As has been the case at prior Saugerties Town Board meetings, developers behind the proposed transformation of the 840-acre Winston Farm property faced a sharply divided response during a public hearing last week.
Detractors at the Wednesday, June 18 town board meeting derided the developers’ decision to move forward with a broad environmental review unrelated to specific projects, which some said is inadequate for the magnitude of their eventual plans. The new Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) is focused on the developers’ revised application, which removes specific development elements and asks instead for the property to be granted a Planned Development District (PDD) distinction.
Critics fear the property could be cut up and sold to different developers who might have different plans for their parcels.
Susan Paynter, conservation chair with the Mid-Hudson branch of the Sierra Club, echoed other opponents in saying that granting the request based on the current DGEIS would not only allow for the present property owners to “lock in approval now and deal with the environmental consequences later,” but would ensure future owners of the property would be able to do the same.
“This proposal represents exactly the kind of short-sighted planning that the Sierra Club has fought against for over 130 years,” Paynter said. “The developers are attempting to push through a (PDD) zoning change using a (DGEIS) that is fundamentally flawed and lacks essential details about location, physical dimensions, timing and operations. Details that are absolutely necessary for any meaningful environmental impact assessment and also essential for any future owners.”
Paynter said if approved, the zoning change would risk diluting public input and the true impact of future development of the property.
“What we’re witnessing here is a textbook case of improper segmentation, a tactic designed to circumvent meaningful environmental review,” she said. “They want to gain approval now based on vague, non-committal plans while deferring real environmental analysis to smaller scale evaluations that will inevitably receive less public scrutiny and oversight. This approach fragments what should be a comprehensive environmental review into bite-sized pieces that obscure the cumulative impact on our natural resources.”
Janet Moss Asiain called the DGEIS “a jumbled mess of internal contradictions, discrepancies, inconsistencies and inaccuracies.”
“The fundamental problem is that this document subverts the express purpose of the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process to assess the specific impacts on the specific environment of development on a specific property,” she said. “This can’t be done without specific proposals for development, which the owners of Winston Farm cannot supply as they do not intend to act as developers of the property in any way. Their stated intention is to get a kind of resounding that will increase the value of the property exponentially and then sell it off in pieces to actual developers, but have no reason to even pretend to consider what the residents of Saugerties want or need on Winston Farm…These shenanigans may or may not be legal.”
Saugerties resident Jeffrey Vining said he supports the Winston Farm project because the sponsors and property owners — Anthony Montano, John Mullen and Randy Richers — are local and open to hearing from the public beyond what’s required of them.
“The owners are asking us what we want to see here, and that kind of collaboration is rare,” Vining said. “It’s not just about building something, it’s about building something that reflects who we are and what we value. As a resident, I want to see thoughtful growth, something that brings jobs, support local business, and helps keep our taxes in check. But I also want open space, environmental responsibility and smart planning: Winston Farm offers all of that.”
Vining said he believed developing Winston Farm would be good for Saugerties.
“This is a real opportunity to shape what comes next for us all, and I think we should lean into that,” he said. “I’ve built my life around spending a lifetime here, and one day I want my kids to feel the same, to stay, grow and thrive in this town.”
Town Supervisor Fred Costello opened the public hearing by calling the potential development of Winston Farm by Montano, Mullen and Richers “a unique opportunity” to do what prior proposals have not: Give the community what it’s asking for.
“The project sponsors have roots here in our community,” he said. “They have experienced that 15 year cycle of projects and the response from the community that is expressive and doesn’t like it. And for the most part, we’ve done a very good job.”
But Costello said expecting someone to purchase the property and leave it untouched forever is unrealistic. He added that under its current zoning restrictions, Winston Farm could become something the community wouldn’t like.
“The tools that are available to us today are to engage in this process and steer it towards a positive outcome, and that’s exactly where we are,” he said. “The current zoning would allow a distasteful development…It’s very much a ’60s-style subdivision with commercial development, strip malls by the highways and single-family homes all the way up to Northwood Road. I think no matter what your perspective is here this evening, you all agreed with me that that would not be the best use of that property for our community. We know we can do better.”
A second public hearing will be held at the July 16 meeting of the Saugerties Town Board, and written comments on the DGEIS will be accepted until July 28 at 3 p.m.
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