Residents share concerns about proposed Shawangunk resort

By Nadine Cafaro
Posted 5/10/23

Town of Shawangunk Hall was full last Tuesday as many residents and neighboring locals came to listen and to state concerns about a possible resort project planned for a 700-acre horse farm, Blue …

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Residents share concerns about proposed Shawangunk resort

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Town of Shawangunk Hall was full last Tuesday as many residents and neighboring locals came to listen and to state concerns about a possible resort project planned for a 700-acre horse farm, Blue Chip Farms. Every seat was full, to the point where attendees were standing in corners of the room.

The meeting consisted of a public scoping session with a draft scope [made by the applicant, Elixir Design Build] for review at the meeting. A scoping session’s purpose is to consider public and agency comments on the draft scoping document that the applicant has provided. In this case, the Shawangunk Planning Board asked residents to address concerns about Blue Chip Farm’s scope that weren’t necessarily already included in the document.

The idea of the proposal is to turn Blue Chip Farms into a multi-use resort/retreat while maintaining 200 acres of the space as a continued horse farm. More specifically, the project entails 67 single-family homes, an Audubon certified golf course, a clubhouse, resort check-in, a wastewater treatment plan, a children’s barn, 100 cottages, five single family homes, a club house with a restaurant and amenities, a water treatment building, a terrace restaurant, an activity center and more.

The farm, owned by Thomas Grossman for more than 20 years, has been in talks for all different kinds of developments over the years due to its sheer capacity. However, even though Grossman can’t operate as is and remain financially adequate, none of the offers throughout the years were of any interest until this one.

Elixir Design Build is owned by David Alexanian, a filmmaker and developer who presented the project to Grossman a few years back. Out of all developments Grossman was offered, this was the only one that would preserve land for a horse farm and try to remain as ecologically friendly as it could.

When discussing other options, Alexanian stated, “In 2020 Tom [Grossman] was approached by two different buyers, very different. One was a publicly listed home builder that hoped to build 300, possibly 320 homes.” Alexanian, not naming anyone, also mentioned that Grossman was approached by someone from the Bloomingburgh development.

“Both of the offers were better monetarily than this one, but neither of those offers included horses or farming. They intended to level all the buildings. That’s when I approached Tom and I said, ‘Let’s keep Blue Chip alive,’” said Alexanian.

After a short presentation on the project from Alexanian, the project’s planner Stuart Mesinger gave some project details, including the zoning for the property, buffers and open space.

Messenger also explained some of the items they are already looking at, or planning to look at within the scope, including traffic, schools, community services, police and fire departments, water supply, groundwater and more.

Martin Blaustein, an Old Fort Road resident, mentioned items like traffic and the quality of life but harped on the wastewater treatment plant. “It’s right on the Dwaar Kill, and there’s a reason for that. It’s putting out water that’s full of E-Coli and other solid waste and it’s getting dumped right into that stream,” said Blaustein, who also noted this project would be right in his backyard.

Newburgh resident Sean Ward spoke about his concerns as someone who spent time at the neighboring wildlife refuge, Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge.

“It’s one of 13 in New York. There’s four times as many counties and most of them don’t have a resort across the street,” said Ward.

Further, Ward asked that the impact of water be addressed.

“We have to consider both the wildlife impact as well as the water impact because it is a grasslands [so] it depends on the water that runs through it. There’s various little marshlands in it, so when you change the surface impact water that runs in there, it’s going to change what wildlife can be there and will continue to come there,” Ward stated.

He also asked that they consider all wildlife, including things that are there in the winter as well as summer. “I don’t know if there’s any mammals that are affected by that, but I know that there’s a lot of migratory birds, that if those grasslands have different grasses, they won’t be coming through here,” Ward concluded.

Karen Schneller-McDonald might live in Red Hook, but she mentioned she has property in the Town of Shawangunk and has a lot of history there. She asked that the developers, and even the town, look at the project in a different light. “Towns evaluate projects parcel by parcel, but some of the natural resources that we’re looking at don’t go parcel by parcel. They’re connected like water [and] water flows above ground, below ground, from one property to another and what we do upstream impacts downstream,” said Schneller-McDonald.

“Another area where the impacts are larger than the typical environmental impact study (EIS) is habitats and species, because they aren’t confined to a property or property boundary. This property sits in an area or is surrounded by biological habitats and systems, and those systems, in order to exist, have to be connected. So, it will be our job looking at this project through the EIS and the whole process to make sure that those connections are being honored,” Schneller-McDonald stated.

There were many other comments for about another hour. Both the developers and planning board weren’t allowed to answer any questions, but rather hear and really listen to the concerns.

Written public comments on the draft scope will be accepted by the planning board until May 19, but the board ultimately decided to keep the scoping session open until next month, so that will be extended.