The state Department of Environmental Conservation has scheduled informational and input meetings next week on the proposed Crossroads resort and Belleayre Mountain Ski Center expansion.
The resort is proposed on the border of Ulster and Delaware counties in the towns of Shandaken and Middletown. The project includes two hotels with 370 rooms, 259 lodging units, a conference center, spa and an organic golf course.
The land is adjacent to the state-owned Belleayre, which will feature ski-in/ski-out recreational opportunities. The projected cost of the project is $400 million.
Officials have said it will create 450 full-time permanent jobs and 150 part-time jobs as well as 1,800 construction jobs during an estimated eight-year construction period.
The DEC, lead agency in the environmental review, has determined that the proposed project may have a significant impact on the environment and that a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement is necessary.
A DEIS was wrapped up four years ago, with hearings held in 2004. However, because a compromise agreement between Crossroads, the state, New York City and environmentalists was reached in September, another DEIS, with hearings, must be completed.
The agreement, approved more than seven years after Dean Gitter proposed building a $500 million Catskill resort, allowed the project to proceed while assuring environmental protections and land preservation through state purchases.
In addition, Crossroads Ventures agreed to scale down development, including a shift out of the Ashokan Reservoir basin.
The public informational meeting on the integrated project will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, at the Belleayre Mountain Ski Resort in the Discovery Lodge conference space. Representatives of the DEC and the project sponsors will present descriptions of the proposed activities, and copies of the draft scope will be available to attendees.
A scoping meeting to receive comments on the draft scope for the DEIS has been scheduled for 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 11 at the same location. Speaking times may be limited, if necessary, to accommodate all attendees. Interested persons are encouraged to provide any detailed or extensive comments in writing, DEC officials said.
Delaware County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Eisel called the proposal ``probably one of the largest tourism destination projects anywhere, and it will attract many people to our area."
The towns of Middletown and Shandaken, the Margaretville Central School and Delaware and Ulster counties expect annual property-tax revenue of more than $2 million from the project.
Annual sales-tax revenue to the state and Ulster and Delaware counties is expected to be more than $2 million.
