There’s a cursed and coveted stretch of Rt. 17 that runs through Sloatsburg, along the Ramapo River water gap, stretching past Tuxedo Park, through Southfields, past Arden, and ending near Harriman. The route is surrounded by New York state park lands, mostly by 46,000 acres of Harriman State Park to the east northeast and some 21,000 acres of Sterling Forest State Park to the west. Bear Mountain State Park and U.S. Military Academy federal forest reserves further northeast add an additional 20,000 plus acres of green space.

Communities in the casino running are poised for a possible Wednesday, December 17, announcement by the New York Gaming Facility Location Board that could bring big gaming to the Orange County/Catskill corridor.

Google map of the Tuxedo/Sloatsburg Rt. 17 corridor surrounded by state parks, with Harriman State Park on the right.

The curse of Rt. 17 is cars and trucks and traffic. The eternal upside is that people and potential business flow endlessly along that corridor of semi-rural Ramapo Mountain communities,  many struggling to forge economic identities. Sloatsburg and Tuxedo are positioned geographically to be perfect gateways to bustling Harriman State Park and some of the $30 billion dollars New Yorkers spend on outdoor recreation, according to Outdoor Industry Association.

Casinos, especially along the Rt. 17 corridor, could dump an estimated 7 million visitors a year in the area, according to Genting’s figures. And that’s just from the proposed Sterling Forest Resort casino traffic. Another 10 visitors were projected for the Caesars World Casino in Woodbury, NY.

Suzy Allman from MyHarriman explores the benefits of positioning Tuxedo as a gateway community to the parks region and developing a trail and outdoor economy for the Rt. 17 corridor.

As Suzy Allman of My Harriman wrote: Tuxedo must be the entrance, right?  The gateway town?  The place to get your map, your camping needs, to have a meal and a drink afterwards before hopping back on the train to the city?  At least to read a map and set out from the train station?

Along this corridor locals have been in animated public discussion as the Town of Tuxedo, and Village of Woodbury further north up the road, respond to big gaming proposals to bring casino economy and culture into the highlands of the Hudson Valley as a prospective engine of growth. Genting Americas has a similar but smaller Resorts World casino bid under consideration in Orange County in the Village of Montgomery.

Proposed vision of the Sterling Forest casino, with a reconstituted Renaissance Village in the foreground.

Casino bid announcements were suddenly made at the end April — a mere handful of curious attended the wine and beer and cheese feted Sterling Forest Resort and Casino introduction at Tuxedo Ridge‘s reception lodge — staffed by friendly Tuxedo Ridge faces. The whole idea was interesting and oddly exciting but almost too shiny and big to take in at first look.

At that time, Tuxedo Supervisor Mike Rost was surprised that Orange County was even opened for bids. Just 100 days into his first year in office, Rost had been working to resolve a $1 million dollar budget shortfall uh-oh from the previous budget year and was still immersed in confronting the controversial local mulch pile at Department of Public Works property on Long Meadow Road.

Architectural rendering of the how Sterling Forest Resort in Tuxedo, NY would look. Design elements mimic certain features of Tuxedo Park homes.

The appearance of Sterling Forest Resort and Casino on Tuxedo’s doorstep was a sudden elephant in the room, making even Tuxedo Farms, formally known as Tuxedo Reserve, appear quaintly bucolic.

The fully realized Genting Americas proposal transforms and re-imagines Tuxedo Ridge, the New York Renaissance Faire property, extensive crumbling parking lots and surrounding swaths of hills and wetlands that melt into the Ramapo River. The new resort/casino adventure destination, projected to be popular and endlessly promoted, would thrive and hum on gaming.

Tuxedo’s George Baker HS auditorium filled up for a recent DEIS Public Hearing on the proposed Genting Sterling Forest Resort and Casino development.

