects will not be able to compete with the Mega-Belleayre Golf Resort for potable water resources.
• Potable water shortages are a real threat to the growth of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center–the central economic engine for much of the Towns of Shandaken and Middletown.
• The Mega-Belleayre Golf Resort will take away precious water resources that are now used by the Hamlet of Pine Hill and the Village of Fleischmanns.
• The NYS DEC Water Supply Permit for Pine Hill is still based on the flawed flow study data and includes sources that don’t even exist.

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Stormwater Impacts

The issue:
Stormwater adversely impacts water supply by increasing turbidity and by carrying toxic pollutants into streams. This is a critical issue that the developer is required to address, yet the developer’s DEIS fails to do so adequately; it uses flawed models and does not address key aspects of the issue. Expert testimony in fact shows that the Belleayre resort project would greatly increase the amount of stormwater and pollutants in the streams.
• The DEIS did not use the model correctly. According to CPC expert Dr. Robert Pitt of the University of Alabama, the original developer of the “WINSLAMM” model used in the DEIS, “There was no calibration or verification process conducted.” He also said that the parameter files used were the ones submitted with the model, not modified to reflect local data. This means they used “default data” or “national averages” instead of data from the site.
• Professor Pitt also expressed concerns over the project's stormwater detention ponds, indicating their levels of control of suspended solids and phosphorus were “overly optimistic” by a factor of about 100%, and appeared to be undersized to accommodate heavy precipitation events such as rain on snowpack.
• “We're trying to model what actually happens on a landscape in a rainfall,” said NYC Department of Environmental Protection Hydrologist Joe Damrath. “Modeling is critical, it's the core of stormwater analysis, and any modeling is only as good as its input. You've all heard the expression garbage in, garbage out.”
• The DEIS fails to address all aspects of the issue. Dr. Walter Kneisel, principal developer of the GLEAMS model (Ground Water Loading Effects for Agricultural Management Systems) used by Crossroads stated “The DEIS doesn't answer the question as to whether pesticides or fertilizers will increase in the streams,” Dr. Kneisel also said “I reviewed their input, it led me to think they didn't know what they were doing.”
• Among examples cited, Kneisel, like Pitt, noted the extensive use of “default settings” in the program, again representing national averages for the variables, instead of the required “site specific” data.
  
  Our position:
  The DEIS should represent a full review of the impacts to the region. Flawed models on important issues such as the amount of stormwater during heavy rains and pollutants released into our streams and aquifers can endanger life, property and our economic well being.
  
  The developer says:
  
• Dean Gitter said, “Consider the stupidity of the process we're about to engage… The issues being raised are so arcane, so picayune, as to bore even the opponents to death.”
• Gitter also says “I have an obligation to the people who live in this region. I have an obligation to the people of the Catskills who have been here for generations, and I'm basically a stubborn person."
• Crossroads counsel Theresa Bakner said, “There is a lot of comment floating around about rainfall data and how we used it. To make WINSLAMM run, you must have hourly data,” which, she explained, wasn't available from higher precipitation sites closer to the proposed resort.
  
  Points of understanding:
  
• One acre of impervious surface (e.g., a paved parking area) produces 16 times as much runoff as one acre of meadow. [Center for Watershed Protection]
• A two-year storm is defined as a storm that produces a quantity of rainfall likely to occur once every two years. If a 25-acre site is cleared, and a 2-year storm occurs, it would produce 1.3 million gallons of runoff. [Dr. Paul Mankiewicz, Ph.D.]
• Data from seven nationwide studies showed that having 20% impervious cover could cause the average annual flood to double. [Leopold, L. Hydrology for Urban Land Use Planning - A guidebook on the Hydrologic Effects of Urban Land Use. Geological Survey Circular 554 (1968)]
• Northwest Ulster County generally has the highest rainfall intensity in the state with 2-year storm producing 4 inches of rainfall. [Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2003]
• Sediment runoff rates from construction sites are typically 1000 to 2000 times greater than those of forestlands. [U. S. EPA, “Storm Water Phase II Final Rule” Fact Sheet 3.0 (January 2000)]
• “Under typical rural land uses, the magnitude of observed forest-cover losses affects watershed hydrology as much as or more than associated increases in impervious area.” [Derek B. Booth, Ph.D., P.E., Forest Cover, Impervious-Surface Area and the Mitigation of Urbanization Impacts in King County, Washington (September 2000)

