Chalk it up to stubborn environmentalists, the rotten economy, or maybe both: A planned development project in New Paltz that just a couple of years ago was drawing hundreds of irate citizens to packed town meetings is apparently dead. An eagle-eyed blogger over at New Paltz Gadfly points out that the site once destined for the Crossroads project is on the market:
Remember STOP Crossroads?
Well, it is officially "stopped". The Crossroads Project is Dead!
There's a new "For Sale" sign on the Plesser property; the asking price is $4.5m for the 2 parcels or $2.975m for each separately.
(The project, formerly under the aegis of Meadow Creek Development LLC, is not to be confused with Crossroads Ventures and their long-stalled Belleayre development in Shandaken, an entirely seperate project with its own fierce controversy and seemingly endless timeline. Note to Catskills developers: Putting "Crossroads" in the title of things is apparently a fearsome jinx.)
Here's a New Paltz Oracle story from the vault, about a contentious public meeting about the project back in 2008.
To say that New Paltz citizens are concerned about the construction of Crossroads is an understatement. The meeting, held at the BOCES conference center, filled the main room, with attendees occupying just fewer than 100 chairs, as well as lining the walls and standing in doorways.
Even some staunchly pro-development folks weren't too thrilled with the plans for Crossroads. Here's "Malone Vandam," the pseudonymous blogger behind the right-wing New Paltz Journal, arguing that high-density development would be good for the site -- but still, not the kind of development Meadow Creek was planning.
My bottom line on Crossroads is that it is precisely targeted at the exurban market in the Big City. It is the wrong way for any small rural village or town to grow, and would have an even greater negative impact on New Paltz than its most vigorous critics think.
It is, however, time for the greenies and rejectionists who are wont to complain about any development to realize that resisting an industrial use for that site will be to cut off the nose to spite the face. The time has come to get serious about making New Paltz friendly to some sort of business, other than retail stores, that produces products or services and comes with jobs. That site next to the Thruway plaza is zoned for that because that is precisely what it is suited for.
