The concerns were not lost on Brennan, who noted that the scoping hearing was intended to solicit those types of concerns. This would severely reduce the capacity of that forest to support numerous wildlife specifies that require large areas or areas distant from human disturbance (such as) many songbirds and certain raptors, snakes, and large mammals, likely reducing or extirpating their populations on and around the site.” “It would destroy large areas of significant habitat, much of it forested, and fragment much of the remaining forest. “The proposed development project at Winston Farm … would be devastating to the ecosystems, wildlife, and plants of the site and the surrounding region,” Hudsonia officials wrote. “It would replace 800 acres of forest, meadow and stream corridor with hundreds of acres of paved surface and buildings.”Ĭatskill Mountainkeeper also provided a preliminary biodiversity assessment of the site in a report from Hudsonia, which looked at the ecology that would be impacted by development. “The Winston Farm project … represents a fundamental change in the town of Saugerties and a new development hub as large as the existing village,” Svenson said. “Although the draft scope might look lengthy, it’s quite generic,” she said. “This is … a public hearing to comment on the draft scope … for the environmental impact statement process,” said David Brennan, attorney for the developers.īrennan had been immediately preceded at the microphone by Catskill Mountainkeeper environmental attorney Emily Svenson, who was the first speaker to tell Town Board members that scoping document did not include the significant issues that the 800-acre undeveloped site deserves. The comments were made Wednesday during a session that drew about 190 people and 42 speakers, though most did not reference the document and did not provide the insight being sought by officials about how the project should deal with concerns. Winston Farm developers were asked to put more detail into an environmental scoping document that many public hearing speakers felt was short on attention to issues that have been voiced repeatedly during past several months. Winston Farm hearing in Saugerties draws environmental concerns
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