For generations, Sierra Club members from Long Island to Buffalo have cherished the Catskill Mountains as a wilderness haven and destination. Whether we bring our fly rods, ski poles, paddles, or hiking boots our impact has always been light and our wallets open to the local communities.
But when large developments threaten the sanctity of the Park, the Sierra Club has always rallied to protect the Catskill's wilderness legacy. Crossroads Ventures is proposing to build a mega-resort next to the State-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center that would see massive forest-clearing for construction of 2 hotels, 2 spas, an 18-hole golf course, a conference center, new ski slopes, retail shops, restaurants, parking lots, additional resort homes, outbuildings, streets and their lighting. The whole package equates to more than 629 lodging units over 739 acres on steep, erosion prone, high altitude terrain - inside the Catskill Park, within the NYC watershed, and bordering "forever wild" NYS forest preserve - that threatens water quality, traffic flow, biodiversity and community character.
For more than a decade, critics have charged that this proposal is an economic boondoggle that defies local trends for what is financially viable for the Catskills. But whatever delusion is driving this over-scaled private real estate development, it appears to be contagious. The State of New York, in tandem with the development, intends to make 74 million dollars worth of improvements to the current ski area - that will link with the new golf course and hotels - acting as a huge public subsidy to the private investors and compounding the negative impacts to the surrounding community. The taxpayers of New York should not be underwriting financially risky projects that harm the integrity of the Catskills and undermine the local business community.
We are in the final stages of the environmental review for the Belleayre real estate development and ski area expansion and we need your help in scaling back the project. Beyond the considerable local environmental impact, such an over-scaled resort would set a negative precedent for what is acceptable regionally and how public lands could be repurposed for private profit in the future.
Comments can be submitted online by clicking here. To send in written comments, send them to:
Daniel Whitehead
Region 3 Environmental Permit Administrator
NYSDEC
21 South Putt Corners Road
New Paltz, NY 12561
Thank you for all you do to protect New York's wilderness legacy!