Development muddies waters of Delaware Lake

Homeowners clash with developer

By FRITZ MAYER

DELAWARE LAKE, NY — It’s a picture perfect Catskill community of about 20 weekend homes on a lake. But residents say a developer is causing trouble in paradise.

The lake, which some say is really a large pond because of its small size, is located in the Town of Hancock, just above the Sullivan County line in Delaware County. Residents of the weekend homes say the trouble began after the developer, Robert Sanzoverino, acquired the remaining acreage of the Rhinebeck family farm in 1904, which included 25 feet of frontage on Delaware Lake.

Since the ’30s, many of the homeowners on the lake used a long right-of-way road to get from Hungry Hill Road to the lake. Sanzoverino claimed he owned a five-foot section of the road, and the homeowners were no longer entitled to use it. Anthony Depalma, one of the homeowners, said it was clear the homeowners had the right to use it, and “there is no other way to get to the cabins.” But, rather than go through the expense of litigation, the affected homeowners agreed to buy the disputed section of road for $4,000.

Depalma uses another, similar dirt road to get to his home. The developer built a new one parallel to the old one, to provide access to new lots he plans to create. The new road is more than twice as wide as the old one, and residents say Sanzoverino did not have the proper permits to build the road.

The residents had pictures of plumes of mud flowing from the road into the lake, and spreading out across the water. About 10 of the residents use the lake as a source for household water. But since the construction began in 2004, residents say, there have been many days when the water was too full of mud and algae to be used. At least one resident became so discouraged that he had a well drilled on his property. Home-owner John Prescott said there is now a layer of silt covering the lake bottom, which is kicked up whenever anyone wades in the water.

Prescott, who has had several contacts with the New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) over the matter, said the developer told the DEC that he was improving the old road rather than building a new one, so the DEC was misled about the project. There is also a question of whether the DEC was informed that the road would be for a subdivision, rather than a road for a single landowner.

However, Rick Georgeson, a spokesman for DEC’s Region Four, said Sanzoverino had a storm water permit to disturb 2.3 acres of land to build the road. Georgeson said in response to a complaint that the DEC inspected the site on August 17 of this year and found no violations.

Sanzoverino’s lawyer, Lori Bertsch-Brustman, said her client intends to adhere to all regulations and permits, and is working with a surveyor and engineer to ensure that everything is done properly.

Another major concern of the home-owners is the pressure on the lake by increasing the human population around the lake by as much as 50 percent. Sanzoverino’s plans call for up to 11 or 12 new home sites, all of which come with rights to use that 25-foot-wide strip of land on the shore. Resident Arthur Klein wrote in an email, “The land might sustain that increase, but the lake-pond might not.”

There is no zoning in Hancock, but because Sanzoverino’s plans call for a subdivision within 1,500 feet of a lake, according to Henry English, a homeowner and a member of the Hancock Planning Board, the project must meet certain regulations, and needs approval from the planning board.

Lew Shaffer, chairman of the planning board, said that because Sanzoverino has already done substantial work on the project, “It’s a little like building a house then asking for the permit.” He said the board could likely not stop the project, but could help to keep it as clean as possible.

Lori Bertsch-Brustman said she is not yet sure when the plan will go before the planning board for a preliminary hearing because the plan is not yet complete.

The Hancock planning board meets on the third Thursday of every month.