Letters to the editor
Too many unknowns
Regarding a recent post that was very disturbing on the Town of Saugerties website that is entitled “Winston Farm DGEIS – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Updated: June 24, 2025.”
I have read the FAQs and answers many times looking for reassurance about serious concerns about Winston Farm development.
Common sense reveals the contradiction on that page: In the current DGEIS, rezoning comes first, a Master Development Plan comes only after Planned Development District (PDD) approval, and the PDD, as currently proposed, and its “regulations”, will become law with its proviso that it will override, should there be a dispute, critical sensitive overlay districts – areas that should be protected for everyone’s sake. The FAQ page is “putting the cart before the horse” in patronizing legalese, and seems to make a virtue out of not being specific. There are simply too many reassurances made here on too many unknowns.
To my ear: “Don’t worry, citizens, let’s just bypass all the issues raised by outside experts on this sensitive environment, rely on low ‘thresholds’ that are self-serving to developers, let the town board change the zoning, and the almighty PDD will guide the board into making all the most perfect decisions for your future.”
By this process, I’m afraid that all projects adopted by future-buying-in developers will be affected by the implications of this PDD, even if each of them has to present a new DGEIS every time. And it must be restated here. The future developers are not the “good guys” that everyone knows. They will not have the attachment and love for Saugerties that we have.
I encourage townspeople of all persuasions on this issue to review these FAQ “answers” with a critical eye, or at least ask the board for more time to review the actual DGEIS carefully rather than accept the summarized, glossed-over version on the Winston Farm Facebook page. I recommend, at the very least, that townspeople review page 165 of the DGEIS, where only three ‘thresholds’ are set forth, and they are very inadequate, in my view.
But see for yourself. Luckily we still have time to write to the town board up till July 28th with our concerns at this email address: https://saugerties.ny.us/other/winston-farm
Furthermore, dear fellow townspeople, the PDD of the owners does not specify how land is to be used at the outset. And if the Winston Farm proposed rezoning is adopted, the district’s land uses may be commented upon by us folks only one time 30 days after review by the town planning board. If the master development plan is accepted by the town board, too much will be left to the town board and the town planning board’s discretion, in my view.
I have stated in a prior letter to HV1, and I agree with Fred Costello, as printed in the June 25th issue, that I appreciate the fact that the project sponsors have been willing to dialogue and are attempting to “… give the community what it’s asking for.”
Mr. Costello also adds “ … Under its current zoning restrictions, Winston Farm could become something the community wouldn’t like.” To that statement I would ask: Is the fear of that possibility a carrot or a stick, and for whom? As citizens, let’s not embrace the current proposal in fear, nor should we embrace inappropriate rezoning that benefits the future developers more than the townspeople.
The entire community must become fully engaged in this because the project sponsors are the only ones who can facilitate the transformation of Winston Farm into something that breaks everyone’s hearts — or into a legacy we can all be proud of.
Joanne Pagano Weber
Saugerties
A plan that is no plan
The second, and regrettably last, public hearing for the Winston Farm DGEIS is Wednesday July 16th, at 6pm at the Saugerties Senior Center at 6pm. The public comment period ends July 28th, and written comments may be submitted until that date to winstonfarmcomments@saugertiesny.gov.
Participating in how land is used in our community is one of the most important civic actions you can take. What happens on Winston Farm will shape the character of Saugerties and the ecological changes will be irrevocable. The DGEIS which the sponsors (owners) have produced and which can be read at the library and on the town board website is filled with contradictions and inconsistencies, and does not provide details on mitigation measures.
There is no “plan” in the Planned Development District” (PDD). It says so right in the introduction: “The Project Sponsor is not proposing to develop the project at this time,” and “adoption of the PDD zoning law will allow the project sponsors to market the site That means actual developers, from who-knows-where. The unplanned-PDD (Appendix P of the DGEIS) is a risible list of projects ranging from an amphitheater (yes, that’s back in there again, and contradicts the introduction) to a medical center, to research and development, laboratories, warehousing, storage and distribution, and too many others to include in this letter.
I sorely wish more people would read the DGEIS or at least part of it and see this for themselves. If you don’t have time, you can go to beautifulsaugerties.com for analysis and critique from residents of Saugerties who have read it. If you agree with it, you’re welcome to use it.
Environmental impacts of a plan cannot be assessed when there is no plan. The so-called “thresholds” proposed are vague and the document filled with language such as preserving natural habitats “to the maximum extent practicable” – far from the specific mitigation language that should be required, and wholly insufficient to guide future development on a scale of this magnitude, on land that sits atop an irreplaceable aquifer that is a water source, irreplaceable forests that filter our air and regulate the temperature, wetlands that are natural flood managers, and grasslands that are a carbon sink; and which all together which create a biodiverse ecosystem that humans depend on for health and safety and a survivable future. The Town previously committed to preserving 73% of Winston Farm and that must be adhered to as contiguous open space.
The current DGEIS is a request for rezoning, which as currently proposed, is a green light for unplanned over-development. That is why I, among others, are requesting the town board to not approve the rezoning as currently proposed. This is not the same as not developing at all, and that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying no to doing it like this. At the very least, given the complexity of this DGEIS and the magnitude of the implications, the 120-day extension to public comment period, as requested by Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Woodstock Land Conservancy, and the Hudson Valley chapter of the Sierra Club, all interested parties in the SEQRA process, should be granted.
Margarita Asiain
Saugerties
The beauty of the Catskills
The most recent churning of the SEQRA vat in the Winston Farm saga is the opportunity for the public to comment on the project sponsor’s latest DGEIS. In this, we are to seek threshold limits for proposed re-zoning of the area.
This is extremely challenging, given the absence of a master plan or project design, but two threshold limits that could be looked at are amount of open space and the water capacity of the area. There are significant natural limits bearing upon open space, and these have prompted the development of the aquifer protection and sensitive area overlays.
Despite the outrageous assertion in the sponsor’s draft zoning regulation that it would supersede the limitations of these overlays, they should be respected, no matter what the new zoning looks like. For ecological and economical reasons, much more open space must be preserved. And the water analysis, despite their claims, shows insufficiencies.
Recently I attended an excellent Friends of Historic Saugerties presentation at the Saugerties Library, the focus of which was the Catskill Mountain House. The historical context in which this tremendous project arose was one of discovery and celebration of the extraordinary beauty of the Catskills. Indeed, this hotel and its environs was on the list of every prominent member of early 19th-century society as a must-see rivaling the great sites of Europe.
A magazine article written during this time extolled the virtues and necessity of preserving scenic beauty, not just for tourism, but also for the sake of sustaining who we are as a culture (and one might add today, who we are as a species). These words have resonance when we consider what development of Winston Farm should look like. Much of our economy is still built on tourism, and visitors coming to our area want to see the natural beauty of the Catskills, not strip malls and ticky-tacky housing tracts. And doesn’t that have resonance for us, too, when considering where we want to live?
Bill Barr
Saugerties
