In nullifying the 1998 agreement with the county and the towns of Olive, Marbletown and Wawarsing, Hurley officials said it had outlived its usefulness.

Part of the city's Ashokan Reservoir property, a source of drinking water for the city, is located in the town of Hurley.
Supervisor Gary Bellows said the agreement was nothing more than an administrative burden that was never implemented. He said there was never a meeting or collective legal representation under the pact, which was terminated on the advice of Town Attorney Jack Darwak.

The pact already has been abandoned by the towns of Wawarsing and Marbletown.

The other resolution, which will be forwarded to city and state officials, claims New York City's Department of Environmental Protection is interfering with home rule and denounces proposed restrictions on recreational use of watershed lands, which officials say hurts economic development in watershed communities.

The resolution is aimed not only at proposed restrictions on small game hunting and snowmobiling, but at the city agency's criticism of a proposed golf resort near Belleayre Mountain Ski Center border and its proposed restriction against any future golf courses.

The Coalition of Watershed Towns, which is leading the campaign against the proposed restrictions, has termed the city's actions as "unreasonable" and an "infringement" of local policies, and a "direct attack on home rule."

The lengthy resolution also accuses the city agency of exaggerating the environmental significance of the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park and seeks to become a party in a pending state Department of Environmental Conservation permit proceeding to contest what the coalition sees as inappropriate legal positions being asserted by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The 1997 Watershed Memorandum of Agreement between the city and towns in its upstate watershed sought to protect the New York City water supply as well as the economic vitality and character of watershed communities. At risk for watershed communities like Hurley, officials said, are tourist-related facilities that rely on recreational activities.

Watershed communities argue that it is their right to plan and regulate their own land uses stipulated under municipal home rule provisions of the state Constitution, and that the city agency's interference is "a serious breach of the agreement."
Councilman Al Mayone said after Monday's session that the town was simply telling the city that it will not be dictated to and that Hurley can take care of itself.

©Daily Freeman 2004