Last year, the Shawangunk Journal published 1,400 news stories. Most of those stories are done and dusted, resolved to some degree of closure. But some of these 1,400 stories raise questions that still linger. There are some 2024 stories that haven’t yet ended, some of the stories we plan to keep tracking.

Will Wawarsing Host a Landfill?

The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency is hard at work planning a cutting-edge landfill that will eliminate the need to cart trash up to the Finger Lakes, and at the same time reuse much of the county’s waste material for a greener waste management future.

After an exhaustive search, the department has narrowed things down to two viable landfill sites, both in Wawarsing – the poorest town in the county, and the one farthest from the county seat.

That’s the vision, but local residents are pushing back, and a kind of grassroots defense seems to be stirring up. We’ll be following to see what happens.

What’s Happening at Honor’s Haven, the Terrace, and the Nevele?

In the summer, the Honor’s Haven resort complex was purchased by a Buddhist organization called Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society. The Journal looked into them, and found that they left a tangled web of land disputes in Canada. The story is complicated by a number of possible stereotypes and misunderstandings caused by race, gender, and culture. What will happen at Honor’s Haven, and will its new owners successfully caretake such a large, iconic piece of Wawarsing? Next year, we’ll probably find out.

Meanwhile, the Terrace Motel was purchased by an anonymous group looking to remedy the historic site. But unfortunately, rescue came too late and the property was condemned, and is now in the process of demolition. What happens now, the buyers say, “remains nebulous.”

And then there’s the Nevele, grandest of the Wawarsing hotels, which had permits for redevelopment by Somerset Partners, until the project was waylaid last March when a fire destroyed the Winter Lodge. Since then, it’s been quiet at the Nevele.

Is a Bed and Breakfast Coming to Pine Bush?

As Pine Bush’s small-but-mighty downtown stacks up restaurants, an enormous vacant building has been earmarked for a bed and breakfast.

If the project comes off, the region’s UFO capital could have a big bump in its overnight tourist economy.

What’s Happening with the Delaware Aqueduct Tunnel Repairs?

The longest tunnel in the world plugs the Rondout, Cannonsville, Neversink, and Pepacton reservoirs into New York City’s pipes. After decades of leaks, a $2 billion repair project was launched this year, attempting to connect the tunnel to a bypass, allowing for repairs on the system. For the first time in 79 years, the tunnel was emptied of water in October, allowing much-needed repairs that stretch from Wawarsing to Newburgh.

Then, the drought happened. Smaller reservoirs closer to Manhattan looked in danger of running dry, so the project was stalled, and the system brought back in line. Come October 2025, the whole process should start over. We will be watching the repairs with great interest.

Housing Crisis

Municipalities from Crawford to Marbletown are examining their regulations around two crucial housing areas. Accessory dwelling units, which allow homeowners to rent a portion of their property out as an apartment, are become permitted in more and more areas, and regulation is underway to shore up the development of more such units. Meanwhile, short-term rentals, which offered many homeowners an income stream at the cost of worsening the regional housing crisis, are facing more and more regulation.

The Hudson Valley remains in a grueling housing crisis, and the Shawangunk Ridge area is one of the centers of the storm. We’ll be watching to see how people live, and how the real estate of the Ridge evolves.