Saugerties Residents Angry With Plans for Woodstock ’94 Site

The $600 million plans for Winston Farms in Saugerties include everything from homes, to commercial, business, and recreational uses.

Last year after it was announced that developers had purchased the 800-acre site of the 1994 Woodstock music festival for $4 million, news started to spread that the new owners had plans to turn Winston Farms into a multi-use area.

Plans for Winston Farms

If plans are approved at the farm located in Saugerties, New York, it would be home to many things including houses, hiking trails, a high-tech-type manufacturing space, campgrounds, a hotel, and a 10,000-seat amphitheater according to the town of Saugerties. The plans have led many area residents to voice their concerns if the plans are to move forward with many focusing on the effect it could have on the environment according to the Daily Freeman.

Residents Angry With Plans

At a recent Town Board meeting, Saugerties residents shared their concerns about the plans with one resident Marjory Greenberg-Vaughn saying "They are talking about putting in upscale housing, do you really think people are going to spend a million dollars and have an amphitheater next door? I lived through Woodstock ’94 and you don’t want crowds of people and noise pollution at the expense of the citizens that pay taxes."

Other residents including Gene O'Donovan voiced concern about roads being used as an entrance to the site, "This project doesn’t have any responsibility to any of its neighbors, it’s going to take Buffalo Road and make it into its entrance to this property. Do you want your kids living on Buffalo Road to dodge the dump trucks as they come back and forth? I don’t think so."

Environmental Concerns

Developers did say that there are aware of issues on the property including the area's aquifer, an endangered plant species the Green Rock Cress, and a rare bird species the Red Headed Woodpecker found on the property to name a few.

The environmental issues will be addressed in more detail on September 21st at 6 p.m. at the Frank D. Greco Senior Center located at 207 Market Street in Saugerties, NY.