Daily Freeman

Why this matters: Beautiful Saugerties members’ objections to Winston Farm are heard at the Town Board meeting. The upcoming session on a scoping document for the environmental issues is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Frank D. Greco Senior Center at 207 Market Street. Read scoping document below the article.

Winston Farm plans in Saugerties face objections


Residents raise environmental concerns for proposal to develop site of Woodstock ’94 music festival

By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE | news@freemanonline.com |

PUBLISHED: August 18, 2022 at 9:46 a.m. | UPDATED: August 18, 2022 at 5:58 p.m.

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — Town Board members got a preview of the angry sentiment expected to be aired at an upcoming hearing on a plan to develop Winston Farm into a mix of residential, commercial, business, and recreational uses.

Most of the complaints from six residents at a board meeting Wednesday centered on risks to an aquifer.

The upcoming session on a scoping document for the environmental issues at the site of the Woodstock ’94 music festival was set for 6 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Frank D. Greco Senior Center at 207 Market Street.

The proposal seeks to develop the 800-acre site into 14 estate parcels, 76 single-family homes, a village area with 57 single-family units, 13 cabins, a commercial area, a boutique hotel, a hotel with a water park, an amphitheater with an events center, and campgrounds.

“Who will buy once our aquifer is polluted by parking lots?” resident Marjory Greenberg-Vaughn said.

“They are talking about putting in upscale housing,” she said. “Do you really think people are going to spend a million dollars and have an amphitheater next door? I lived through Woodstock (’94) and … you don’t want crowds of people and noise pollution at the expense of the citizens that pay taxes.”

Resident Joseph Hudson noted that the 50-page scoping document only mentions the word aquifer twice.

“As far as any environmental review or contemplated scope concerning the aquifer, this document is strangely lacking any reference to (the) aquifer and I kind of know why,” he said. “The Winston Farm project is going to create quite a lot of impermeable surface, which is going to seriously affect draining.”

Resident Gene O’Donovan, who owns property adjacent to Winston Farm, said developers are doing a disservice to the town.

“This project doesn’t have any responsibility to any of its neighbors,” he said. “It’s going to take Buffalo Road…and make it into its entrance to this property. Do you want your kids living on Buffalo Road to dodge the dump trucks as they come back and forth? I don’t think so.”

In the proposed scoping document, developers largely identify general areas of impact that would be studied for potential mitigation if the project is approved.

Developers named areas of concern, which included the Green Rock Cress as an endangered plant species; the Red Headed Woodpecker as a rare bird species that is found on the property.; having a 43-acre area of the 800-acre site designated as a state agricultural district; and eligibility for historic listings of the Snyder Farm and Wynkoop house.

The scoping document also states that water capacity of the aquifer would be reviewed. It did not include references to a request by the village of Saugerties to have a well on the site, which a study by Catskill Mountainkeeper in July found could not provide enough water for both a village supplemental source and full buildout as drafted by developers.

Your voice matters!

This decision will ultimately come down to the Town Board, so our local officials are key to this process! Call or email, and let them know about your concerns.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Please submit letters to the editor about your concerns:

  • Hudson Valley One: submit at this link. Monday is the deadline for the weekly paper.