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Two Snowmass Village developers who pride themselves on conservation-minded projects in environmentally sensitive areas find themselves bogged down in the gunk.
Make that "The Gunks," as in the Shawangunk Ridge of the Hudson Valley in New York state. The ridge, pronounced SHON-gum, is affectionately known as The Gunks.
Jim Light and Jim Chaffin of Light/Chaffin Associates have sparked widespread community opposition with a proposal for a luxury golf community with 349 residences.
For two developers used to receiving praise for their work, opposition from hundreds of people at public meetings and scrutiny by publications such as Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have been stinging.
"We were surprised," said Light, who has been a business partner with Chaffin for 25 years. They were major developers in Snowmass Village until they lost some prime property to foreclosure in 1988.
They emerged from that experience as a developer of what Light labels "conservation communities" in places like Spring Island, S.C.; Balsam Mountain, N.C.; and Basalt.
In Basalt they developed the highly successful Roaring Fork Club, a private golf community and club along the Roaring Fork River. The project raised little opposition during the review by the Basalt Town Council. There is scattered skepticism about how eco-friendly a golf course can be to the valley's namesake river.
In New York, Light/Chaffin Associates have had nothing but trouble since they emerged with a plan last year. Opponents have created the grass-roots organization Save the Gunks (www.savethegunks.com) to try to stop the plan.
The part of Ulster County where the project is proposed is only about 90 minutes from Manhattan. Development pressure has slowly crept toward the area, and now it's at the door of the rural area dotted with hamlets. Many residents of towns like Gardiner, Wallkill and Shawangunk won't accept the project quietly - and they hope not at all.
"Any development up there would be a disaster," said Lee Rosenthal, a resident of the area since 1976. "I want, and most people want, it to be a park."
The area is known for its stunning beauty and rock formations that attract top-notch climbers. The New York Times described The Gunks as "a vast wilderness area sprinkled with pearl-colored cliffs, waterfalls and thick forests."
The Nature Conservancy calls it "one of Earth's last great places."
In the middle of that great place is 2,600 private acres owned for years by John Bradley. Light and Chaffin said he recruited them to develop the land when he learned about some of their other projects. They said he liked their conservation orientation.
The property is wedged between the 12,000-acre Minnewaska Park and Sam's Point Preserve. It is part of a development-free expanse that goes and goes for miles.
"People always assumed that something would happen there and hoped that it wouldn't," Light observed.
Chaffin, who is heading the New York project, said he is convinced that the hullabaloo is due to the developers not presenting their plan properly and residents not taking the time to analyze their record in other places, like Basalt and Spring Island.
"It appears we haven't done a very adequate job of explaining the plan," he said. "People really haven't embraced our intent."
He touted features such as restrictions on house sizes to 4,500 square feet, preservation of 70 percent of the land as open space, and clustered development. They have promised to establish a nature center and a land trust to manage the undeveloped land. In Basalt, they promised during the review process to set up the Roaring Fork Conservancy, a nonprofit that accepts land conservation easements and monitors the quality of the Roaring Fork River drainage.
Those steps and other similar restrictive convenants on the materials and colors of houses haven't impressed foes in New York.
"Other than very attractive stain colors they can't follow through on this," said Angela Sisson, who is married to Rosenthal.
She joined Save the Gunks early on because she was concerned about the potential harm to a fragile ecosystem that harbors "a number of threatened or endangered species."
The northern Shawangunks, Sisson said, "are like nothing else in the world."
Light and Chaffin said they realize that. There are about 287,000 acres of private land that could be developed. They said their project should be embraced as a conservation-minded alternative to the cookie-cutter sprawl that would maximize development in a checkerboard pattern.
But Sisson said Save the Gunks wants to preserve the property by helping with efforts to purchase it at fair market value and add it to the adjacent state park. The members of the coalition - which includes locals, climbers and weekend visitors from New York City - don't plan on compromising on a development plan.
"They're not dumb hicks that you can just roll over - like Chaffin and Light are used to," said Sisson.
