Resort Controversy on the Route 28 Corridor

I finally decided to put my two cents worth into the discussion for whatever it is worth.

The resort should happen. It should happen in a smaller version than what was agreed upon. Let Hinchey negotiate further and don't hate him just yet. If resort friendly Delaware County officials have it their way the eastern part of the Route 28 corridor could be nothing but a traffic jam. It's not going to stop at just one resort so let's be smart about this.

It should come with a "forever green" requirement built in, in perpetuity. Higher LEEDS ratings, golf course management etc. A model of environmentalism - forever even as standards get more stringent. All development over a certain size in the watershed should have this requirement. We can be more successful if we carefully manage the image we create of resorts in the Catskills and we can use green growth to get us there. No more borscht in the Catskills.

The central Route 28 corridor should undergo a regional planning commission to manage the gateway communities to the region, traffic flows, ridgeline/horizon protection, etc. Corridor communities should adopt overlay districts for resort and low income housing as a part of their zoning to ensure community input.

The entire Route 28 corridor from Oneonta to Kingston should develop a workforce housing plan, and a low and senior housing plan. This should include a plan for a public transportation system from Oneonta to Kingston.

These two items should be funded by contributions from the counties and Belleayre or Aman or any other developers that come along putting money into a fund to maintain high standards of development. The way high end apartment developers in NYC have to set aside for low income housing or public art.

The state should sell Belleayre, Whiteface and Gore Mountains and get out of the skiing industry. Let economic development and jobs happen on the open market.

And I love this one, but can't take credit for it. The NYC DEP should agree to the per acre price for the purposes of valuing their purchase and ownership of land in the watershed, including land under the reservoir waters - at the price paid by the State of NY to the Belleayre Resort owners Kenny Pasternak et al... After all land should be assessed at what you could sell it for. I think that's about $10,000 per acre. That'll help fund a lot of smart growth in the watershed towns.

Newest Places to Brunch in the western Catskills

Upscale cafes and everyday diners and bagel shops and coffee bars cropping up all around the area. A new vegetarian breakfast and lunch cafe open on weekends only opened early this year and was just written up in the NYTimes. Heaven, as it is called, is in Bovina in the western Catskills. Breakfast without bacon or sausage can actually be really enjoyable. The coffee is, well, heavenly, and having tofu for breakfast makes one want to go out and hike and be healthy the rest of the day. This place started as a bakery and has expanded to include breakfasts or brunch - so don't expect a huge menu. It's all about the baked goods here. Scones, brownies, cookies, biscotti - you simply must leave with a sinful sweet when you're done. There's lots of local chatter in this cafe which is filled mostly with weekenders reading the NY Times, gossiping about the recent auction, where people went for dinner, who's around this weekend. The vibe was particularly warm and jovial, despite our being solicited by an annoying real estate agent trolling for new leads. There were the coolest families and their kids I'd ever seen outside of Brooklyn.

Another new dining spot - this one I truly enjoyed even though it was a hike from my neck of the woods. We actually made a day of it and went to Cooperstown afterwards and did some antiquing so it was a worthwhile outing over all. The Beehive in Franklin is new this summer and the most attractive cafe I have seen in the Catskills. Wonderful fresh baked muffins, and typical diner breakfasts like two eggs any style with toast, home fries, bacon or sausage. Or upscale your selection to enjoy a filet mignon sandwich rubbed with pastrami spice and served with grilled red onions. Or Scotty's Strata - potato pancake with ham, scallions, roasted red peppers baked in a savory egg custard and served with green and blue cheese sauce. Simply divine. Located at the former Franklin Diner, the owners kept the diner counter area intact which gives the place that other type of vibe. Like you can just stop by and have a coffee and someone you know will be at the counter too. There is also a marvelous little garden patio out back. They're open six days a week and are less than ten minutes from Oneonta.

One thing all these two new additions have in common are the incredible portions. So bring your appetite and take a little drive for breakfast or lunch next time you're in the area.

Where's the there there??

This is the post I meant to write today. I was talking to folks at lunch who were leaving their two week Catskill vacation two days early. I asked why and they said they got bored. There wasn't enough for the kids to do. It made me think. What is it that we like to do here in the beautiful Catskill Mountains?? Is there a there here in the Catskills?

The answer is sort of, well, not really. What do we do when we come here? We come here to relax. Read a book. Garden. Go for a little hike. Make a nice meal and enjoy it just ourselves or with a few friends. Drive to the state lake for a dip with the dogs. Go to the farmers market or for a snowshoe hike. Go to a music event or performance. We drove to see the son of one of my all time favorite musicians Ali Farka Toure - and his band Vieux Farka Toure at the West Kortright Center. Well worth the drive by the way - but more people should have been dancing in the aisles.

