Catskills Belleyare Development Approved

[keb]

September 5, 2007
Catskills Resort Deal Announced
By ANTHONY DEPALMA
After a seven-year legal and political battle over the fate of some of the most environmentally sensitive land in New York State, Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced today an agreement to allow an upstate entrepreneur to build a resort with two hotels, a golf course and 259 residences within 20 miles of two of New York City’s largest reservoirs.

The $400 million project is substantially smaller than the developer’s original plan, which would have been one of the largest developments in the New York City watershed and sprawled over nearly 2,000 acres of prime Catskill woodlands.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/nyregion/05cnd-catskills.html?hp

 

[IndianChris]

At 72, he can't leave the woods the way they are?

 

[mudhook51]

Does this conicide with the new guv taking a stroll up Marcy? I'm not sure about this guy.

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Not very good news, but not very surprising. From the very beginning of this thing I could not understand how, with the watersheds involved and all, that this could be given 5 minutes of attention. When there's bucks involved, there should be no surprise.

 

[audrey]

Aren't there some old grand resorts already falling into ruins that could be refurbished? Why did so much of the development fail in the past? History would sure give me pause if I were a developer. It is sad to see so many once-pretty townships looking so seedy among the magnificence of nature.

 

[Jay H]

Pretty much all the old grand hotels in the catskills are now on state land so there wont be any development on those. For example, the resort by Overlook firetower or the Catskill Mountain House by North/South lake, both are owned by the state now already.

The guy Gitter that is mentioned in the article owns the fancy resort/spa "The Emerson" right on Rt 28 according to Mudhook.

Jay

 

[Mark Driscoll]

This may be a bit political but why should people not be able to build on their own land? The watershed issue is so New York City does not have to build a water filtration system. If the city (via the state) ,does not want people to build or use their private land as they see fit, the city or state should have to buy the land at top dollar.

 

[mudhook51]

The grand old hotels failed partly because of air conditioning, when it was hot, people left the city to escape the heat. These resorts were also before auto travel became affordable, most traveled by trains,an easy trip from NY.
The Cats are still a depressed area, few good jobs, many of the local population below poverty level. This new resort promises 520 new jobs, mostly min. wage, wow, a real enviromental, social, economic something.
I bet we will be hearing about casinos in the near future.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

The grand hotels failed for many reasons, but largely because travel to other destinations became so affordable.

"It all seems to be ending. You think kids want to come with their parents to take fox trot lessons? Trips to Europe, that's what the kids want. It seems like it's all slipping away."

-- Max Kellerman, a Catskill Borscht Belt resort owner, in the movie "Dirty Dancing", set in 1963.​

Most of the former grand hotels within the Catskill blue line are now history, and the properties state owned. Some of the other properties have been subdivided for private homes. Reassembling the private parcels would be impractical. It is true that many of the failed borscht belt resort properties are intact and might be better locations for a golf resort. But the prime incentive for this project was to boost the financial viability of the Belleayre ski center by providing a year-round tourist draw and to bring an entirely new clientele to the Catskills. Ulster and Delaware county politicians and business groups asked Mr. Gitter to develop the business proposals. It was not his idea at conception. I must admit I don't begin to understand the viability of the business plan. Hopefully they have done their homework well, but I fear not.

I tend to feel more jittery than giddy when I hear of Mr. Gitter's glittery grand plans. I have still not seen enough of the new plans to finalize my opinion. A new EIS is yet to be developed, and it will receive extensive review. Some environmental groups support the new proposal while others don't. Some environmental groups will never support any development, and they would undoubtedly even oppose the development of the Mohonk Mountain House if it was proposed today.

But one thing is sure: The new, reduced Belleayre Resort plan is infinitely preferable over the original. The "green messiah's" vision for the Big Indian Resort will now be fodder for books of never-built architecture kitsch. It was to have been sited along the 2327' summit of the Big Indian Plateau, a.k.a. Garretson Ridge, on the eastern side of Belleayre Mt. This area is the 1216 acres of "pristine forest" which is now proposed to be added to the forest preserve. The ridge is a beautiful maturing second growth hardwood forest (northern hardwoods actively replacing southern hardwoods) with hemlock groves. Several old logging roads will provide many good hiking opportunities. The never completed Belleayre Beach Trail up Giggle Hollow will hopefully be finished once this parcel is state owned.

The two hotels and now one golf course will all be sited on land near CR 49A, much of which has been previously developed. The devil will still be in the details. I am particularly curious to see how the golf course will be laid out on the mountain slopes. The original plan's drawings showed terraces with steep retaining walls. It looked like concrete Bali meets the Catskills. I am hopeful those detailed plans will continue to improve. One thing is inevitable: more traffic on Route 28.

The Kingston Freeman ran two additional articles today on the resort agreements, and the continuing opposition

 

[keb]

Interesting. Thanks for your always insightful contribution Mark.

 

[Trudy]

Where exactly will the resort be located? Is it near Highmount? On the uphill side of 49A?

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Where exactly will the resort be located? Is it near Highmount? On the uphill side of 49A?

The resort will span both sides of CR 49A. The Belleayre Resort website does not yet contain the new plan. However, the new plans can be viewed on the Catskill Heritage Alliance website. This is one of the opposition groups, but the information is objectively presented. The New Resort Plan Map (click on the map to enlarge) shows the resort extending west from Route 28 (Highmount) to past the sharp bend in CR 49A, just over 2 miles. The Wildacres Resort hotel will be at the crosshair on this topozone map. The golf course is down slope extending from about 2300' at CR 49A to the railroad grade, 1800'. The second "Hotel and Spa" is further west on the slope above the sharp turn on CR 49A.

 

[Trudy]

Thank you for the links.
It's enormous.