Local residents, hikers, organizations, elected and appointed officials,
and other lovers of the Shawangunk ridge are mobilizing to protect one of
this region's favorite places, which faces the prospect of becoming the
site of a massive development.
Landowner John Atwater Bradley and developers Chaffin/Light Associates have
submitted a plan for a development on 2,660 acres of pristine land
bordering Minnewaska State Park, Sam's Point Preserve, and very close to
Mohonk Preserve. This land, known as the Awosting Reserve, would be carved
into lots to accommodate 349 luxury housing units, a 296-acre private
championship golf course, a 12,500-square-foot clubhouse, an
8,000-square-foot wastewater and site maintenance facility, and a
3,000-square foot sales building. Access to the land would be restricted to
exclusive residents of the development.
The Shawangunk Ridge Coalition, a project funded by the Trail Conference,
is assisting grassroots organizing efforts and local coalition activities.
The Development
The proposed development comes very close to the cliffs around Gertrude's
Nose, Castle Point, Hamilton Point, and the Long Path that runs along
Margaret Cliff and Ice Caves Mountain. Coming within a mere half mile
(2,625 feet) of Lake Awosting, and surrounding Mud Pond, the most remote of
the ridge's sky lakes, the development crosses Beaver Brook, Dwaar Kill,
and up the Palmaghatt ravine.
This is an overwhelming development proposal. One could stand on the
cliffs of Hamilton Point and drop a pebble onto someone's roof. It would be
devastating to ridge hikers', said Neil Zimmerman, former Trail Conference
President and current Chair of the Trail Conference Conservation Committee
Of the three towns in Ulster County, Gardiner hosts the largest area with
2,237 acres, Shawangunk with 282 acres, and Wawarsing with 141 acres. Plans
submitted to the Town of Gardiner on December 23, 2002, propose
construction of a gated subdivision community consisting of 269 "retreat"
homes, each measuring 4,500-square feet on 2.5-acre lots; 52 3,000-square
foot "cottages" on one-acre lots; and 28 2,000-square foot "cabins" on
half-acre lots.
An estimated 196,00 gallons of wastewater each day will be discharged from
the development into watershed tributaries. Individual wells are proposed
for the homesteads, which in total will require an anticipated 157,150
gallons of water per day.
Currently 2,519 acres of the parcel is forested, 93 acres is wetland,
including both state and federally protected wetlands; 26 acres comprise
surface water bodies, including Tillson Lake. The project will require
development of steep slopes along the Shawangunk Ridge, approximately 60
percent of the land surface to be developed is on slopes greater than 15
percent.
The developers suggest that 1,499 acres of the site will be covered by a
conservation easement about 60 percent of the land, including the golf
course to be administered by an entity to be named the Awosting Reserve
Trust. The map shows, however, that these protected areas are for the most
part merely gaps between homes and development loops that wind through the
entire site and do little, if anything, to preserve the ecological
integrity of the area.
Principle owner, Bradley, a self-proclaimed conservationist, has made
claims that this project would be a better use of the land than leaving it
to nature. Anyone can call themselves a conservationist, Zimmerman
commented, but it doesn't mean that they are.
The Environmental Assessment Form that was submitted for the proposal shows
potential impacts to the physical land, surface water (including streams,
pond and lakes), ground water and the surrounding regional watershed,
wetlands, wildlife, and the critical habitats of threatened or endangered
species, plants, historic and archaeological resources, open space, and
recreational land use throughout the entire site. There are also potential
impacts to critical environmental areas containing unique and fragile
resources, such as timber rattlesnake habitat, trout spawning acres, ice
caves, and spring-fed lakes. Other impacts to lands and wildlife on the
property are still undergoing survey. The parcel contains unique and
unusual landforms, including distinctive Shawangunk cliffs and crags. Views
from Gertrude's Nose in Minnewaska State Park, and from most of the cliff
walks in the three surrounding preserves would be severely impacted.
Opposition Mounts
Opposition is building as local, regional, and national groups mobilize
forces at each point in the decision-making process. The development's
future is dependent on a number of processes. The NY State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) will be the lead agency reviewing the
environmental impacts. DEC has far greater resources and expertise for a
comprehensive environmental review than the towns, noted Neil Woodworth,
counsel to NY-NJ Trail Conference and the Adirondack Mountain Club
partnership. DEC tends to keep the regional impact of a project in mind as
well. The DEC and the affected towns will be involved in the extensive
permitting process. The towns of Shawangunk and Gardiner were already
reviewing their land-use master plans and zoning laws, which allows them to
hold off on the approval process of large development projects until such
review is near completion.
Local residents have formed a grassroots group called "Save the Ridge".
Working with the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition, and other ridge organizations,
Save the Ridge members are very concerned about drinking water resources,
their rural economy, destruction of forest and wetland habitats, pollution
of surface water, decrease in property values, increased traffic, and
runoff of lawn chemicals, salt, sewage, and golf course chemicals.
This fragile and special land on the Shawangunk Ridge needs to be
protected. Everyone has an interest in protecting it and the best way to do
that is by choosing preservation over development. There are resources to
purchase it and keep it preserved in perpetuity.
