Foes of development expected at Planning Board meeting

Representatives for a collation of land preservation organizations expect to attend the Tuesday, April 9, town Planning Board meeting to demonstrate opposition to the proposed Zena Homes development.

The promise comes even though the session, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Town Hall at 1 Town Hall Drive, does not include a portion for public comments.

The development would consist of a 30-lot residential subdivision on 106.6 acres.

Having a presence is considered important, Woodstock Land Conservancy and Ruby Rod and Gun Club spokespersons said during telephone interviews Friday, April 5. The groups are adjacent property owners and expect to have a constrained presence until actual site plan reviews take place.

“We’ve asked for the majority of … our opposition to refrain from coming but we are planning on having a small group there,” said conservancy Executive Director Andy Mossey.

While the Ruby Rod and Gun Club is not a formal part of the coalition consisting of nine watchdog groups, Mossey considers the organization to be an invaluable preservation partner.

“Hunters actually make up some of the major players of conservation initiatives across the country and … contributed some of the most dollars per every initiative including land acquisitions for habitat,” he said. “Yes, they do hunt wildlife and we do care as a conservancy and a conservation organization about protecting wildlife, however, wildlife doesn’t exist without habitat. So the two have to be tied together in some capacity.”

The more formal coalition consists of Town of Ulster Citizens, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Mid-Hudson Group, Overlook Mountain Center, Overlook Bicycles, Kingston Land Trust, Kingston Citizens, Friends of Bluestone Wild Forest, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and Woodstock Land Conservancy.

Cooperation with the groups has included showing how the Ruby Rod and Gun Club’s 408.3 acres of nearby property could be affected by development of the proposed Zena Homes site.

Said Rod and Gun Club Vice President Brian Murphy, “I took (a Town of Ulster Citizens representative) down along the Woodstock Land Conservancy side bordering ours and then bordering Zena (Homes) to show him where the swamps were and the runoff, and there’s a vernal pool up there.”

Use of the adjacent properties by Rod and Gun Club members compared with the other organizations is more interactive with nature, with the contribution to state environmental reviews expected to be anecdotal based on experience.

“Bear and deer (are) the predominant game that we hunt there,” Murphy said. “There are some turkey hunters, too.”

The Rod and Gun Club has also developed a relationship with wildlife that involves hunting done by creatures living nearby.

“We have a pond on the property that we stock for the kids,” Murphy said. “Therefore, the herons come and eat the fish.”

The Woodstock Land Conservancy consists of people who are likely to see use that consists of hiking trails and low-impact recreational activities that are created after science-based reviews are conducted. The organization has also developed a track record of hunting for legal problems in development applications.

“We do have a number of studies that have been commissioned by conservation entities of reliable nature that show there are a number of different varieties of …terrestrial, aquatic, and birds,” Mossey said. “We