Developers behind Zena Homes, formerly known as Woodstock National, plan to pitch a smaller proposal to the town of Ulster
By Susan Farkas
March 13, 2024
The developers of a large proposal on 620 acres straddling Zena Woods have said they will not build a planned golf course and helipad and will limit initial housing construction to a 106-acre parcel in the town of Ulster.
Goodbye Woodstock National. Hello Zena Homes.
Last summer, two young developers rolled out ambitious plans to build housing on one of the largest virgin forested areas in New York, a 624-acre plot of land in the Zena High Woods, which straddle the towns of Woodstock and Ulster. Working under the name Woodstock National LLC, the partners presented a preliminary vision that included an 18-hole golf course, a landing strip and 191 housing units, including some affordable housing.
The response from local environmentalists was swift and clear, proclaimed in 440 red and white lawn signs that dot the area: Stop Woodstock National.
Since then, the project has been rethought and renamed. It is now Zena Homes, from Zena Development LLC. Developer Evan Kleinberg, who lives in Saugerties with his wife and infant, has been meeting with critics and local officials, assuring them that he’s here for the long term and wants to build something “the community sees as impactful and beneficial,” he said in a January interview with the Times Union.
Kleinberg and his partner, Eddie Greenberg, have announced that the golf course and helipad are no longer part of the proposal and that all the initial housing construction will be on a 106-acre parcel in the town of Ulster. Zena Homes’ website calls the plan “a modest, low-density residential subdivision” in Ulster’s Ruby Woods neighborhood. Kleinberg told the Times Union that they plan to subdivide the Ulster land into 20 to 30 parcels. The company is considering “a wide range of home types, which ultimately the market will dictate,” he said.
The partners, who are preparing a submission to Ulster’s Planning Board, have promised not to build homes on protected wetlands and to study “potential environmental considerations.”
Nonetheless, the opposition is growing. “We plan to fight it as hard as we can,” said Laura Hartmann, chair of the Town of Ulster Citizens, an existing citizens group formed to address local issues.
Hartmann said that more than 50 Ulster residents attended a public meeting to voice concerns. She worries that clearing the land will require blasting, felling trees “that are the lungs of the earth” and digging wells that will harm wetlands and wildlife. And none of this will help alleviate the serious housing shortage in the Hudson Valley.
Hartmann and the Ulster Citizens group have found allies in environmental activist Susan Paynter and Woodstock Land Conservancy Executive Director Andy Mossey, co-chairs of the Stop Woodstock National group.
“We’re representing the forest and the wildlife,” Paynter said. “There can be no compromise on a wilderness area.”
The Stop Woodstock National opponents group has sold at least 440 lawn signs decrying the plan.
Photo: Darren Cohen
Town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley told the Times Union that he is generally pro-development but that “this project is in an inappropriate location.” As he told the developers, “You can’t get there from here” — because there’s no road to the Ulster property. Quigley pointed out that “the only means of ingress and egress is through the town of Woodstock.”
The implications are serious. Quigley said the Ulster Police and Fire Departments will not be able to respond to calls there without delay. Nor will an ambulance.
“In my view, the impacts are in the town of Woodstock,” Quigley said. He and Woodstock Supervisor Bill McKenna have agreed to partner as “a joint lead agency.”
The Ulster side of the property is landlocked by the 400-acre Ruby Rod and Gun Club, which does not intend to give access to developers, according to Hudson Valley One.
Zena Homes’ website states there is “no plan or intention to develop the 500+ acres of the land that sits in Woodstock.” But activists like Paynter wonder whether that is “disingenuous” if they have to build a road through it. Kleinberg calls it mere “speculation.”
There are other challenges to building in Woodstock. The town’s zoning code is under review, making any planning impossible until new provisions become law. Woodstock designated the Zena Woods a Critical Environmental Area last year, recognizing its “exceptional or unique natural setting” and its value as a habitat for endangered plants and animals, like the northern long-eared Bat, the Indiana bat and the bald eagle. The designation means any project in the Zena Woods will face additional environmental scrutiny.
The Woodstock Land Conservancy tried to buy the Zena Woods several years ago but could not raise enough money. Paynter and Mossey still hope the undeveloped land can eventually be bought from Zena Development and turned over to the Open Space Institute for permanent conservation.
In the meantime, the Stop Woodstock group will be renamed Stop Zena Development Group. Its original website now redirects to stopzenadevelopment.org. And they are already pasting labels on those hundreds of lawn signs.