By Michael Ryan
WINDHAM - History, it is said, depends on who writes it, and in this case it is a conglomeration of people known as the town of Windham.
A loud, months-long wrangling was hushed in a few moments, last week, surrounding a proposal to build little league baseball fields at the immensely popular Windham Path.
Town supervisor Thomas Hoyt announced the plan, this past January, and it was met almost immediately by resistance that steadily evolved into an opposition organization called Preserve the Windham Path.
Tensions have been mounting for months until Hoyt, in a surprise move, announced that the Windham Foundation was buying 34 acres of land.
That land will eventually be transferred to the town for community uses including seven acres for the ballfields.
No one saw it coming except the parties involved in the deal and even they weren’t certain it would happen until it did, two days before it was publicly shared (please see related story).
Preserve the Windham Path, given its presence at council meetings over the past several months, was asked if they wanted to comment.
It is worth noting, before giving the Preserve the Windham Path response, that town councilman Ian Peters, while not directly identifying them, was plainly referring to them and others in his comments following Hoyt’s announcement (please see related Better Than Hearsay column).
Which is also why we asked Preserve the Windham Path if they wished to respond which they did, as follows:
“Preserve the Windham Path is thrilled to announce that the Windham Path, a treasured community asset, has been saved from development after months of collaborative community efforts to identify an alternative location to relocate the Mountain Top Little League facility.
“The Windham Foundation is in the process of acquiring approximately
34 acres of land that they intend to make available to the Town of Windham for future community use - including the Little League facility.
“This pivotal collaboration will ensure the continued preservation of the Windham Path - a natural gem, which stands as a cornerstone for recreation, tourism, and environmental stewardship in Windham,
the Catskills and beyond.
“We at Preserve the Windham Path extend our heartfelt gratitude to our thousands of supporters and to the Windham Foundation for their commitment to safeguarding this iconic landscape which enabled the Town of Windham to choose this solution for the benefit of all involved.
“Our group reaffirms its commitment to collaborate closely with the Windham Foundation, the Town of Windham and local residents & stakeholders to support this ongoing community project.
“While we celebrate this achievement, we reaffirm our dedication to remaining active stewards of the Windham Path and its unique ecosystem.
“As the heart of our town’s natural beauty, the Windham Path has brought joy to residents and visitors alike, and we are honored to stand with the Windham community in preserving it for future generations.”
It is journalistically worth noting that the press release is not attributed to any one person, listing only Atossa Kia as a Media Contact.
A press release issued by the Windham Foundation similarly lists a Media Contact, Candy McKee, while also having quotes attributed to the Foundation president, Paul Mutter, and Supervisor Hoyt.
There is also a listing of the Windham Foundation’s board of directors. The Foundation is, in large part, composed of people with second homes in Windham who have adopted the town as their own,
It is not known why nobody belonging to Preserve the Windham Path made it so their name was not connected to the press release.
I once asked one of the principals why and, off the record, their answer was they didn’t want repercussions from the community in their private lives.
Their position, as stated on their website, is that they wanted the beauty and serenity of the Windham Path to go undisturbed while also finding a home elsewhere for the Mountaintop Little League.
Preserve the Windham Path is now part of the town’s history as is the Windham Foundation and this particular rendition of the town board.
It will never be known what might have unfolded if the town board had gone forward with building the ballfields at the Path.
Would the Path have been ruined? Were town board members, even thinking about the Path as the site for the ballfields, oblivious to its espoused uniqueness and tourism importance to the community?
Would there have been a legal battle between Preserve the Windham Path and the town, apparently being readied by the group and the Mountaintop Progressives in website appeals for contributions to hire a lawyer?
At the town board session where the announcement was made about the land deal, a comment was offered by Larry Gardner about the Windham Foundation and its ongoing involvement in the town.
Gardner, the former Windham town attorney who also had his private practice on Main Street in Windham for many years, said, “we are witnessing something extraordinary in our times.”
Which begs the question, who will make decisions, and how will they be made, about what else occurs on the 34 acres?
It is a gorgeous piece of land, one of the last of its kind in Windham, selling for roughly $14,700 an acre, giving an eye-opening sense of a vastly changing little rural town.
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