The tiny town of Forestburgh in Sullivan County, population about 860, is considering plans by a Texas-based company to build a gated golf resort with 2,600 homes along the edge of the Neversink Gorge.
Double Diamond Resorts Inc. this summer submitted a draft environmental impact statement for its half-resort, half-second-home community off Cold Spring Road. The project includes an 18-hole golf course and a hotel and spa and restaurants, among its amenities.
Though Forestburgh Supervisor Jim Galligan said the company “has multiple hoops” still to negotiate before approval of the project could be granted, he said Double Diamond Resorts of Dallas is serious about building the Lost Lake Resort, on the belief the economy will improve enough in coming years to restart the second home market. ?According to the draft generic environmental impact, the 2,079-acre “Lost Lake Resort is a proposed master planned golf course resort and residential community.”
Galligan said that language denotes an important facet of the project, Double Diamond does not actually build the complex, but sells approved lots where buyers then hire their own builder. He said residents would pay an annual fee to Double Diamond for maintenance of the infrastructure as well as membership at the golf club.  He said the company has a similar but much larger resort complex in Hazelton, Pa., the Eagle Rock Resort, which he has visited. “It appears to be a very well run operation,” he said.  ?At a preliminary public hearing, Galligan said residents expressed concerns about traffic congestion the proposed resort could create, as well as whether there is enough water available for the project as well as Forestburgh residents.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation initially sought “lead agency” status to oversee the review, he said, due to the fact the land drains into brooks that feed the Neversink Reservoir, which is part of the New York City water supply system, as well as the adjacent Neversink State Park.?On the plus side, he said, developers estimate at full build out, the project would mean some $22 million in annual property taxes for the town, and being a second-home community, would be unlikely to immediately impact the school system, nor require extensive town services since the homeowners association would pay for upkeep of the complex”™s infrastructure.?Calls to the company headquarters in Dallas were not returned.?“It”™s a big interesting concept,” Galligan said.
“The actual final size of the development is very much up in the air. As lead agency, the town has not made that decision and can”™t until we get some more information.”
