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Associated Press - September 15, 2009 3:45 PM ET
SHANDAKEN, N.Y. (AP) - Environmental groups worry that two years after the state announced a deal that would allow a major Catskill Mountains resort, 1,200 acres of environmentally sensitive land has yet to be protected.
The September 2007 deal to build a 629-unit resort next to the state-run Belleayre Mountain Ski Center was brokered by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer. It included a provision for those acres to be designated "forever wild."
But developer Crossroads Ventures is still negotiating with the state over the land sale. Seven signatories to the deal - including Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council - say failure to sign a contract in the next 60 days would breach "the letter and the spirit" of the 2007 deal.
A Crossroads spokesman says it hopes to complete the deal soon.
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