Sewer ruling could hinder 'Gunks plan
Developers likely to appeal decision
By Gabriel J. Wasserman, Poughkeepsie Journal
Tuesday, October 2, 2003

GARDINER -- The Gardiner town supervisor and building inspector have dealt what could be a serious blow to the controversial Awosting Reserve development: They forbid a sewage treatment plant.

''This determination se-verely limits the number of units,'' Supervisor Jack Hayes said in a press release. ''The 'natural beauty' of the town will never be compromised.''

Developers want to build a 349-lot gated community with a golf course on 2,660 acres in the Shawangunk Ridge foothills. Opponents worry about impact on traffic, views, wildlife, water resources and other environmental variables. The project calls for a central sewer system to process waste. But town officials ruled this week that would not be permitted under the town's zoning code.

Awosting Reserve President Roger Beck said the developers will ''likely'' appeal to the town's zoning board of appeals.

''We think that we have an environmentally friendly project, he said. ''We intend to keep working our way through the process.''

Grounds for action

Appeal grounds, he said, include ambiguity in town zoning law and provisions of state and county law that favor the proposed sewers.

''I think their argument's weak, but I'm not an attorney,'' said project opponent Peter Conde, a Gardiner resident who called Tuesday's decision ''heartening.''

''I'm glad to hear of it,'' he said. ''I would have been surprised if they had come up with any other conclusion.''

Carmine Mele, a town planning board member and former chairman, also supported Hayes' determination.

''I do not believe there's too much ambiguity in the zoning law,'' he said. ''As far as I understand, they do not have a permitted right'' to put a sewer plant on the development site.

But ''the applicant always has the opportunity to appeal,'' he said. Said Hayes, ''The Awosting Reserve application and all other development applications will be held to the highest scrutiny and all the procedural requirements which ensure the protection of our precious land.''

Hundreds of like-minded local residents have organized to fight the project under the rally cry ''Save the Ridge.'' This group has a Web site, and typically fills local planning board meeting halls when Awosting Reserve gets discussed. Most of the land in question is in Gardiner, but ''Save the Ridge'' yard signs are posted from Montgomery in Orange County to Kingston, the Ulster county seat.

Democrats in New Paltz tried to form a ''Friends of the Ridge'' party line for a Ulster County Legislative campaign ticket. Awosting Reserve is a regional issue, they argued.

Only a glitch with who gathered signatures prevented that ballot line from getting Board of Elections approval.

Other local residents have defended the project as well-planned, and contend the alternative could be smaller, inferior projects that get less public scrutiny.

''We believe we will prevail on the issue of the sewage treatment plant,'' Beck said.

He declined to say what the developers would do if the appeal fails, but said that would ''change the project,'' not kill it. Individual-lot septic systems are possible, he added.