Gardiner - Awosting Reserve will end up undeveloped and in public hands, if all goes as planned with the $17 million bid from two environmental groups that a Delaware court trustee accepted Friday.

The deal could be announced by the Delaware court as soon as tomorrow.

"This is a big step in the right direction," said Keith LaBudde, president of the Friends of the Shawangunks and chairman of the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition.
LaBudde confirmed that the bid of the Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute has been accepted by the lawyer charged with selling the 2,500 acres on the Shawangunk Ridge.

If finalized, the sale ends a proposal for development on this portion of the ridge and its slopes. Gardiner resident John Bradley hired a development firm in 2002 to shepherd that proposal through the labyrinth of zoning and planning regulations. The company proposed to build 349 luxury houses, plus cabins and a golf course.
Local environmentalists and a number of politicians mounted a fierce attack on the proposal. "Save the Ridge" signs bloomed on roadsides across the region.

Bradley fired the development firm, Chaffin Light of South Carolina, in April 2004, but lost a subsequent legal fight with his investors and Chaffin Light. A court in Delaware ordered the land sold in order to repay investors, who had put up $13 million, officials said.

A Web site real estate listing set a sales price of $35 million. The court put White Plains lawyer Frank McCullough as "master" in charge of evaluating bids. Neither McCullough nor Bradley returned calls for comment yesterday.

Up to six bids came in, according to Philip Nicholas, project manager for the Trust. But the proposals from developers apparently hinged on whether developers could get the permits.

"What are the odds they would get those permits? Not very good," LaBudde said. "That's apparently what the (court appointed) master decided also."

In comparison, The Trust and Open Space were ready to come up with the money right away, officials have said.

"After all this time, the investors just said, 'Enough. We don't think it is going to happen and give us our money back,' " LaBudde said. "They just got tired of waiting."

The environmental groups plan to keep the land undeveloped and, eventually, turn it over to New York so it can be added to Minnewaska State Park and the nearby Mohonk Preserve. The public would then have access to Awosting's cliffs, ridges and waterfalls.

It is still possible some glitch may arise, LaBudde said. "As we have learned, the deal is not done till the deed is signed."