Brown's Beach Hotel, Resort & Marina
The following information (proposal, pictures, and artistic renderings) are part of a larger proposal that was submitted to the Stillwater Town Board at an unveiling of a planned $25 million hotel-conference center on Brown's Beach along Saratoga Lake on January 10th, 2005. The Town Board recommended the resort to the Planning Board, which will study this project before passing it back to the Town Board final approval . The Stillwater Town Board and Officials would like to provide this information to the residents of Stillwater to educate them respect to the proposed Brown's Beach Hotel.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE TOWN OF STILLWATER.
Proposed Site Development Plan
An Environmentally Sensitive Design Approach Utilized to Enhance Recreation and Hospitality Services Currently Existing at Brown’s Beach
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View Proposed Site Rendering
View Brown's Beach Q & A
View Open Letter to Building Dept. Director David Connors and Town Residents
POSITIVE ECONOMIC IMPACT
The development of a first class resort hotel while expanding the recreational services of Brown’s Beach responds to the history of market demand for the hospitality and recreational services provided at the site. The Resort Hotel and Restaurant portions of the development create more than 300 new jobs in the Town of Stillwater. All the jobs will pay salaries significantly above minimum wage. More than half of the jobs will have salary levels that are two to five times minimum wage. Residents of Stillwater and the local area will be offered the first opportunity to qualify for all positions. As represented in the Concept Site Plan, the improvements to the Brown’s Beach site will be total; more than twenty five million dollars, $25,000,000.00. According to the tax basis for the improved property should be ten times more than the existing tax basis of the property. With the site located less than half a mile from the border with the Town of Malta, along NYS Route 9E there is very little impact on the roadways of the Town of Stillwater. With public sewer and water services available at the site no significant changes in the utility services are required. Adequate electrical power service is available along Route 9E. The developers will request that the power company relocate the power lines under ground along the frontage of Brown’s Beach. The developers will pay the costs of the relocation work. Hopefully, local people will fill the majority of the 300 new jobs. Therefore, the Brown’s Beach Development will not significantly impact the local school systems. Since the development includes continuation of the existing beach and marine services, the only new impact on police and fire company services would be created by construction of the resort hotel. In the past, the developers have contracted with the local police forces to provide security at the hotel. In summary, it would seem the type of development proposed for Brown’s Beach combined with it’s location in the Town of Stillwater will cause very modest impact on the infrastructure and services of the Town. The result should be a significant economic benefit to the town of Stillwater.
ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS OF DESIGN PROCESS
1. RESPECTING THE EXISTING SOTE ENVIRONMENT
Immediately after purchasing the property the owners, Brown’s Beach Properties, LLC contracted professionals to conduct environmental analysis of the current condition of the property. A Phase I Environmental Assessment Study, a Wetlands Delineation Survey and a Phase I Archeological Survey were completed by CT Male Associates, P.C., registered professional engineers certified as experts in conducting the environmental studies. Results of the environmental work yielded the following information:
No endangered species were found to be present on this site
The Wetlands Delineation Survey Defined 12 small Wetland areas, which were classified as emergent or scrub-shrub types of wetland features. The sum of all the wetland areas totals 49% of an acre. The majority of the wetland features appeared the be the result of poor storm water management by the previous owners. Ditches and swales compromise all but one of the wetland areas. The one exception is an area in the extreme southeastern portion of the site 6,540 square feet or 15% of an acre.
The Archeological Survey results indicated that no archeological relics exist on the site.
The most important environmental attribute of the site is the one thousand feet of frontage on Saratoga Lake. The very first consideration in the development of the property is to protect the quality of the lake. The historical uses of the property, family beach, recreational activities, the 200-boat shallow water marina, a boat service garage, petroleum service center, food and beverage concession stand and restaurant and small lodging facility all require significant vehicular parking and driveway areas. Previous owners of the property have not adequately managed the storm water discharge from NYS Route 9E. Storm water currently flows unrestricted across the property and discharges into the lake. Residual dirt and contaminants from the vehicles parked on the site are picked up by the storm water and are deposited into the lake. It is a certainty that future use of the site will require significant numbers of vehicles to be parked and controlled on the site. The design concept for the property begins with environmental management of the parking and traffic on the site.
2. ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING AND ACCESSMENT
The Town of Stillwater is fortunate that New York State has enacted the State Environmental Quality Review Act. This process is commonly referred to as the SEQR Process, which requires extensive environmental evaluation and analysis of all utility and traffic infrastructure systems before permitting of any future development. The impact of the development on Sewer, Water, electrical and gas services as well as the impact on existing road systems servicing the site is presented for review and approval by the appropriate governing agencies. The owners have contacted the Saratoga County Sewer Authority and the owner of the water company. They were informed that adequate services are available on site. We embrace The SEQR Process as it guides us to fulfill our responsibility to develop Brown’s Beach property not only to be economically viable but also environmentally sensitive and sensible.
Contact Applicant
Brown's Beach Properties LLC
Larry and Geraldine Abrams
Phone: (518) 583-1212
Email: larry@geraldine.com |
