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Ridge developer will lay out plans
By Dawn Letus
Correspondent February 04, 2003


WALLKILL - Representatives of the proposed 2,660-acre Awosting Reserve subdivision on the Shawangunk Ridge will discuss their plans for a 350-unit housing project, golf course and recreation area at an informal meeting Thursday at Wallkill High School.

Gardiner town Supervisor Jack Hayes said the 7:30 p.m. presentation, hosted by the Gardiner Town Board and Planning Board, and planners from the towns of Shawangunk and Wawarsing, will be open to the public. If there is a snow
day resulting in the school's closure, the meeting will be canceled, he said.

Roger Beck, president of the Awosting Reserve, said the presentation will be "fairly detailed."

"We believe strongly that the Awosting Reserve community represents a very good balance between conservation and property rights," Beck said. "We feel strongly that what we are presenting is a good plan."

An abbreviated presentation was provided last week at a meeting of the Gardiner Planning Board, which had 15 items on its agenda. "It would have been unfair for us to take 45 minutes going over our plan," Beck said. "That's why we asked for this meeting."

The development, which would be at the southern end of the Shawangunk Ridge, would be centered in Gardiner but would spill over into the towns of Shawangunk and Wawarsing.

"This is really our chance to have the joint boards and public hear what we have to say, and a chance for us to listen to the public's concerns, more so than a question and answer session," Beck said.

Members of the developers' planning and environmental team will field questions, though some of the more complex queries might have to be answered through the State Environmental Quality Review process, Beck said.

"This is only the first of what will be many public meetings along the way," Beck said. "If someone doesn't get a chance to ask a question that night, there will be other opportunities."

Those already opposed to the plans say the meeting will give them a chance to voice their resistance to a project that they say would disturb the ridge's pristine environment.

Paul Muessig, of a grassroots organization called Save the Ridge, said this is really the first time, aside from the plan submitted to the Gardiner Planning Board, that the developer will present the proposal to the community.

"We are hoping to see a better explanation of what (the developers) are planning to do, and why they think their plan is environmentally sound," said Muessig, a Gardiner resident.

"We are very early in the process," he added. "At this point, Save the Ridge's position is that we don't feel that anything should be built there. The ridge should be a protected community resource. The magnitude of the development is way beyond the capacity that area can handle. We would like to see the project stopped."

Among the group's concerns are water usage and wastewater disposal, effects of herbicides and pesticides from the proposed golf course, and the disruption of a diverse habitat along the ridge, including a grove of old growth hemlock, Muessig said.

"I don't see how the biodiversity would survive the development," Muessig said.

Ultimately, the group would like to see the 2,660 acres in question sold to a land trust or local residents and annexed to adjacent state parks and preserves, Muessig said.

If not, Muessig said, the group would like to see the project scaled back considerably.

"We are coming out Thursday to make the developer aware there is very strong grassroots opposition to this project, and that it won't be pushed through quickly," he said.