You Talked, We Listened

The Williams Lake Project has made significant changes to the project design based on community input and ongoing research to the site’s natural resources.  The two most significant changes are 1) the relocation of the public access Rail Trail to maintain this trail on the historic rail bed and 2) the reduction of the number and the size of the homes.

Since its initial interest in the Project in 2006, the Williams Lake Project has hosted scores of information sessions and public presentations to share the Project vision and listen to comments from concerned citizens, neighbors and other stakeholders.

The Williams Lake Project receives valuable feedback from these public information sessions and public presentations, as well as from public comments submitted during the SEQR process. This feedback has been invaluable in understanding community concerns as well as identifying opportunities to modify the Project to better meet the objectives of the community. These comments have informed changes to the Concept Plan that undoubtedly improve the Project.

Recent Changes to Concept Plan
Public Comment	Change
Water demand too high	Reduced water consumption from 160,000 to 76,000 gpd (52% reduction)
Maintain or increase public access	Committed to ongoing public community access for recreational and educational events. Expanded and improved recreational trail design.
Improve community access to Resort	Committed to public access to Resort (fee basis).
Proposed rail trail connector not straight and flat (too much topography)	Moved location of rail trail connector to closely follow historic rail bed
Preserve wildlife habitatDecrease tree clearing and land grading	Reduced number of internal roads, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas
Protect sensitive wildlife habitat; Preserve open space	Moved 20 proposed home locations away from sensitive environmental areas. Increased clustering of homes between Fourth and Fifth Binnewater Lakes.
Accommodate Right-of-Way held by Mr. Edward Williams	Reduced excavation of upland northeast of Fifth Binnewater Lake
Increase visibility (sight lines) and safety at entrances	Modified entrances to Resort
Too much density on Point Comfort	Reduced number and density of Townhomes on Point Comfort
Increase open space	Increased open space and lands projected for Conservation protection. Reduced size of homes by ~10%. Total of 249 acres of proposed open space in Development Area
Specify commitments to energy efficiency	Committed to reduce energy demand by ~40% from code specifications
Specify commitments to on-site renewable energy	Committed to geo-thermal heat exchange and solar thermal collectors for hotel lodge and spa and photo-voltaic (PV) for wellness center
Specify sustainability targets	Defined restrictive land covenants and sustainability guidelines
Concern over potential blasting impacts to wildlife	Reduced areas of rock removal – commitment to use other rock removal techniques and blasting only if necessary – no blasting while bats in hibernation