A March thaw is upon us and the question now really becomes: has the Snow Man departed these parts for good or is this thaw some kind of cruel joke played on us by a smirking Father Winter holed up in the wilds of northern Canada? Let’s hope against hope—we know the muddy month of Sullivan March too well to be completely hoodwinked!—it is the former. Most mornings now I get up and walk my property, enjoying the full light and the silent forest. Daily I spot new bunches of nubbly green sprouting from the tattered grass and leaf-strewn flower beds: daffodils pushing skyward by the dozens, eager for blooming life. Our winter this year was a mild one, but what a relief anyway to get this far and see these first harbingers of spring. Soon the Town of Bethel Highway Department sweeper trucks will be buzzing down our roads, giant wiry wheels spitting up clouds of dreck and sweeping away all traces of freeze and thaw.

As of publication date today there are 73 days until Memorial Day. Last year, like most recent years, locals were astounded by the number of vehicles and busses suddenly choking Bethel’s roads come the summer’s first long weekend. A similar prospect now beckons. Development is good for Sullivan—we need more prosperity and we need it spread around more equitably!—but one has to ask how much more traffic, how much more development-pulling traffic we really can absorb. We do, after all, adore the country life and the country’s pace. 

Plans are afoot to pull even more people, in even greater density, into Bethel and Sullivan. Two developments in particular are currently before the Bethel Town Planning Board. Each purports to be a large ‘hotel’ and each would place a firm pincer on the White Lake “strip” between Mattison Road and the Mansion House (between the White Lake Presbyterian Church and NYS Route 55 on NYS Rt 17B). Both developments sport enormous dormitory-style housing projects intended to house hundreds of transient visitors throughout the summer. Imagine the constant traffic jam there will be between the two developments squeezing everything together along the south shore of White Lake! Imagine the continual congestion and air pollution from May until September through Bethel!

Public opposition to both projects has been implacable. Developers have hired experts to vouch for the environmental safety of each project. SmART Bethel, a group of Smallwood residents opposing excessive development, has now joined a Bethel-wide “Roundtable” comprised of advocacy groups, homeowner associations, and concerned individuals. The Roundtable plans to hire their own environmental experts to evaluate the effects of excessive traffic and excessive sewage/runoff in the White Lake Watershed. The Roundtable has named the Catskill Mountainkeeper (a 501c3 tax-exempt entity) to accept donations on its behalf. With a budget of $6K, the Roundtable still urgently needs $3K to fund its own environmental studies and develop comprehensive planning maps for Bethel. If you would like to help Bethel remain the green jewel in the crown of Western New York, please go to the “Donate” section at Catskillmountainerkeeper.org. Annotate your generous contribution in the memo section with “MAPPING DEVELOPMENT IN BETHEL.” – All for now, folks! Enjoy the greening, flowering spring and may the peace and quiet of a morning walk bring you happiness!