Update: As reported by the Tuxedo Chamber of Commerce Monday evening, May 12, the Town of Tuxedo Board voted 3 to 2 to write Genting Americas a letter of support to the New York State Gaming Commission that would facilitate Genting’s Sterling Forest Resort casino proposal.
Tuxedo in turn must negotiate a host-community agreement by June 30th. Part of that agreement purportedly involves the Town of Tuxedo providing Genting with expert witnesses related to key points of its proposal. In return, Genting will pay the town some three million dollars.
With birds chattering in a cacophony of morning song and tree green finally popping into full blown leaves, the surrounding Ramapo hills are alive with new growth.
There is also much discussion of development projects surrounding Sloatsburg, growth of an entirely other kind, with the Ramapo Woodmont Hills apartment complex just south of the village perhaps the most immediate to village interests. Woodmont Properties once again will present to the Town of Ramapo Planning & Zoning Board Tuesday evening at Town Hall at 8 p.m. — the third attempt during the Public Hearing process to win approval for the Ramapo Land Company/Woodmont Properties project.
Tuesday’s hearing will feature the Sloatsburg Fire Department’s rebuttal to Woodmont’s fire safety expert — the SFD has argued that the department is not equipped to handle the proposed Woodmont apartment structures. Additionally, the narrow Route 17 corridor could pose significant traffic issues for the 16 building, 384 apartment complex development, possibly releasing some 600 vehicles daily into the local traffic stream.
“Change is not just coming to Tuxedo – it’s already here, for better, and for worse.” — Tuxedo Chamber of Commerce letter called Changing the Conversation about Development in Tuxedo in support of the Genting Sterling Forest Resort preliminary proposal.
Another controversial proposal that could impact Sloatsburg and change this part of the Western Ramapo corridor is up the road in Orange County in neighboring Tuxedo. The Genting Sterling Forest Resort proposal calls for an adventure destination resort and would tuck two hotels and a casino across from the Sterling Forest Ski Center on a 238 acre property adjacent to Sterling Forest State Park. The Town of Tuxedo board is expected to vote on Genting’s preliminary proposal, an important local vote that will weigh heavily with the New York Gaming Commission in its decision to award a company one of four gaming licenses up for grabs.
The Town board is due to consider the Genting proposal at its Monday, May 12, board meeting at Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Both the Town and the Tuxedo Chamber of Commerce advocated for public input. The Chamber has come out in favor of the Genting proposal, and includes many of Tuxedo’s most important business voices. in its letter outlining its support for the Genting development, Chamber President Bill Sweet concisely sums up what’s happening in this part of Rockland/Orange counties:
Last winter a development group purchased the Duck Cedar Plaza, and under the new name of Tuxedo Plaza, is actively recruiting small business tenants to bring life to the now-vacant building. A Tuxedo Park resident is reportedly under contract to purchase and completely renovate the IGA / HomeTown Market building. After decades of controversy, Tuxedo Farms (formerly Tuxedo Reserve) is set to break ground this fall, not to mention Ramapo Woodmont Hills in neighboring Sloatsburg. The Watchtower / Jehovah’s Witness world headquarters – comprising of four massive buildings just shy of one million square feet – is currently being constructed off Long Meadow Road. The organization has also recently purchased both the International Paper building and NYU apartments.
Therefore, the question isn’t whether or not the Sterling Forest property on 17A should be developed, because that will happen sooner or later. It’s whether Genting New York is the right partner for Tuxedo with Sterling Forest Resort.
The Genting casino proposal has been a fast-track public debate, with compressed deadlines due to the NY Gaming Commission’s directive that, once approved, the casino’s must be built within two years.
Sweet also acknowledges those many opposed to the Sterling Forest Resort proposal due to the significant “social and lifestyle change this could potentially represent for residents of Tuxedo.”
Tuxedo Parker Meg Vaught, one of the sponsors behind the valuable local website TPFYI.com, recently articulated concerns of those opposed to Genting, citing the speedy approval to build timeline, traffic and water issues. United Water already has a stranglehold on the limited supply of water in the Ramapo River watershed with water use levels scheduled to increase exponentially with the proposed new development demands. Additionally, the proposed NY Thruway interchange Exit 15A cloverleaf that Genting said it wil kick in $25 million to build could cost much much more.
Vaught points out that Genting’s figures suggest the resort and casino could see 3 million plus visitors per year, which would be an enormous amount of traffic on the road arteries leading to Sterling Forest. The NY Thruway Authority has not commented on the interchange proposal and, if built, could very well make the exit a toll exit to capture revenue — thus defeating the incentive for traffic to bypass local roads.
Also, consider the fact that Tuxedo Farms, formerly known as Tuxedo Reserve, is slated to break ground in the Fall of 2014. The construction phase of that project will be ongoing for the next 5-10 years before the development reaches build-out at more than 1,200 residential units. Not only will the town double in size with the onset of this development, but it is also slated to include 30,000 square feet of light industrial office commercial building (there’s our shot in the arm) Do we really want or need major development on both sides of town??