Catskill vacations are sometimes called Do It Yourself vacations. Your expectations should be mellow. You should be adventurous and ready to do a little homework. Bring your own stuff to do - and don't be afraid to ask your lodging hosts for recommendations. Talk to people at the table next to you. Ask friends back home if they've been to the Catskills and what they did and enjoyed. Try and learn something new like flyfishing or skiing. Don't just look at the county tourism website. Go a little further. Try the NYState DEC website for Catskill hiking maps. The NYC DEP website for guided walks or fishing permits. The Catskill Mountain Club for organized hikes or Frost Valley YMCA for workshops - as well as the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development.

What is there here? Golf, horseback riding, kayaking, hiking, farmers markets, art galleries, quirky stores to shop in, antiquing, workshops on medicinal herbs or mushroom picking, main street festivals, harvest festivals, skiing, small town theatre performances, niche musicians performing and big names as well, swimming in the lakes in the state parks, camping, star watching, bird watching, hunting, hang gliding, mountain biking, fundraising 5k races, county fairs, Irish and German festivals, and a whole lot of hanging out on a porch on a rocking chair catching up with your family and friends.

It's kind of like a neighborhood bar. You have to go there a few times, but after you do, it becomes familiar. Soon everyone will know your name. Rent a private house or cabin where you can spread out and make it feel like it's your own private weekend getaway home. Come with friends so you can split up and do different things and regroup in the late afternoon for a great dinner. I wanted to tell the people I met - please come back again. Get to know the laid back pace of life and find the things that are cool for you to do and then do them some more. It could very well become your favorite get-away vacation destination.

Don't Close the Door

I received a few emails about my post about the pending resort at Belleayre. So I asked a few new acquaintances what they thought about it. Sheepishly, they told me that now that they found their little piece of paradise they want to close the door and not have anything change.

So I asked a few business owners what their real mix of customers is like and what they would like to see more of. The weekend homeowners and tourists are the revenue that keeps businesses open more days of the week or months of the year, keeps them able to hire staff, add a new service like wireless internet, or putting on a new coat of paint. Business owners know that the year-round population cannot support their increased cost of doing business. They need the weekenders but they can't always count on them. Most importantly, they said they really need more tourists.

Being just two to three hours from one of the wealthiest areas of the country means we have a great opportunity to be a destination for that money. It's just like a mall. You have your big draw stores and either end and one in the middle surrounded by lots of smaller niche businesses. We have the Emerson Resort on the east end, hopefully soon the Resort at Belleayre, and later the Aman Resort to the west. In between we have the Roxbury Motel, the Meadowood Inn, Kate's Lazy Acres. We have the Woodstock Film Festival, the Belleayre Conservatory, the West Kortright Center, the Catskill Mountain Foundation. We have the Bear Cafe, the Peekamoose Restaurant, Heaven on Main Street and Slow Down Food Co. We have cool bluegrass musicians and hip Brooklyn transplants performing under the radar in local restaurants. We have internationally known writers, painters and photographers showing their work in our mountains. We have filmmakers and theatrical directors producing vibrant pieces with local talent. We have incredible craftspeople designing furniture and decorative arts using local materials. And hardly anyone knows about it.

Being in the NYC watershed AND with the Catskill Forest Preserve means we have the opportunity to be an environmental and sustainable tourism destination. We have a highly protected natural landscape that is being explored by practically no one. We need more small lodges and resorts, river and mountain guide services, more small farms open to the public, more sporting equipment rental companies, more cafes, more music venues and other small cultural establishments. We have an amazing opportunity BECAUSE we will never have industrial parks and tract townhouse developments.

While change is scary to some, the last decade that I have been here I've found the change all positive and enjoyable. The Catskills can be what the Hamptons failed to be. Protected from sprawl, while embraced by conscientious development.

Woodstock Film prelude

Most people by now are aware that Woodstock has a film festival every fall (this year it is October 10-14). But the WFF locations are home to other events in summer. At the Bearsville Theatre, the Mitch Show will land there on June 3rd at 7:30pm and is free but reservations are required. This guy was roommate to Paris Hilton and is compared to Woody Allen. Go to www.mitchellrose.com for more.

At the Shadowland Theatre, The 12 Disciples of Nelson Mandela is on June 9th at 1pm and is free.

Then Kris Carr is playing in Albany on June 29th wtih Crazy Sexy Cancer - a must see documentary on dealing with cancer. Kris is from Woodstock and we really would like to see her film in other Catskill locations.

As always stop in from time to time at www.woodstockfilmfestival.com to see how the films are shaping up.

Other great film programming can be had in Oneonta through the Upper Catskill Community Council on the Arts www.uccca.com and one day soon in Margaretville at the under-renovations Galli-Curci Theatre. I'm not impressed with the Catskill Mountain Foundations film offerings yet this summer - their programming is a little more old school than I like but check it out for yourself at www.catskillmtn.org.

