Building strong foundations

By CHRIS CONROY

BETHEL, NY — Housing demand in Sullivan County is still high and nowhere is that fact more apparent than in the Town of Bethel.

	TRR photo by David Hulse The gatehouse and sales office for the new Top Ridge development on Route 55 in Bethel will be completely finished and open for business by the time summer rolls around. (Click for larger image)

Over the past year, according to Town Supervisor Alan Scott, Bethel has been the fastest growing town in Sullivan County. Evidence of this can be seen in the town’s ever-increasing property tax base, the source for the bulk of its income.

The source of Bethel’s healthy residential growth can be traced to a handful of factors. Among the ones often pointed out by Scott when the subject arises at town board meetings are the town’s natural beauty, the amount of buildable land and, perhaps most significant, the area’s developers who are willing to work with the town to preserve its rural feel.

One of the best-known development companies in Bethel is Woodstone Development Corp. Over the past four years, Woodstone has brought hundreds of acres out of forestry tax exemption programs, creating developments that house million-dollar homes on large parcels of land.

“We’ve brought between 700 and 1,000 acres out [of the forestry exemption program],” said Woodstone’s principal builder Steve Dubrovsky, a Bethel resident.

Due to improvements such as roads and, of course, the custom built homes, property developed by Woodstone has consistently come back on the tax rolls at a higher value.

Bringing land out of exemption programs isn’t without its downside.

Back taxes, interest and penalties are assessed to each parcel that is brought out. Luckily for developers, the town, school district and county can choose to waive a portion of the penalties. To date, Dubrovsky said, Woodstone has paid back taxes and a percentage of the interest, but has had the town and county approve penalty waivers for all the property brought back to the tax rolls. The school district has yet to approve any of the requests for reduced penalties.

Some community members have said that this gives developers an unfair break, but Dubrovsky said that due to the increase in assessed value the property experiences, it all turns to the benefit of the town, county and residents in the end.

“They’ve given us one dollar with one hand,” he said, “and we’ve given them back $1,000 in the other.”

Collectively known as the Chapin Estates, Woodstone’s current developments have a total of 129 building lots. The newest to hit the market, Top Ridge, located just off State Route 55 on the way to Black Lake, officially opened a week ago. Dubrovsky said five lots of the development’s 46 have already been purchased.

The two other development sections, located on Swinging Bridge Reservoir, are also selling well. Phase I of the Swinging Bridge development, located on a peninsula and having a total of 35 lots, has already sold out. Phase II, with a total of 48 lots, is starting to sell more quickly.

There is one more development that Woodstone is connected with, but it differs considerably from the multi-million dollar purchases required in most of their parcels.

“We’ve heard for a lot of years,” Dubrovsky said, “that the county needs [reasonably priced] housing. We have a project in front of the [Town of] Fallsburg board where the primary houses will sell for between $175,000 and $225,000.”

Dubrovsky said that Woodstone doesn’t anticipate any major problems with the as-yet-unnamed project and sees it as a first step in bringing more mid- to low-priced quality housing into the area.

“We’re the pioneers here again,” he said.