By Nick Henderson
March 13, 2024
After months of silence, the developers of what was formerly known as Woodstock National have announced they have no plans for the 500-plus acres in Woodstock and will focus on building homes in the Town of Ulster. The company, now known as Zena Development LLC, launched the website zena-homes.com.
Ulster town supervisor Jim Quigley said his town has received no formal plans to date.
The original plan was for about 191 homes and a golf course, including about two dozen affordable units. The new plan is for a low-density residential subdivision with “on-site recreational amenities” on the 106-acre Town of Ulster portion of the 624 acres.
The developers, Evan Kleinberg of Saugerties and Eddie Greenberg of New Jersey, say they listened to feedback from Woodstock’s planning board and community, including local leaders, and have considerably reduced the project’s scale.
“We offered to partner with the Woodstock Land Conservancy and give them a say as to which consultants we hire to study the land, and to help us design the most forward-thinking, sustainable housing development ever built. That offer was immediately rejected,” the developers wrote on their website. “Today, we are studying and intending to propose a modest, low-density residential subdivision, strictly on the Ulster portion of the land assemblage. There is no plan or intention to develop the 500+ acres of the land that sits in Woodstock.”
The Ulster land is presently only accessible through the Town of Woodstock via Eastwoods Drive.
“They came in for a meeting,” reported Quigley. “They presented a development that was to be built entirely within the Town of Ulster. My response was the town was going to ask for joint lead agency with the Town of Woodstock.”
Quigley continued. “The question [from the developers] was asked, why? The answer to that question was, all the impacts are in the Town of Woodstock. In other words, you can’t get to the project site from the Town of Ulster. Therefore, the police can’t respond. The firemen can’t respond. The ambulances can’t respond. The traffic is going to go through the Town of Woodstock. So that’s what we told them.”
Quigley told the developers they don’t have the votes for approval.
“The Town of Ulster town code requires all planning-board approvals for buildings in excess of 2500 square feet to be made by the town board, not the planning board,” he said. “The planning board acts as a technical review committee. They review the plans and they make a recommendation to the town board. And I told them the votes to pass it are not there.”
In Woodstock, the development has faced fierce opposition from the group Stop Woodstock National, which has a website and Facebook page with a large following. Many of the large number of “Stop Woodstock National” lawn signs now have “Stop Zena Development LLC” stickers affixed to them. The developers have declined a request for an interview for the time being. Through their public-relations consultant, Kleinberg and Greenberg answered some questions via email and said they will let their website speak for itself.
“This will be a submission to subdivide the Ulster land into less than 30 parcels,” the developers answered in a later email through their public-relations firm. “Once we’ve achieved approval, we’re considering a wide range of home types, which ultimately the market will dictate. With regard to timetable, we’re working on our submission and hope to be in front of the board shortly. With regard to access, we’re exploring all feasible options, so stay tuned for updates.”