What’s At Stake

All information below is sourced from either the developer’s application, official documents from the town, county and state, or other sources which are cited and/or linked.

Water Stress and Shortages 

How will this project affect our groundwater and aquifer? The applicant’s latest plans show 4-5 new wells will be drilled to supply water, but they have not provided any further information about sourcing. The project will demand an estimated 47,000 gallons of “potable water” a day—a number that does not even include irrigation for landscaping. There is NO information about how that number was ascertained, and we believe this figure to be a significant underestimate. According to the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (of which Six Senses/IHG is a member), tourism uses over eight times more water per person on average than the local population in some locations. 

This resort could potentially double the water demands of Round Top. Do our aquifer and groundwater resources have the capacity to support that? Will our wells run dry, or turn brown, or become contaminated? Will our streams shrink? No one knows, because the developer is not testing to find out. Even scarier: They are already drilling “exploratory” wells up to 700 feet deep without considering how their “fractured bedrock” tactics might affect other wells miles away. Instead of reaching out to the community and offering to monitor our wells—which is standard procedure!—they are operating with as much secrecy as they think they can get away with.

Contaminated Streams and Drinking Water

On Feb 7, 2024, The Greene County Planning Board submitted a review to Cairo Planning Board with concerns. Here’s one of them, concerning a required wastewater treatment plant:

The application from the developer includes NO information about the wastewater treatment plant. The application only states treated sewage will be discharge into an “unnamed/unregulated stream.” This stream is identified on DEC maps as a protected trout-spawning stream. We are extremely concerned about the risks of polluted water for both humans and wildlife. Even subtle changes in pH and mineral concentrations can kill off species and decimate fish populations.

If the developers were truly sustainable and environmentally conscious, they would recapture their effluent and re-use it for their property rather than discharging it into streams. This would serve a dual purpose: decreasing demand on the aquifer AND protecting wildlife. It would also keep the resort owners accountable to maintenance and testing of the plant because the water safety directly affects THEM, not just us.

This property operated as a golf course for decades and therefore used significant pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides. We are seriously worried about what drilling and excavating this land during construction will release into the environment—especially into groundwater, streams and wetlands. 

The applicant wrote that all excavation materials through construction will remain on site, but have not provided any information for how they will practically do so, or if that’s even preferable and safe. We are in the dark about how this pollution will affect wildlife and human health.

Increased Traffic and Deteriorated Roads

A “traffic evaluation” commissioned by the developer was terribly incomplete. The report only looked at weekday traffic, not weekend traffic. It also did not include any actual data from Blackhead Mountain Road or Crows Nest Road—it simply guessed that it was less than “200 cars a day.” Crows Nest Road gets maybe 10 cars on a busy day.

The NY DEC evaluated the report and “recommends that the Planning Board request a more detailed traffic analysis and/or study from the applicant so a hard look can be taken at potentially significant impacts to existing transportation systems and/or traffic.” Doing so “is critical for assessing potential increases to traffic and impacts to the surrounding rural community.”

Car traffic is not the only issue to consider. What about the several years of heavy construction vehicles on Heart’s Content, Mountain Ave, and Blackhead Mountain Road? After construction ends, we’ll still have consistent truck traffic for deliveries and disposals. How will this affect road and bridge maintenance?

Increased Flooding and Erosion

Currently, the property has 6.07 acres of “impervious” surfaces—those are buildings, roads, and pavement that prevents water from being absorbed into the ground. This project will more than triple the amount of impervious surface, adding 13.27 acres of impervious surfaces to the land. That means when it rains, water that used to get absorbed into the ground will have to go someplace else. Where will all that new runoff go? This resort will be upslope of nearly all of us in Cairo, which means an increased risk for flooding. 

A resort of this size requires a large wastewater treatment plant, which will discharge water into the stream that runs alongside Blackhead Mountain Road (and our homes!) and flows into the Shinglekill. During heavy rain events, these waterways already erode their banks, overrun the culverts, and damage our infrastructure from roads to residential basements. The wastewater discharge from this proposed project means the stream flows will be higher at baseline. Higher baseline equals higher flood risk. That means more mold, more standing water, more mosquitos, more foundation problems… the list goes on. 

Harms to Nature, Wildlife and Recreation

The developers want to convince us that they are simply “redeveloping” a golf course that is already disturbed. But they are also proposing to cut down 11.5 acres of forest on land that abuts the Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness. This will destroy biodiverse wildlife habitat for threatened species on land that directly borders a protected forest preserve and damage scenic mountain views that are central to Cairo’s Comprehensive Plan. 