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Forest & Wildlife Impacts

The issue:
Article 14 of the New York State Constitution states: "the lands of the State now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed." The forests, meadows, cliffs, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, streams and springs are home to vibrant, and sometimes rare, communities of plants, animals, birds, amphibians, insects, microfauna and microflora, that depend on uninterrupted forest habitat.

Our position:
The proposed Belleayre Resort would significantly and irrevocably damage the Catskill Forest Preserve that surrounds it. By cutting a 500-acre hole with golf courses that require heavy pesticide use; hotels, shops, and restaurants that produce a steady stream of waste and garbage; 52 acres of parking lots, and traffic-choked roads leading up to it, the resort would be a continuous stream of chemical, visual and noise pollution in the heart of the forest. It is the wrong development in the wrong place.

The developer says:

• “Education programs” would be used to protect the forest and that predictions of negative impacts from experts who study that very issue are purely “speculation.”
• The fact that the Catskill Forest Preserve does not currently have threatened or endangered species listed means that the proposed development would not affect wildlife.
• Regarding protecting birds, the developer’s attorney says erecting blue bird boxes on the development site would lessen the impact of the loss of habitat, because the blue bird is the New York State bird.
  
  The DEC says:
  Despite the clear requirement under the New York State SEQRA that environmental impacts must be analyzed before a project is allowed, DEC has proposed allowing the developer to mitigate any adverse impacts through “management strategies.” This is a clear violation of SEQRA law and an abrogation of the DEC’s responsibility to protect the Catskill Forest Preserve, as required by the New York State constitution.
  
  Points of understanding:
  The Catskill Forest Preserve is the second largest tract of intact forest in the state. Designated by the Audubon Society as an “Important Bird Area,” the forest preserve is home to Bicknell’s thrush, a rare bird of both state and national significance that inhabits the high peaks. According to Dr. Michael Burger, director of Bird Conservation for the Audubon Society of New York, forest fragmentation is the leading cause of declining bird populations. He adds that the birds and wildlife are like the canary in the coal mine in terms of measuring the health of a wildness area, and that this area is one of very few that have not yet been degraded by development.

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Visual Impacts

The issue:
Mountain views and other scenic vistas—i.e., the aesthetics of our surroundings—are an important reason why people live here and come here. The aesthetics of our surroundings are thus a distinguishing element of our region and an important economic resource that must be preserved and enhanced.

Our position:
The proposed Belleayre resort would be an eyesore and a noisome nuisance on what more should more profitably remain a pristine mountain.

The developer says:

• Vegetation will hide the project from view from surrounding mountaintops.
• The resort will not be visible from surrounding mountaintops or from publicly owned hiking trails.
• The resort will not be visible from the Route 28 corridor.
  
  Points of understanding:
  
• All viewshed-related assertions by the developer are untrue:
• The “protective” vegetation lasts for only part of the year; the resort would be entirely visible from the time the leaves fall in October through leafing out in June. Against the snow, which typically lasts from Thanksgiving to April, it would be dramatically visible. It will look like a small city, which is what it will be.
• The resort is indeed visible from surrounding mountaintops, from the slopes of mountains both nearby and far away, from state-owned trails, and from state-permitted campsites throughout public lands.
• The resort is visible from numerous points along Route 28.
• During the projected eight-year construction period, the resort will offer the visual impact of a construction site on a scarred and denuded mountain slope.
• If the resort succeeds, those who choose to hike, camp, fish, etc. in the surrounding wilderness will hear the resort noise and, if wind currents are right, might even be able to smell the fumes from residents’ automobile exhaust. It would be the only place in the Catskills where car fumes might actually penetrate to within the fastness of the mountains—highly undesirable.

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