When Tuxedo entered into a Host Agreement with RW Orange County LLC, a subsidiary of Genting, some $1.5 million was released to the town by the company while another $300,000 plus gift was made to the Tuxedo Union Free School District — funds which erased uncharted fiscal terrain for both. Another $50 million is part of the package should Tuxedo be fully green lighted by the Gaming Commission, a tempting economic boom by any measurement. Genting put the price tag to build Sterling Forest casino at $1.5 billion dollars.

The books believe that the New York Gaming Facility Location Board is prepared to make a location announcement or two at its final Wednesday, December 17, meeting in Albany. After one of more locations are announced, the New York Gaming Commission will start its due diligence toward awarding final gaming licenses. Meanwhile, some community along the Orange County/Catskill corridor will likely continue fast at work constructing a casino.

The flash of casino cash is surely a wide-eyed lure for municipalities struggling to provide services and infrastructure to residents already burdened by high local and state taxes. In just a week, should the Gaming Facility Location Board pass it over, Tuxedo may be grappling with what kind of community it wants to be moving forward

Much handwringing, vote wrangling and rosy economic scenario prognosticating may just come to a sudden end should the Genting Americas adventure park and gaming wonderland proposal called Sterling Forest Resort and Casino crap out.

The Sterling Forest Resort and Casino development footprint.

The Genting casino effort has met perhaps the stiffest resistance out of any of the 16 bids for one of four casino licenses in the regions being considered, which include the Capital Region, the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes and the Catskills/Hudson Valley. The Palisades Interstate Parks Commission (PIPC) has publicly opposed the project. And the PIPC holds several powerful cards in the game, being the arbiter of all things parks in these parts.

Area of proposed NY Thruway Exit 15B that, if built, would service Sterling Forest casino. Section shows County Road 106 as it crosses the NY Thruway, a parcel under jurisdiction of the PIPC.

The PIPC denied Genting a land swap to create a Thruway Exit 15B interchange at County Road 106, the road that would then lead to Sterling Forest Resort. But more importantly, the PIPC claims there is a deed restriction on the land in question that caps commercial development.

PIPC Executive Director Jim Hall was quoted by Times Herald-Reporter writer Hemma Easley as saying, “I think the language of the restriction is very clear and the commission has the power to enforce it.”

Reporter Glenn Blain recently wrote in a New York Daily News article that Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park said that public support will be among the factors that the committee members consider when they determine where to plant a casino.

Yellow shirts — Members of Sterling Forest Partnership met before a recent Palisades Interstate Parks Commission meeting.

Although the Town of Tuxedo has attempted transparency during the weirdly truncated casino siting process, there has been a rush to judgement of sorts for such an enormous project — partly due to Gaming Commission imposed deadlines and partly due to obligations imposed on municipalities that agreed to terms with casino developers. The recent release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Sterling Forest Resort and Casino is an example of the compressed time frame to review an enormous body of material.

The Tuxedo Town Council gave 30 days for public comments on the DEIS — due to expire on December 19.  An additional sticking point for many is that Tuxedo decided not to accept electronic comments on the DEIS. TPFYI.com has extensive and in-depth coverage of both DEIS Public Hearing #1 and #2.

Perhaps the consensus mood of the Public Hearings were best summed up as the second hearing was wrapping up. Board member Kristian Matthews made a motion to extend the hearing for more public input. Supervisor Mike Rost asked for a second on Matthews motion and was greeted by silence on the opposite side of the u-shaped table, Matthews on one side and the silent board on the other.

The Town of Tuxedo would receive a windfall of investment money from Genting if Sterling Forest Casino is approved — estimates range from $30 million to $80 million — and has appeared to attempt to demonstrate that the local process approval process is closer to completion than it actually is before the Gaming Commission’s big location announcement.

If Tuxedo comes up snake eyes on this blue sky casino effort, perhaps the town’s best economic option — including a choice few surrounding communities — may be to sign up for Suzy Allman’s suggestion — become the official gateway to the Highlands parks region. And celebrate all those trails and streams and ponds and things, with dreams that if the town embraces its natural resources and perfect location — they will come.