[Scott Condon's e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com]
Make that "The Gunks," as in the Shawangunk Ridge of the Hudson Valley in New York state. The ridge, pronounced SHON-gum, is affectionately known as The Gunks.
Jim Light and Jim Chaffin of Light/Chaffin Associates have sparked widespread community opposition with a proposal for a luxury golf community with 349 residences.
For two developers used to receiving praise for their work, opposition from hundreds of people at public meetings and scrutiny by publications such as Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have been stinging.
"We were surprised," said Light, who has been a business partner with Chaffin for 25 years. They were major developers in Snowmass Village until they lost some prime property to foreclosure in 1988.
They emerged from that experience as a developer of what Light labels "conservation communities" in places like Spring Island, S.C.; Balsam Mountain, N.C.; and Basalt.
In Basalt they developed the highly successful Roaring Fork Club, a private golf community and club along the Roaring Fork River. The project raised little opposition during the review by the Basalt Town Council. There is scattered skepticism about how eco-friendly a golf course can be to the valley's namesake river.
In New York, Light/Chaffin Associates have had nothing but trouble since they emerged with a plan last year. Opponents have created the grass-roots organization Save the Gunks (www.savethegunks.com) to try to stop the plan.
The part of Ulster County where the project is proposed is only about 90 minutes from Manhattan. Development pressure has slowly crept toward the area, and now it's at the door of the rural area dotted with hamlets. Many residents of towns like Gardiner, Wallkill and Shawangunk won't accept the project quietly - and they hope not at all.
"Any development up there would be a disaster," said Lee Rosenthal, a resident of the area since 1976. "I want, and most people want, it to be a park."
The area is known for its stunning beauty and rock formations that attract top-notch climbers. The New York Times described The Gunks as "a vast wilderness area sprinkled with pearl-colored cliffs, waterfalls and thick forests."
The Nature Conservancy calls it "one of Earth's last great places."
In the middle of that great place is 2,600 private acres owned for years by John Bradley. Light and Chaffin said he recruited them to develop the land when he learned about some of their other projects. They said he liked their conservation orientation.
The property is wedged between the 12,000-acre Minnewaska Park and Sam's Point Preserve. It is part of a development-free expanse that goes and goes for miles.
"People always assumed that something would happen there and hoped that it wouldn't," Light observed.
Chaffin, who is heading the New York project, said he is convinced that the hullabaloo is due to the developers not presenting their plan properly and residents not taking the time to analyze their record in other places, like Basalt and Spring Island.
"It appears we haven't done a very adequate job of explaining the plan," he said. "People really haven't embraced our intent."
He touted features such as restrictions on house sizes to 4,500 square feet, preservation of 70 percent of the land as open space, and clustered development. They have promised to establish a nature center and a land trust to manage the undeveloped land. In Basalt, they promised during the review process to set up the Roaring Fork Conservancy, a nonprofit that accepts land conservation easements and monitors the quality of the Roaring Fork River drainage.
Those steps and other similar restrictive convenants on the materials and colors of houses haven't impressed foes in New York.
"Other than very attractive stain colors they can't follow through on this," said Angela Sisson, who is married to Rosenthal.
She joined Save the Gunks early on because she was concerned about the potential harm to a fragile ecosystem that harbors "a number of threatened or endangered species."
The northern Shawangunks, Sisson said, "are like nothing else in the world."
Light and Chaffin said they realize that. There are about 287,000 acres of private land that could be developed. They said their project should be embraced as a conservation-minded alternative to the cookie-cutter sprawl that would maximize development in a checkerboard pattern.
But Sisson said Save the Gunks wants to preserve the property by helping with efforts to purchase it at fair market value and add it to the adjacent state park. The members of the coalition - which includes locals, climbers and weekend visitors from New York City - don't plan on compromising on a development plan.
"They're not dumb hicks that you can just roll over - like Chaffin and Light are used to," said Sisson.
[Scott Condon's e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com]
