MAMAKATING – Paula Medley is used to the criticism. As president of the Basha Kill Area Association (BKAA), she has weathered the slings and arrows of those who believe the BKAA is opposed to all forms of development. But, according to Medley, the BKAA wants only to ensure that, when development comes to the area around the Basha Kill, it's done so in a way that has the least possible impact upon its fragile environment.

"It's considered to be a unique resource," Medley says in regard to the kill.

Medley feels, and many Mamakating residents would agree, that there are essentially two major geographical features in the township: the ridge, and the Basha Kill. Medley feels that if the area were to become overdeveloped — or worse, that the kill itself were to become polluted — then Mamakating would lose the two major features that set it apart from other towns in the surrounding area.

"[The Basha Kill] has one of the highest levels of bio-diversity in the northeast," Medley says.

Medley feels that the BKAA is simply doing its job when the organization attempts to hold developers to high standards.

But some in the community — several of whom were on hand during the 'Seven Peaks' public scoping session several weeks ago — believe that the BKAA is meddling with the town's ability to attract new businesses and other "ratables" which would help fill Mamakating's empty coffers.

In fact, Medley says, there have been only a handful of projects the BKAA has decided to outright oppose. One of these was the 120,000 square foot conference center and hotel that had been proposed for the area along Shawanga Lodge Road, and another was the Yukiguni Maitake mushroom-growing facility. When it comes to the proposed development known as 'Seven Peaks' Medley says that the BKAA wants to ensure that the development meets the highest environmental standards. "It's our job to look at those developments and scrutinize them," Medley says. "We have opposed very few projects."

Medley cites the fact that the group did not oppose another major development, the Kohl's distribution center on Route 209, mainly because of the jobs it would provide.

"We live in the community too," Medley says in regard to the BKAA's membership, most of whom live in Mamakating.

But the desire for an increase in the local tax base should not outweigh the need for preserving Mamakating's resources, Medley feels.

To that end the BKAA has recently filed suit — for the fourth time — against Yukiguni Maitake; and it has also submitted a 13-page commentary on the 'Seven Peaks' development.

Regarding Yukiguni, the BKAA feels that that the original environmental impact statement simply isn't thorough enough, given that the configuration of the plant has changed significantly over the last several years. And while the group acknowledges that, on paper, it appears that the new configuration could be more environmentally friendly, the original document does not adequately address the issue of the approximately 250,000 gallons of water the plant will discharge on a daily basis. The BKAA fears that this discharge could have a devastating long-term impact on the region — this despite Yukigini's assurance that the discharge will be benign.

In the case of 'Seven Peaks,' the BKAA has joined with a number of other prominent organizations, including the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition and the Sullivan County Audubon Society, to ask that the current draft scope — the document which will outline steps the developer, Black Creek, LLC, will have to undertake to ensure that the project doesn't damage local resources — be as robust as possible. The list of items about which the BKAA is concerned includes the fact that there are three tributaries that run from the development site, two of which feed the Basha Kill, and the other which feeds the Shawangunk Creek, the latter also considered a fragile ecosystem.

"We have to look at the land itself," Medley says. "[The development] is on both sides of the ridge."

One of these tributaries will be in close proximity to the 200-room resort and conference center Black Creek hopes eventually to build on the site.

"Any construction on the property, there's a possibility it could run off into the Basha Kill," Medley says.

Medley also says that the developer picked an area that is high in resource value, making scrutiny all the more important. She also states that, once the draft environmental impact statement is complete, there can be no going back. The fact that the courts have consistently ruled against the BKAA when it comes to the mushroom plant would seem to indicate that the BKAA and other groups need to get this right the first time in order to ensure that the same thing doesn't happen in the case of 'Seven Peaks.'

Medley also feels very strongly that the Basha Kill and the ridge are so unique that many people come from outside of the area to enjoy them. These "ecotourists" come into the community and spend money at local businesses, something that would vanish were the area to become too developed. In fact, Mamakating Councilperson Dr. Robert Justus has stated that he and the town board are looking for ways to put Mamakating on the map as an inexpensive and close-by destination for people looking for a quick getaway. Medley cited a report which shows that, during a period from mid-April through late June of last year, more than 1,000 people came to watch a pair of nesting eagles on the Basha Kill — and this was just one location along the kill, the data having been collected during a slower period in the spring. The summer numbers were likely much higher, Medley says.

Over the past five years that Medley has been president of the BKAA, there have been hundreds of development projects that have come before the town planning board. Yet the BKAA's critics seem to feel that the organization wants no development at all, despite the fact that there have been only a few projects the group has opposed. Medley simply wants to ensure that, given the uniqueness of the region, development is done in an environmentally friendly way, and that project which could negatively affect the kill or the ridge be examined in an exhaustive manner.

"There should be a higher degree of scrutiny," Medley says.

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