Great Wolf Lodge: Where will the water come from?

CHESTER — If past is prologue, the challenge for any would-be developer of the former Camp LaGuardia site in Chester and Blooming Grove will be in its water and sewer infrastructure — or lack thereof.
In February 2014, Alex Jamieson, at that time the newly elected Chester town supervisor, sat down with Joel Mounty, owner and president of Mountco Development Corps of Scarsdale, and other officers of the firm. The meeting came six years after Mountco first proposed developing the site for residences and a commercial center. Up to 907 residences were planned at one point.
The project was unpopular, and residents let the town board know that such intensive development would not be welcome. But even when the project was whittled down to 600-plus residences, insufficient sewer capacity remained the principal obstacle to developing the site.
Orange County bought the 258-acre property in 2006 from New York City, which had used it for decades as a shelter for homeless men. The county was eager to recoup the $8.5 million it had spent to buy the facility and shut it down. But the county wasn't able to close a deal with any potential buyer. And as the years passed, the site became a safety hazard, the buildings disintegrating because of fire, vandalism, and neglect.
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus was the Chester town supervisor before Jamieson and knows the site and its history well. The Chronicle reached out to Neuhaus' office for its take on how the site, considering its past challenge, might accommodate Great Wolf Lodge, which is considering Camp LaGuardia among other sites in the southern part of the county. His spokesperson Justin Rodriguez says "right now the capacity is there" for water and sewer; here's his full response:
1. What sunk Mountco was a lack of local support and a lack of compromise by the developer. The county under the former administration had promised to provide sewer to Mountco. The county put that in writing to Mountco as part of the purchase contract. Ultimately the former administration could reach no agreement with the localities on sewer. It was not a capacity question, it was a use question. The towns did not want to give up capacity for a use that the county had promised to handle.
2. County Executive Neuhaus took a completely different tact than the prior administration. The prior administration gave the legislature and localities three choices — none of which really provided the ratables the site deserved. Instead, the focus was always housing. Neuhaus, on the other hand, went to the localities and asked them to re-zone so projects to local liking could be solicited. He always preferred that a sizable amount of Camp LaGuardia be put to commercial use. The towns did what he asked — they re-zoned. That was about a two-year process that was completed last year.
3. As you may recall, Chester acted quickly. They re-zoned and Kiryas Joel, in 2016, sued. The county and Chester won the lawsuit against KJ. Then, last year, Blooming Grove rezoned (and no lawsuit followed to our knowledge).
4. Now that we have zoning that is not housing oriented, we are identifying uses which are consistent with local wishes, not inconsistent.
5. Furthermore, commercial uses use less water and sewer than residential.
So we are always cognizant of the need for sewer and water but right now the capacity is there. We will continue to work with Chester and Blooming Grove to develop uses compatible with local wishes — and that is not housing. We are gratified by the support of Legislature Chairman Brescia and the Supervisor of Blooming Grove and hope Great Wolf does make a serious offer on the property in the near future.
Related stories"Great Wolf Lodge coming to Orange County": https://bit.ly/2PEjTuM
"Steve Neuhaus reveals plan for former Camp LaGuardia site": https://bit.ly/2NlHwdW
"Major sewer expansion planned for Chester": https://bit.ly/2NPrbLI
"Mountco is back": https://bit.ly/2wOfmie
"Camp LaGuardia at the crossroads": https://bit.ly/2oJUtk1