This resort will create visual and acoustic disturbances for people who recreate in the Catskill Mountains. The thousands of people who hike the famous Escarpment Trail, which is located on the ridge directly above the resort, will be able to see it and hear its activities, especially during years of construction. This could threaten local economies if tourists decide to avoid this area for hiking, mountain biking, hunting and other recreation.

Noise Pollution

Construction will take place Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with “nuisance” noise levels allowed and expected during that time. The construction period could go on for several years. Given the severe slope of the land and the bedrock beneath the surface, we’ll be dealing with extremely loud and high-vibrational excavation, drilling, and pile-driving. Not to mention all the heavy construction trucks along Heart’s Content Road and Mountain Ave. for years. 

Once the project is finished, noise will continue permanently. Heavy truck traffic will increase throughout town, with a constant stream of deliveries and disposals. The introduction of a helipad will cause extreme noise pollution. Why is this transportation for the 0.1% of the population more important than the quality of life for the 99.9% of people who live here? Wastewater treatment plants are notorious for causing annoying vibrations—they have frequently been at the center of lawsuits involving residents who are disturbed by their noise. 

In this location, the mountain and valley act as a chamber to amplify unnatural sound. The “bowl” of the mountain will carry sound far-beyond the immediate vicinity. This noise will be detrimental to local tourism and businesses that depend on a peaceful, natural settings to attract customers.

Light pollution

Do you love the dark night sky in Round Top? Say goodbye to the Milky Way if this project is approved. Even if the hotel uses the most considerate lighting, a project of this size will unquestionably create light pollution and permanently brighten the slope of the mountain, not just for locals in the vicinity, but for everyone in the region. That’s bad for us, and it’s terrible for all the animals who rely on darkness to hunt, migrate, and survive!  

Out of Character with Round Top and Cairo’s Comprehensive Plan

We are not against thoughtful, appropriate development, and we’re certainly not against progress! We acknowledge—and honor—Round Top’s history as a summer resort spot. This proposed resort has NOTHING in common with Round Top’s rural, laid-back character, and has NOTHING in common with the remaining resorts in Round Top. Unlike Winter Clove Inn, Riedlbauer’s and Glen Falls House, for example, which maintain trails for their guests AND locals, this proposed resort will be off-limits to locals. It also has nothing in common with luxury resorts in Greene County (like Deer Mountain Inn in Tannersville and Piaule in Catskill), which have significantly smaller footprints.

The closest comparable resort in the region might be the Mohonk Mountain House because it has a similar number of guestrooms (about 260) and provides an all-inclusive experience at a high price point. But an important difference is that Mohonk is family-owned for more than 150 years with conservation commitments to the community, whereas this resort will be owned by institutional investors and hedge funds focused only on shareholder returns. It will be maximally extractive by definition. 

This project directly contradicts several goals in Cairo’s Comprehensive Plan. Goal 6 states: “Hamlets [i.e., Round Top] will be desirable locations for residential and small business development. … Siting guidelines should be based on and emulate existing development patterns in hamlets.”

Goal 3 states: “Scenic views of the Catskill Mountains will be maintained and will remain a defining feature of the town. … Work with landowners to maintain or enhance views of the mountains from the road.” This land owner will literally do the opposite.

The number one “threat” identified in the plan for the town’s goals: “Lack of land use controls coupled with large areas of land available for future development could lead to loss of character and rural sprawl.” Another threat (No. 9)? “New business development that weakens Main Street’s role in the economy and in the community.” Approving this project makes these threats powerfully real.

If you think this development project in Round Top isn’t “close enough” to your house to affect you personally, consider this: If this resort plan gets approved, a new precedent is set. Developers who want to build mega-resorts for the international jet-set class will come to Cairo and buy land, knowing that the Planning Board will welcome them, and the next extractive, densely-built resort might be closer to home. Landowners who have vowed to never sell their land might change their tune when absurd numbers are offered—that’s exactly how Six Senses got their land in Dutchess County. From a zoning and land-use perspective, the approval of this resort opens the door for similar-scale projects to get approved. 

Is this really what we want our community to become? People who support this proposed resort say it will bring jobs, but has anyone seen a commitment that those jobs will actually go to locals? Has anyone considered the short-term and long-term economic liabilities? 

