 Drawing the line River Reporter: Oct. 5 Keep Cochecton Rural is a newly organized group of homeowners in the town of Cochecton who are dedicated to preserving the rural quality of life that so many residents of the town cherish. The group was formed in response to a “Catskill Homes” project which is a wildly over imagined 42 home cluster plan on 108 wooded and pastoral acres at the intersection of New Turnpike and Cross Roads on the northern edge of the township. The plan is to clear more than half the land, put in new roads, and cluster the houses tightly together on one-acre lots, leaving the remainder unchanged. These quiet, rural country roads traverse deep woods, open fields and meadows with glorious vistas of distant rolling hills. Only about 30 homes surround the site, most of which are old farm houses and converted barns; can you imagine waking up to find a major ‘Rockland’ county suburban subdivision planned next door? This so-called “conservation scheme” might work in an area that has already been sprawled over, protecting some of the little open space left. For us, however, it amounts to forced suburbanization that certainly does not benefit Cochecton, and is offensive to our bucolic country setting. While the developer considers Cochecton to already be suburban, we townspeople know better. We are not opposed to growth. The population in this part of the country is growing at a slow rate. There are people who want homes in Sullivan County and residents who need to cash in on some of their large holdings. We think Cochecton should consider these pressures and develop plans that truly conserve our natural resources, not just in name only as the current code does. A careful and thoughtful plan that allows for reasonable growth at a reasonable pace with adequate safeguards and enforcement is what our town needs. Future growth must adhere to these simple principles. The cluster development, with all the houses similar or identical only makes an area look ticky tacky and suburban ugly. We didn’t chose to live in Cochecton to be surrounded by that. Doubling the traffic on these country roads not meant for it is damaging and unsafe. The narrow, winding country lanes that currently exist can’t support the logging and construction traffic for the development. The added homeowner traffic will create an unacceptable burden on noise, pollution and road danger. These roads have children playing nearby and have sharp turns that even now, with relatively light traffic, pose threats of head on collisions. Added traffic will heighten these dangers exponentially. We don’t want to stand by while speculators turn our gorgeous rural community into a sprawl similar to Orange and Rockland Counties. We are determined to fight this fight from the start and not play catch up after so much damage is done that we no longer recognize our town. We ask for your support. All residents will benefit from planned growth. For information go to www.cochecton.org. Allan Rubin |