Conservation Update

 

Governor Announces Agreement on

Belleayre Resort Proposal:

Agreement Scales Back Project and Protects Over 1,400 Acres of Land

 

On Wednesday, September 5, 2007 Governor Spitzer announced that an agreement has been reached on the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park development proposal after a seven year legal and regulatory battle over the project. The agreement between the project sponsor, environmental groups, New York State and New York City will allow the project to move forward but in a significantly scaled-back form. The agreement is consistent with ADK and the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s (Trail Conference) joint testimony which ADK provided to both DEC and the Governor’s office on behalf of both organizations.

To ADK and the Trail Conference the most important aspect of the agreement is that the construction of the resort, located in the heart of the Catskill High Peaks, will be limited to the west side of Belleayre Mountain adjacent to the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center. The west side of the project site was previously part of the Highmount Ski Center. We strongly opposed plans to develop a resort on the eastern portion of the project site because of the environmental and aesthetic impacts of the construction of a hotel and townhouses on the prominent and steeply sloped Belleayre Ridge. The eastern portion of the project site is known as the Big Indian Plateau. The agreement provides for state acquisition of 1,216 acres of land on the Big Indian Plateau which will be added to the Catskill Forest Preserve. This acquisition will ensure that the views from the Catskill High Peaks will not be impaired.

The state will also acquire 78 acres at the former Highmount Ski Center which will be integrated into a westward expansion of the Belleayre Ski Center. The agreement also includes a NYS Watershed conservation easement on 200 acres of nearby lands.

The agreement includes many other environmental safeguards such as: reduced visibility of the resort from Forest Preserve Wilderness Areas; redesigned portions of the resort to eliminate the placement of most buildings on steep slopes; clustered development to reduce acreage of disturbed land from 573 to 273 acres; reduction of the total number of the resort’s hotel and lodging units; and half a million dollars in state funds for local smart growth projects through a new Central Catskills Smart Growth Initiative.

Overall, ADK and the Trail Conference are pleased with the agreement. We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Governor’s office, Congressman Maurice Hinchey, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development (CCCD) in helping to reach this favorable agreement.

To read the Governor’s press release announcing the agreement, please visit: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/0905071_print.html.