A potential resort is in talks for the Blue Chip Farm property in the Town of Shawangunk, and locals are showing up time and time again to be heard on their concerns. 

 

The Town of Shawangunk Planning Board held the second scoping session last Tuesday and it was almost as big of a turnout as the first one, as residents came to discuss the proposed revitalization of long-time 700 acre horse farm, Blue Chip. The idea for the farm, orchestrated by developer and filmmaker David Alexanian, is to turn the space into a multi-use resort including 100 cottages, restaurants, an Audubon certified golf course, single-family homes and more, while preserving 200 acres of the space to be maintained as a horse farm. Property and farm owner, Tom Grossman, who owned Blue Chip for 20 years, would live in this section. 

 

Project Planner Stuart Mesinger again gave a brief overview of the project, including that it would entail about 50 percent of open space, not including the golf course. He also explained what the zoning there allows. “Zoning also provides for something called a planned development group, which is a mix of uses, for example resort style, or a planned development style as long as it has a minimum of 50 uses or rather 50 units. In a planned development group you can have other kinds of uses such as restaurants, spas, activity centers, and so on,” Mesinger explained.

At the first session, locals mentioned items like pollutants being drained into the Dwaar Kill, concerns about the project’s close proximity to the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge, local habitats and species and more.

 

While many similar issues were brought up once more, some new concerns arose about nearby turtle habitats, the large scale effect of the project, new drivers on Albany Post Road and the question of sizing down.

 

Neill Watt lives on Albany Post Road and had much to say about the Dwaar Kill being a wood turtle estuary.  “I’ve been a country boy my whole life. I’ve never seen as many wood turtles  as I’ve seen since we’ve built our house and moved right here,” Watt mentioned, explaining that he has pictures of them laying next to him and even picking them up.

 

River Road resident Merrie Witkin shared concerns about the cumulative effect of this project. She brought up other neighboring proposals for larger developments in the area and wanted the planning board to consider all of them together and the long lasting effects. “I’m not quite sure that I understand how any developer looking at their own property can really evaluate the cumulative effect. There are currently pending a number of large scale projects that would impact stormwater runoff,” said Witkin.

 

Witkin was piggybacked by other neighbors, who claim that they also deal with lots of runoff issues. 

 

Carl Stein brought up traffic in the nearby area. He and his wife Wanda have been in the area for 24 years and live on Bates Lane, which is between Albany Post Road and the road Blue Chip is located on, Hoagerburgh Road. Stein fears the traffic build -up on Albany Post Road, especially for out-of-towners who won’t be as accustomed to the road.

 

“Along those lines as far as traffic, Albany Post Road is a very busy stretch of road. I commuted for many years, coming out of Bates Lane, cars coming down Albany Post Road in the morning [going] 50 plus miles an hour, sixties easy, and there’s a blind spot,” Stein mentioned. 

 

River Glen Road resident Adrienne Gelfand-Perine asked for consideration for a potentially smaller project.

 

“We’re all reminiscing about this beautiful property and not wanting it to be destroyed. So the incineration is, this is so immense, but certainly I’d love lovely places to go [like] the restaurant and I think it would be open to the public,” said Gelfand-Perine. “But why can’t it be minimized? Someone else brought that up, how large [and] how many houses do we need? Maybe the consideration could be to tone it down a little and see how that works.”