Save the Catskill Mountain Region

I sort of dig being an anonymous blogger, especially if I feel the need be digress for a moment. But I'll tell you this about me. I am into economic development if it is sustainable and tending towards green. I am into land use planning big time. So my friends are telling me about the "windmills" they want to put up a little west of me. So I think, cool. Green. No carbon emissions. Well, they sit me down. It's all logical. I'm embarrassed. How can wind energy be bad? They reassure me it depends. Like on the water off the coast of Long Island and Cape Cod - financially and local market yup it's good. Just not on the peaks of the Catskill Mountains.

Like all things green there is a time and a place, turn, turn, turn. For every season. You catch my drift. Now I'm a huge fan of what is going on in the Catksills. It's like the Hamptons only with cool people and cool celebrities. This place is on the verge of greatness but someone wants to put slums in a few up and coming neighborhoods. Some of my friends who are against this are even greener then me - yeah right. No really, they are.

Here's the 911. When corporations make decisions for us we loose. Look at the NYC regulations on business development in the Catskills - stop it at all costs agreement. Look at the resort they're planning for Belleayre Mountain - which I've written about. I wasn't a fan when it was a huge resort and my neighbors fought hard against it and I appreciate that I really do. But now it's smaller. And as someone who understands planning and economic development it is now the right size for the economy and infrastructure - and water quality protection issues. Add two more reasonably sized possible resorts to the area and windmills are now in the negative column, economically. You can't say I want to protect the troops from dying to fight for our right to have oil so I'm for clean energy --- when your tax base will be eroded by the green energy company because they are a corporate wolf in green sheepskin.

People in the Catskills need to wake up and economic developers and planners need to wake up. Having a SUSTAINABLE commercial tax base is the single most important thing you can do for a local economy. The rest will follow. Forget the tree huggers. Forget the NIMBYs. For get the ATV/snowmobilers for clean energy. Forget the second homeowners. It doesn't work in the Catskills. There is too much potential. Just believe in yourselves for a little longer folks - you really are on the verge of great things. The money is too easy - didn't you learn from the NYC DEP?

And while we're at it - ONE casino in Sullivan around Monticello is fine. But three? You go tell Spitzer and the tribes stop smoking the peyote. More on that later. Peace. Out.

The coolest lodging in the Cats

I hate to see things change, but I love it when it changes like this. Two guys have put the western Catskills on the map and no one can deny it. The Roxbury - contemporary lodging is what they call themselves. Now I'm not up on the right terms interior decorators would use but here's what you'll get. Color, technology, comfort, friendliness. Check out their website to get a sense for yourself.

What I really find fascinating is that The Roxbury is located in, well, Roxbury. This is a town that loves its' historical past. I'm talking women with bustles under their skirts, baseball teams sporting handlebar mustaches and playing barefisted, and driving around in a surrey with a fringe on top. The juxtaposition is actually fun.

The other thing that is great about The Roxbury is the way they'll put together a weekend for you. Dinner reservations, a massage, mountain bikes - you name it. Yeah - this is the place to come to if you want the best of the Catskills without breaking the bank (did I mention it's really affordable!) And the best is getting better with a new addition opening summer 2007.

soon lots of new beds in the catskills

Hi there,
Sorry for going MIA on the blog but the winter flew by for all the wrong reasons. Anyway we're back. The mountains are still here, but they'll be changing soon enough.

The resort at Belleayre Mountain developers have dropped the eastern portion of the complex. So it seems that all is set for the western end. Maybe the developer will upgrade the previous plans for a little more luxury, but the resort with spa, golf course, nature trails and condos seems like it's gotten the green light. This should give the businesses in the village to the east and west a few years to upgrade from drop ceilings and polyester sheets to something a little more current. Dare we hope for organic cotton??

Add to this the incredible Aman Resorts being one of the partners on a 2000 acre purchase half an hour west of Belleayre in the towns of Andes, Bovina and Delhi. Now this outfit knows luxury. But the most important aspect of having Aman involved is that their lead designer is a fan of buying local. Way to go dude. Hopefully he'll realize the incredible beauty of Catskills bluestone slate and fine grade wood products, not to mention blankets from local wool. And if we can dream - maybe they'll hire local farmers to raise beef, chicken, lamb, goat, and farmed fish for their culinary endeavors (sorry - I just can't hope for veal on the menu).

While these projects are a few years off from opening their doors - you can experience the Catskills at the Emerson Resort. Although they bill themselves as the Hudson Valley (not!) it is the best thing to hit these mountains in a long time. The high end of things, the Emerson will become the mid-high end soon enough, so give it a try while it's fresh.

Now is the time to visit the real Catskills north and west of the Park. The rest is just the suburbs extented. Before the put up cell towers and Hummers become boring. Before the wannabes flock to the area with their ignorance of what being in the mountains entails. If you love fresh air, being outdoors, quality time interacting with friends and nature - come here before it changes any more. The Catskill Park is open 24 / 7. the businesses aren't so call ahead.