NEW PALTZ -- Suggesting that a controversial development proposal would
forever mar ''the very landscape which provides the value,'' the Mohonk
Preserve announced Friday that it formally opposes the owner's plans for the
Awosting Reserve.
The Awosting Reserve plans call for more than 300 lots for homes, a 296-acre
golf course, a village center and nearly 1,500 acres of protected forests.
''What's key about this property is its location and its relationship to the
larger ridge landscape,'' said Glenn Hoagland, executive director of the
Mohonk Preserve. ''While the preserve is not opposed to development
categorically, we always try to be part of the protection of the ridge
without impinging on its unique character.''
Sharing Shawangunks
The 6,500-acre Mohonk Preserve and the 2,660 Awosting Reserve share the
Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County. They are not direct neighbors, but parts
of both are in the Town of Gardiner. Together with the Minnewaska State Park
Preserve and the Sam's Point Preserve, the Mohonk Preserve draws more than
500,000 visitors to the white-cliffed ridge each year.
The Mohonk Preserve has more than 9,000 members.
The preserve's board voted April 6 to oppose the project, after working
behind the scenes to urge owner John Atwater Bradley to scale down the
project, Hoagland said. Now, it will work through the towns encompassed by
the Awosting reserve, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation
to voice its concerns through the State Environmental Quality Review Act
(SEQRA) process.
The board's resolution said the development would harm the ridge's wildlife
and plant life, and those who live nearby.
''Such inappropriate residential or commercial uses of the ridge can
seriously compromise the very rural qualities that support the tourism and
real estate values that help create a healthy, local economy in its
surrounding communities,'' a Mohonk Preserve statement read in part.
Roger Beck, president of Awosting Reserve, said he was disappointed by the
Mohonk Preserve's decision.
''We hold the Mohonk Preserve and their board in high esteem and we're
disappointed in the position that they've taken in advance of a very
detailed environmental study that will be part of the SEQR process,'' he
said. ''But we will take their comments in the constructive manner in which
I'm sure they were intended.''
Awosting Reserve, Mohonk Preserve and others had worked together previously
as part of the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership, but the Awosting
Reserve's place is now in question.
''In their present form, they are no longer at the table,'' Hoagland said.
Beck did not comment.
www.mohonkpreserve.org
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/localnews/stories/lo041403s1.shtml
