Woodstone returns land to full tax status

Former forestry program land now ready for different use

By CHRIS CONROY

BETHEL — With phase two getting ready to begin at its Toronto Reservoir development, Woodstone Toronto is getting ready to give back to the community. What it will be giving back is more than $300,000 to the local tax base.

Up until now, the 219 acres of land that was once known as the Chapin Estate, off Moscoe Road, has been part of one of New York State’s forestry tax exemption programs. Under the program, up to 80 percent of the taxes levied against property can be waived, as long as the property owner follows a forestry management plan.

“The program was established to help maintain open space,” said Bob Herberger of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), “to help people be able to afford [to keep their land forested] and provide forest products.”

As of Sullivan County’s year 2000 final tax assessment, more than 68,000 acres of land were involved in the program, adding up to $36,576,549 in exempt assets. Of those acres, 7,385.31 were located in the Town of Bethel, exempting $5,305,048 from the town’s tax rolls. The Town of Mamakating has the largest acreage in the program, totaling more than 10,250 acres.

Getting in to the program is relatively easy. First, the property owner must have at least 50 acres of land to put in the program. Then a management plan needs to be drawn up by a qualified forester and approved by the DEC. The final step is obtaining tax exemption from the town. Once that is complete, the application is automatically renewed each year, as long as the management plan is followed and the landowner wishes to remain in the program.

While in the program, along with the planned management (which allows for planned timber harvesting) many passive recreational activities are allowed on the land. “Hunting, camping… pretty much anything that doesn’t change the use of the property,” Herberger explained, pointing out that for any activity, participants should be sure to have the land owner’s permission.

Bringing the property out of a forestry management program doesn’t happen without some additional cost. “You pay up to 10 years of back taxes,” said Herberger, “plus penalties.”

The only way out of those penalties? Pull out of the program and continue to follow the forestry management plan that was in place for another 10 years. “We ask people who are considering this to not look at it lightly,” Herberger said.

Woodstone is removing its parcels from the program before that 10-year period in order to complete its luxury housing development. No lot will be smaller than five acres and the houses that will be built on the parcels will range in price between $400,000 and $1 million. According to Woodstone developer Steve Dubrovsky, most of the homes will be second homes for their owners. That means that the increased tax revenue will come without adding more stress to the systems (such as the school district) that the taxes support. The best thing, for the land that has remained closely managed for more than a decade, is that the homeowners have come because of the natural beauty. Dubrovsky supposes that most of the acreage will remain quite forested.

Woodstone Toronto has managed to avoid paying the penalties. According to Ira Cohen, attorney for Sullivan County, the decision was a tricky one to make. “The situation raises an interesting philosophical question,” he said. It’s a balancing act between the state’s goal, to put property into the forestry plan in order to preserve natural resources and green spaces, versus the county’s desire for economic development. In this case, the county decided in favor of waiving the tax penalties that Woodstone incurred when it pulled out of the program. The 10 years of back taxes still need to be paid in full.

“We wouldn’t have had a lot of sympathy for the position,” Cohen said, “if [Woodstone] had been the party who had gotten the benefit of the exemption over the years. This [solution] is not designed for a person who’s taken advantage of the program.”

Even without paying the penalties, the land will be contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the local tax base. That is money that Woodstone will happily pay. According to Dubrovsky, things are going quite well on the project’s initial phase. “We have our fourth house going up,” he said. “A fifth will be starting in September and there may be one more in the fall or spring.”

For now, work will continue on phase one of the project with phase two coming up for a public hearing at the September 11 meeting of the Town of Bethel Planning Board. Once that hurdle is passed, Dubrovsky said that the decisions made are in the best interest of the town.

“We are very happy with the investment people are making in the town,” he said.