A Huge Economic Gamble

As a community, we are insulted that the developer has not provided any documentation regarding the proposed branding, style, and “intent” of this project, nor a feasibility analysis. All we can go off of is what the Planning Board chairman has told us off the official record, and what the applicants (Courtemanche and Chick) have communicated to some of us directly in person. We can extrapolate somewhat from the Site Plan map. We can look to other Six Senses resorts to anticipate what’s in store for us here. 

But rumors and hearsay are NOT official documents. Developers and town planners can tell us whatever they want—but if it’s not part of the official record, they have no accountability. 

To the extent that we understand the scale and clientele of this proposed project, we are skeptical about its economic viability. Some industry experts agree. A 2023 article in Travel + Leisure magazine about Auberge, the “first international luxury hotel operator” in the Hudson Valley, provides some context: 

“What sets Wildflower [by Auberge] apart from these other newcomers [Innes, Piaule Catskill, Hutton Brick Yards, AutoCamp, and Eastwind Oliverea Valley] is that it represents the first international luxury hotel operator—Auberge—to take the plunge in the region. There are rumors that others will follow, from Soho House and Six Senses to Montage and André Balazs. 

If the deluge has yet to happen it may be because, as some industry insiders believe, the region isn’t quite ready. One hotelier, Erik Warner of Eagle Point Hotel Partners, told me he’s been looking in the Catskills for a decade, but believes that the area doesn’t quite have the “critical mass” of amenities and attractions needed to sustain a world-class hotel scene. “You can’t go hotel-hopping,” as he put it. Many of the new openings don’t have seasoned hoteliers behind them and “think they’ll succeed just by being there,” Warner added.

Phillip Rapoport guesses that the increased development may actually make it harder to open resorts in the region. “Local trust is incredibly important,” he said. “One hotel is enough for each of these towns.”

Why isn’t the developer transparent about the brand behind this resort? What, exactly, is Six Senses role in this project? If a hotel brand pulls out, what do Courtemanche and Chick plan to do with property?

The main argument in support of this resort is that it will bring in much-needed tax revenue to Cairo. But what happens when the resort owners inevitably challenge the tax assessment? The town could end up spending tens of thousands of dollars to fight back, and still end up with a far lower assessment.

Risk of Declining Property Values and Higher Taxes

All of the service elements of the resort—parking lots, sewage treatment plant, helipad, and so on—will be placed close to the roads, and therefore to our homes. Anyone who lives in the general vicinity of this project will likely suffer from decreased property values due to ruined views, proximity to commercial facilities, increased noise, light and odors, and unsightly dense development. If this resort creates water shortages and an unstable aquifer that cannot properly recharge, the value of our homes could plummet. Same goes with increased stream flooding and erosion that threatens property, structures and roads. Do we have any recourse with the town—or the developer—if this happens?

At the same time, ALL property owners in Cairo will likely be burdened with higher property taxes to cover increased infrastructure maintenance, emergency services, fire protection, and policing. If you want to learn why this project will likely NOT bring tax savings to Cairo, click here and start watching at 18:00 minutes.

The Cairo Planning Board is Leaving Residents in the Dark

On behalf of the developers, a planning consultancy called KARC submitted the “Site Plan” and “Special Permit Application” to the Cairo Planning Board on December 21, 2023. They also submitted a “Full Environmental Assessment Form Part 1 with appendices.” 

The Planning Board discussed that application at the Jan. 4, 2024 Planning Board meeting. But because they did NOT post the agenda before the meeting, residents did not know about it and did not know to attend. Then the Planning Board filed the application as “Old Business” instead of “New Business,” which further confused the public.

At the Feb. 1, 2024 Planning Board meeting, where concerned residents were present, the Blackhead project was on the agenda—yet the board members refused to discuss it on the record. They only took questions about it after they closed the official meeting. 

For months, the Planning Board chairman has ignored questions in person and on email about what stage of the process the application was in. All we knew is that the application remains woefully and insultingly incomplete, according to site plan review law. (Here’s the official “Site Plan Review Law” which is posted on the Cairo town website. This document is the guide for how the Planning Board must make its determinations.)

The Chairman has routinely dismissed our concerns by saying it’s too early in the process for the public to get involved. So then why did he immediately open a public hearing for this project? The Chairman pushed the process forward extremely prematurely—a procedural abnormality that has led to chaos and distress for nearly everyone involved. All of that could have been prevented if the Planning Board had followed town and state procedures and required a fully completed application from the developer before opening a public hearing. The law agrees: “The planning board and its experts should have completed their review of the application prior to holding the public hearing.” (p. 6)