MAMAKATING – The NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is not satisfied with the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) submitted by Black Creek Holdings, LLC, for the project known as 'Seven Peaks' — a proposed 49-lot, luxury community and hotel that will straddle the ridge in Mamakating. The DEC, in fact, had originally intended to take "lead agency" on the project — a designation which indicates that a particular governmental body will conduct and coordinate the day-to-day oversight — relenting only after the Mamakating Planning Board said that it would ensure DEC concerns would be front-and-center during the application process.

In a letter sent to Mamakating Planning Board Chairman John Piazza on December 8, 2009, DEC Acting Regional Permit Administrator Alexander Ciesluk outlined several areas in which the DEIS "fails to meet the requirements of the Final Scope." This scope is essentially a blueprint of concerns expressed by the public regarding the proposed development; thus, the applicant must address each of these concerns.

The letter states that the "conservation alternative in the draft DEIS is inadequate." The developer is required, under the original scoping document, to provide an alternative site plan "that takes into account fewer, smaller and/or rearranged lots and/or trail locations as necessary to address and evaluate the continuity of natural corridors to avoid or minimize negative impacts to existing ecological and environmental resources, as well as potential concerns for wildlife activity." Simply put, the DEC apparently thought that the conservation alternative would have fewer lots than the 49, five-to-ten acre lots currently proposed.

But the DEIS submitted to the DEC actually has a conservation alternative that depicts 120 lots, according to Ciesluk's letter. The letter goes on to say that "[DEC] staff expected that the sponsor's proposed project lot count of 49 lots would have been the basis for design of this alternative." Given this, Ciesluk's letter says, "the proposed conservation alternative…does not comport with either the scope or the [lead agency] agreement."

The letter also says that the DEIS does not include information regarding a 200-room hotel proposed for the site. It states that the DEIS must specifically address "impacts including area of disturbance, water usage, sanitary waste treatment and disposal, traffic and storm-water runoff and erosion control" in the area in which the hotel would be built.

Shalom Lamm, the principal of Black Creek, said that the DEC doesn't have its facts straight.

"We very strongly disagree with the DEC's findings," Lamm said. "We don't think they're factually correct."

When pressed for a reason why the DEIS would include a conservation alternative that is much larger in scope than the actual proposal itself, Lamm refused to elaborate. There is some speculation, however, that the conservation alternative depicts a greater number of homes in order to demonstrate to the DEC what could be built there under current zoning laws.

Paula Medley, president of the Basha Kill Area Association, said that this could be an instance in which a developer is using a worst-case scenario in order to make the original development appear more palatable.

"You're supposed to stick with what you've got," Medley said. "If you start at 120 [lots] and you're only putting in 49, it sets off red flags."

Medley also feels that the DEC's letter is an indication that this now-minor dispute could become bigger, as the agency, in her experience, rarely gets bogged down with such minutiae. "It shows that the DEC is concerned and taking its responsibility very seriously," Medley said.

She feels that the DEC is taking into consideration the uniqueness of the area.

"They're considering the fact that this development is proposed in one of the most important natural resources in New York State," Medley feels.

DEC spokesperson Wendy Rosenbach said that the letter Mr. Ciesluk sent to the Mamakating Planning Board clearly outlines the problems the DEC has regarding the DEIS, especially the hotel. In a later e-mail, Rosenbach said that the proposed hotel is mentioned in the preliminary scoping document, but only briefly. Indeed, Ciesluk's letter states explicitly that a failure to adequately address these concerns raises the issue of what is known as "segmentation," a process in which the several stages of a major project are considered separately rather than all at once. The DEC handbook on the NY State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) law states that, "By excluding subsequent phases or associated project components from the [Environmental Impact Statement] the project may be more acceptable to the reviewing agencies and the public."

According to Wendy Rosenbach, the DEC was to meet with town officials this past Tuesday afternoon in order to discuss the disagreement. Planning Board Chairman John Piazza said that he was looking forward to the meeting, and that he was "very aware" of the dispute. When asked whether he felt that the meeting would resolve the dispute Piazza said he was unsure, but he added that it is not the planning board's role to go to bat for a developer.

"It's tough to say. It's all in the way you look at what they [the DEC] were asking for and how the applicant responded," Piazza said. "Hopefully we can see exactly where the sticking points are and work it out."

Piazza also said that he was unsure of the legalities regarding the town's role as lead agency, but he felt confident that the board would retain its current status on the project.