Bethel Performing Arts Center on track

By CHRIS CONROY

BETHEL, NY — A final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the proposed performing arts center was approved at the October 8 meeting of the joint planning and town boards of the Town of Bethel.

The acceptance of the GEIS, postponed from an earlier date so the review committee could further study technical aspects of the proposal, is one of the final steps in the approval of the much-anticipated project.

“We expect to complete the process by the middle or end of November,” said Town of Bethel Supervisor Allan Scott.

The final steps in the process include a final ten-day public comment period and the approval of a local law establishing a new performing arts zone. Once the zone is created, final plans for construction will be worked out under the rules imposed by that zoning. Those rules include review and approval of each phase of the proposed project by the planning board.

Proposed by the Gerry Foundation, which runs the Fall Harvest Market at the original Woodstock site on Hurd Road, the performing arts center will eventually include numerous performance venues, a museum and a performing arts college. Some controversy has been caused by the foundation’s decision to build the bulk of the center on the original 1969 concert site.