This proposed zoning change does not sit well with project opponents, who can be expected to make their objections known at the upcoming public hearing on the question. “We feel that it’s spot zoning and inappropriate,” said Nancy Schniedewind, a member of the steering committee of Save the Lakes. “We hope that the Town Board will take the law seriously, and keep the law as their primary criterion for decisionmaking.”
“I think that the biggest problem is the lack of engagement of the public in this process,” Schniedewind added. “We don’t think the public trust has been kept.” She contended that “Many of the developer’s proposals are going to hurt taxpayers. For example, the DEC acknowledged that the developer might apply for a PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes] agreement…That would cost the town and county $17 million.”
Joanne Steele of the Mid-Hudson Group of the Sierra Club concurred, calling the DEC’s decision to accept the FEIS “shameful…The DEC has violated its public mandate and totally caved to the fantasy desires of some residents who think that whatever they build, they’ll get rich.” Both Schniedewind and Steele faulted the state agency for not giving adequate consideration to alternative development options, such as a “conservation resort” — in Steele’s words, “just because it wasn’t profitable.” The findings state that “fewer jobs would be created and less revenue would be generated in this alternative.”
In a press release jointly issued by Save the Lakes and the Sierra Club, project opponents characterized the findings as “a one-sided, developer’s document” in which “expert opinion[s] from Save the Lakes, the Sierra Club, Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership and a number of highly respected independent environmental experts were ignored.” For example, a hydrologist retained by the opponents to conduct an independent groundwater study estimated the recharge rate for the water level in Williams Lake as insufficient to be able to satisfy the demands of the development, especially during drought conditions. But the DEC accepted the figures provided by HRVR declaring the lake water supply adequate. “The main problem with the resort is the developers’ refusal to do proper testing recommended by the DEC and the DEC gave them a pass,” Steele said. “The developers didn’t want it proved that it was risky, and in the long run the people of Rosendale are going to pay for it.”
The FEIS estimates that the resort and homes will use up about 184,000 gallons of water per day and discharge about 90,000 gallons per day of sewage. The construction plan approved by the DEC for the Williams Lake Project was downsized slightly from the DEIS to the FEIS stage, with some structures moved or eliminated to reduce the danger of erosion of steep slopes and disturbance of bat hibernacula. The total Area of Disturbance was reduced from 70.2 acres to 66.13 acres of the 779-acre site.
Construction to be permitted will include 154 for-sale residential units, including 83 townhouses, 59 detached single-family homes and 12 duplex workforce housing units; a lodging facility consisting of a 94-room lodge, 22 lakefront suites and 14 stand-alone cabins; a conference center; two restaurants; a spa; a fitness center; a wellness center; and a pizza café. An existing historic structure will be converted into an interpretive center dedicated to the history of the Rosendale cement industry.
At a workshop meeting on Monday, July 22, the Town Board scheduled the public hearing on the proposed Binnewater Water Lakes Conservation Planned Development Area for Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. Town officials are expected to move forward with the needed approvals. A longtime proponent of the development, Rosendale town supervisor Jeanne Walsh said, “We’re glad to see this project finally able to move forward. We believe the Williams Lake Project will provide great benefits for the town and the region.”
The full Findings Statement and other documents pertinent to the Williams Lake Project SEQR process can be read at the DEC website at www.dec.ny.gov/permits/54656.html.
