LIVINGSTON MANOR — The Rockland Town Hall was at full capacity last Tuesday for the public hearing regarding Firelight Camps, a purposed luxury camping development to be located on 100 acres of land off Little Ireland Road in Livingston Manor.

Founders Robert and Emma Frisch, along with Head of Business Development Matthew Moss, have been appearing before the Town of Rockland Planning Board since January 2018.

Since that time, some residents on Little Ireland Road and the surrounding area have voiced opposition to the project, citing dangerous traffic patterns, scarce water resources, light and sound pollution and potentially negative environmental impacts.

Robert and Emma started Firelight Camps in Ithaca over five years ago, where they have a thriving, 19 tent operation tucked up against the Buttermilk Falls State Park.

Though the site plan for the Livingston Manor project has seen revisions and amendments in the more than a year it's been before the planning board, it has consistently been pitched as a much larger version of what exists in Ithaca.

In presenting the site plan, Engineer Wes Illig has described 50-100 platform tent sites, some with attached bathroom facilities, a bar and snack shack, communal fire pits and event space.

Frisch said they hope to expand on what has worked well for them in Ithaca.

“It's been very successful. I think we've really struck a nerve with our guests,” Frisch said. “We've been a great benefit to the community in Ithaca. We've been outstanding, tax paying citizens. This is not a non-profit. We've had great impact in general on the Finger Lakes tourism economy.”

Frisch said he was happy to see that one of the top listed items on Sullivan County's strategic plan was to promote outdoor and eco tourism. “We're excited about how we fit squarely within that,” Frisch said.

Encouraged by the upward tourism momentum Sullivan County has experienced in the past year, Firelight hopes to make a big splash in the Sullivan Catskills market.

Frisch maintains a major part of their business model is “sustainable development,” and described the project as “light footprint and low density,” but the majority of people who attended the public hearing disagreed.

Rockland Resident Nan Gough takes issue with the project being called a campground, maintaining that it's more accurately described as a resort or hotel.

“They have been referred to as a hotel in media and travel sites,” Gough said. “I also would like to say that a bar, even if it is only for their own guests, is not appropriate in the rural conservation area.”

John Templin (Gough's father) has lived on the property adjacent to the purposed Firelight Camps site for over 30 years. Templin has opposed the project since the beginning, but takes particular issue with how its expanded throughout the planning process.

“When the project was first proposed, I don't believe they called for up to 100 permanent bathrooms,” Templin said, refering to the tents with bathroom facilities. “That's a hotel that happens to have a soft roof.”

Attorney Meave Tooher, who represents Templin, said, “This project has evolved substantially from what was put before this board at that [January 2018] meeting. The event space was added, the wastewater treatment plan is still in a state of flux, and the parameters of the restaurant and bar have changed.”

Tooher said she believes the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) will show the project has significant environmental impacts. While Firelight disputes this, Tooher said they should present the Planning Board with a full Environmental Impact Statement.

“It gives the board an opportunity to preserve and protect the very resources that [Firelight] wants to capitalize on,” Tooher said. “[Frisch] has got all the good intentions in the world, but he has a 19-site facility in Ithaca. That does not extrapolate out to a 100-site facility with a separate waste water plant, separate stormwater pond and an impacted trout stream.”

Douglas Lee is the property owner to the south of the proposed development. “I am directly downstream, so my land has the most direct impact from this project,” he said.

Lee explained that he was worried about visitors inadvertently trespassing on his property. More importantly, he's concerned about the impact on the quality of the Class C trout spawning stream that runs through the site. Since the stream flows intermittently in the summer, Lee worried that the large amount of seasonal effluent could have severe negative impacts.

Lee said he was in discussion with Frisch about alternative means of water treatment. “I am for responsible development, and if you address the needs of the community I support your effort here,” he told Frisch during the public hearing.

Vito Racanelli also owns property on Little Ireland Road and helps run the website Stopfirelight.com. Like many nearby residents, Racanelli worries Firelight's seasonal water usage will run neighboring wells dry.

“This by no stretch is a camping facility,” Racanelli said. “My main concern has been water. It's too big a drain on the area's scarce water resources. I have run out of water several times in the past three years. Firelight has constantly minimized the water issue.”

There was a dramatic moment when Racanelli asked Frisch to promise to “make the property owners whole,” if they lost water as a result of this project. Vice Chairman [of the Rockland Planning Board] Richard Barnhart reminded the audience to direct all comments to the board and not the applicant.

Yet not everyone who attended the public hearing was opposed to the project.

“I've seen more positive development over the past five years than I did in the previous ten,” said Beaverkill Angler Owner Evan Leavery. “I know there are some people who would be negatively impacted by this, but there would be many more who are positively impacted by it. I hope everybody embraces it.”