The Town of Highland Planning Board has extended the written comment period on the Camp FIMFO Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to March 11, 2025. To make your voice heard, email your comments to planningboardzba@townofhighlandny.com. You do not have to be a resident of Highland to comment.

The DEIS documents can be found here. Note: This is a draft that was prepared by LaBella Associates, a consulting firm hired by Northgate, the owners of FIMFO. It is NOT an independent EIS.

DCS comments to the Town of Highland Planning Board follow:

To Town of Highland Planning Board
from Damascus Citizens for Sustainability
via B. Arrindell, Director
Director@DamascusCitizens.org

We urge a ‘NO’ vote on the FIMFO development. It is a very large development which will alter the area significantly and cause permanent damage. It is not in compliance with the River Management Plan.

This 2/17 National Park Service (NPS) letter re: Camp FIMFO Substantial Conformance Recommendation, asks:

• What are the “new plans”?
• Where is the archaeological survey?
• Where are the hydrogeologic and other studies?

This company, Northgate, has a history of getting into communities with one plan and then expanding without proper planning or permits, causing much community upset:

• Article from Hudson Valley One
• Comment letter by L. Washer.

Also it seems that Sullivan county gave FIMFO a $1,500,000 grant contingent on breaking ground within a certain time frame. What is that time frame and where is a full copy of that grant? This is public money, so shouldn’t the full arrangement be available to the public?

The grant was from the MID-HUDON REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Commission, which is a NY State entity. Therefore, it is a distribution of public funds, our tax-payer money, to a private company that wants to permanently alter a portion of the Delaware River, a designated Wild and Scenic River, so that this private company can make money defacing and destroying our natural beauty while using that area for its personal corporate gain.

From the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.”

The public and the NPS want more information. Because there are concerns about the compliance of this project with the River Management Plan and questions about whether there should there be an independent EIS, which we agree there should be, the proposal should be denied or at least tabled for a full EIS. The DEIS was completed and accepted for comment. We do not believe that the permanent structures (even if called RV’s), the plumbing, sewage, parking areas, acres of tree removal, swimming pools, and on and on are a conforming use of the property to the River Management Plan. They are, however, a reflection of greed and a willingness to sell our natural resources for short term gain even with long term loss. Many commenters have detailed the light, noise, traffic, landscape disturbance, wildlife impacts, flood plain and other damages this project will cause. Please take these comments seriously and deny this proposal.

ALSO, from Josh Fox, Oscar Nominated filmmaker and activist:
“A development like FIMFO has no place in the Upper Delaware river watershed. Our area is a wildlife sanctuary, an important source of clean water for 16 million people and one of the last pristine rivers and forests in the world. We don’t need massive new commercial developments, water slides, chlorine pools and other trappings of the kind of tourism that doesn’t suit the character of our area. At very minimum an extensive environmental impact study is required. We also need to have stakeholders from the entire region consulted in this process as it will impact us all around the area. This project faces considerable opposition from a very active base of environmentalists, hunters, fishers, wildlife lovers and community members and our voices are far more important than the greed of developers that don’t understand or care for the character of our region and the sanctity of our water and forest.”  – Josh Fox, Oscar Nominated filmmaker and activist.