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Environmental Group Wants More Comment Time For Belleayre Projects

kmsalex, flickr

A national environmental action group is sending a letter to New York state environmental regulators. An attorney for the group says more time is needed to comment on a modified proposal of The Belleayre Resort and plans for the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center.

The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation in mid-April released the supplemental draft environmental impact statement for the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park as well as a unit management plan and draft environmental impact statement for the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, along with a document analyzing the cumulative impacts of both. The comment period ends June 24, which, according to Eric Goldstein, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, is too short.

And so, says Goldstein, the NRDC is submitting a letter this week to the DEC requesting an extension.

A DEC spokeswoman says the department has no comment since it has not yet received the letter, but would consider the request once the letter is received. Daniel Ruzow, attorney for Crossroads Ventures, the developers of the Belleayre Resort, declined to comment on the same grounds. The modified proposal for the two-hotel resort emerges from an initial proposal more than 14 years ago for a resort more than twice the size that brought much controversy.

Again, here’s Goldstein.

He says other groups may also sign the NRDC letter.

The Belleayre Mountain Ski Center is operated by the Olympic Regional Development Authority, but remains under the jurisdiction of the DEC. Plans include a major expansion. Before the public comment period ends June 24th, the DEC has scheduled a public hearing for May 29, in two sessions, one at 3, the other at 6, at the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center on Route 28 in Highmount.

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