#2007-14: September 5, 2007 Landmark Belleayre Agreement Reached Over 1200 Acres Added to State Forest Preserve - Catskill Center Leads Coalition, Successful Negotiation Efforts For Information, Contact: Tom Alworth, Executive Director, Catskill Center for Conservation and Development - 845-586-2611 (Arkville, NY) - After more than six years of dispute and confrontation, agreement has been reached on the framework for a central Catskills development plan that saves the sensitive eastern slopes of Belleayre Mountain, adds over 1200 acres to the state Forest Preserve and protects the water quality of our streams and reservoirs. It also opens the way to previously sanctioned expansion of New York’s Belleayre Mountain ski center and controls development as a complement to the ski center on the mountain’s western side. "We are making history today in the Catskills," said Tom Alworth, executive director of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. "Faced with a sprawling and inappropriate development in the central Catskills we came together, fought for and achieved an alternative that protects forest land and water quality while allowing for environmentally sound development in the area." Originally, the Crossroads Ventures plan for hotels, golf courses and condominiums threatened the Slide Mountain and Big Indian Wilderness areas and the New York City water supply in the Ashokan Reservoir basin. Local, state and national business and conservation groups joined with government officials to negotiate a viable compromise. The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development led the Catskill Preservation Coalition (CPC), a group of 10 national, state, regional and local organizations, uniting a wide range of community interests during the intensive three-year search for a solution. "We could not have done this without the help and leadership of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his staff, who stepped in to engineer this compromise," Alworth said. "And we are grateful to our coalition partners who, guided by the expertise of lead attorney Marc Gerstman, stood together through years of difficult negotiations to arrive at this outcome. Instead of an 18-hole golf course, hotel and time-share condos on steep slopes draining into the Esopus Creek and Ashokan Reservoir in the New York City watershed, more than 1200 acres of eastern Belleayre Mountain will be acquired by New York State and added to the Forest Preserve to be protected as Forever Wild." "The strong support for this agreement by the Board of Directors of the Catskill Center reflects our historic dual mission of conservation and development" said Board President Claude Shostal. "Saving over 1200 acres of critically important forest lands for inclusion in the Forest Preserve is a landmark achievement, but development at this scale will require all interested parties to continue to work together to minimize adverse impacts on surrounding communities" said Shostal. "The Crossroads Venture plan will go forward, as a much smarter and greener project limited to the mountain’s western side," said Alworth. Some of the land there has previously been developed, which includes homes, an abandoned ski center and a cell tower. Development on the west side parcel will dovetail with the state’s planned expansion of the Belleayre Ski Center and will share the existing entrance road. While the modified project is still large, it complies with all federal, state and city legal and environmental requirements. Based on this agreement, a Supplemental EIS will be prepared on the revised project with opportunity for public comment. "Many people deserve credit for today’s victory," said Eric Goldstein, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, who represented his organization in the CPC and who was a central figure in the negotiations with the state and the developer every step of the way. "The 9 million New Yorkers who drink clean Catskill water every day have been well served," Goldstein continued. "Governor Spitzer and his staff have done a great job and so has the Catskill Center. The Center promotes conservation and development in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, and it has done a commendable job at fulfilling its mandate these past 6 years."