The project to turn the now desolate Nevele property, south of Ellenville, into a new luxury resort hotel combined with residential homes, returned for a fresh presentation to the Wawarsing Town Board.

As with previous presentations, Donna Bridgeman laid out the changes to the plans and described the overall look and feel of this project.

The term “eco-resort” was front and center, and it is clear that the natural landscape and forest experience is what the resort operators plan to sell to their customers. As noted here before, this is for a luxury resort, and will appeal to a population that has plenty of money but very little spare time. Therefore, they require services to unburden them of the kinds of tasks that encumber middle class holiday making, like loading the station wagon, making sure there’s formula for the baby, unpacking and packing and so on.

And so in the new presentation, Bridgeman began with the northwest corner where a small sliver has been set aside for staff housing on property between Route 209 and Nevele Road. This area once held some bungalows for staff at the old Nevele resort. Arrowhead Road will be the primary access to first, a group of town homes, positioned in the northwest portion of the layout, not far from the service quarters, and then the “lakeside” and “forest” villas that will stretch down on the eastern side of the property where the elevations will offer them splendid views out over the lake and across to the higher ground on the far side of Route 209.

The swimming pool, the heart and soul of a classic Catskills resort, will be retained and refurbished. Also retained will be the water tower, possibly for a recreational use, and the pump house for the Nevele’s water will be converted to the Banya Spa.

Bridgeman then moved the presentation onto the new resort itself, now called “Treetop Resort,” which is set into the southeastern corner of the property, with the resort cottages strung along behind it to the east.

Access to the resort for guests will come through a new main entrance that will build out from where the little schoolhouse sits today. That structure is currently projected to be retained and refurbished into a welcome center with coffee and snacks. The access road then loops northward briefly to connect to the “Culinary Garden” before turning south and passing down on the western side, connecting the sports building complex and then turning east and running over south of the lake to the new Treetop hotel complex on the eastern side.

The plan has 138 units at the hotel complex; 80 units in the various townhouses, which are scattered across the property in discreet clumps; 46 villas or estate homes for single families in two chains, one the lakeside villas, the second the forest villas; and 100 units for the staff housing across Nevele Road.

Three hundred employees are envisaged at this point. The disturbance footprint of the new resort will be significantly smaller than that of the old Nevele, falling from 95 acres down to 65.

A number of the resort facilities, like the sports complex, will be available to local people, probably through a “club” membership system, though that is conjecture at this point.

Discussion shifted around after the presentation, Jonathan Lockman, the town planner, asked about wetland buffers in the documents for SEQR. Michael Moriello, the attorney leading the team on this presentation, noted that the plans had satisfied the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), but that flexibility was part of everything at this point.

Wawarsing Supervisor Terry Houck noted that meetings are ongoing between the town attorneys and Bonnie Franson of Nelson, Pope, Voorhis, to settle zoning questions.

The Rail Trail was also discussed, as it will cross the property. The plan now is to have it move along the eastern side of the property, but the connection north through Ellenville is still under discussion, but might come into the village down Market Street.

Next steps: Bridgeman mentioned that additional technical studies are in the works, a zoning agreement will go to the planning board for review, and then the SEQR process will begin. The town board has already taken Lead Agency, so once environmental reviews are concluded, a declaration under SEQR should follow. After that a public hearing can be held. The project has submitted its initial SEQR filing to the DEC and awaits any comments from that agency.