Windham Mountain Club hotel plan met with opposition

WINDHAM―There is no easy way to write any story about the simmering controversy surrounding the building of a 26-room boutique hotel at the Windham Mountain Club and resistance by local hoteliers to the plan.

Two letters have been sent to the town planning board regarding the project which is part of a larger Windham Mountain Club development master plan.

The town has brought in a special consultant to help planners sort through the complex elements of the proposal that also includes construction of perhaps forty upscale townhouses and homes, all on ski slope lands.

That consultant was at a planning board meeting this month where one of the letters was read into the record, authored by John Flannigan, owner of Wylder Windham, the former Thompson House. A second letter comes from Marianna and Leslie Leman, proprietors of Albergo Allegria, next door to Wylder Windham.

Both hotels have roots in the community reaching back generations and are synonymous with what brings people to Windham.

Windham Mountain Club is similarly ingrained in the Gem of the Catskills, drawing thousands of visitors every year, as local resorts have done for centuries in a tourism-reliant economy.

There is no other way to write it. Financial and legal battle lines are being drawn as the Windham Mountain Club seeks planning board approval on their hotel while Wylder Windham and Albergo Allegria say “no” to any more rooms.

Before getting to the letters, a visual can be shared. When Flannigan came forward to read his letter, last week, three members of the planning board quickly left the main table to sit among the audience.

They were properly recusing themselves, each with a link to the ski slope―whether as members or through connected work. Nothing wrong in any of that but it clearly shows how interdependent and entwined the various parties are, meaning the ski slope, the citizenry, entrepreneurs and local decision-makers.

The trio of recusals also means there will be three planning board members, including one alternate, rather than five determining the outcome of the Windham Mountain Club application, inarguably one of the most impactful in town history.

It would seem there are two levels of getting down to the nitty gritty. The first boils down to having not enough, or too much, room at the inns.

Windham Mountain Club introduced its development master plan in the summer of 2023, following a change in majority ownership and a shift toward greater privatization involving limits on skier numbers.

Flannigan, in his letter states, “While we wish Windham Mountain Club much success and support them whenever possible, when the original master plan was presented, other members of the lodging community and I were given assurances that the Mountain would not construct its own hotel and would instead support Windham's existing lodging businesses.”

“This proposed amendment to the master plan represents a significant departure from that commitment and raises serious concerns about the long-term impact on the local lodging community that relied on those assurances,” Flannigan stated.

A hotel was bandied about in the early going but put “on hold” according to then-ski slope President Chip Seamans as opposition was expressed by business owners over non-member skier limits and hotel misgivings.

Windham Mountain Club President Kristen Leach, in a phone interview after Flannigan’s letter was entered into the record, said she was not in a leadership role when the master plan was revealed and not privy to hotel talks.

A related agreement was ultimately signed between Windham Mountain Club and the Town of Windham regarding overall skier limits, local access and other issues with no reference to abandoning the hotel concept.

The Lemans, in their letter, focused on comments reportedly made by Leach that the new Windham Mountain Hotel would “help address a shortage of lodging in Windham.”

“As local second-generation hotel owners, we are knowledgeable in this industry and its market area. We can categorically say that this statement is not accurate,” they wrote.

“We will be bold enough to state that all of the hotels in the surrounding area have availability weekdays all year long, with perhaps an exception when an individual hotel is full due to a special event or happening. When that is the case, the other area hotels still have vacancy,” the Lemans stated.

Leach, following the July planning board session, reiterated earlier reports where she said the Windham Mountain Club hotel would not compete with existing establishments due to its uniqueness and very upscale, luxury style.

“We are not trying to compete with them. We are not trying to say we are better than them,” Leach said.

“The hotel will not have a restaurant so as not to compete with a saturated restaurant situation. Our private club has been in existence for over 16 years. This is nothing new,” she continued.

“We see this as a source of growth for the community. We don’t look at day travelers as much as long term investors in our community,” Leach added.

According to Flannigan, “guests seeking upscale accommodations will inevitably compare these properties, and the Mountain’s hotel will compete directly with existing local businesses for the same customer base.”

“Wylder consistently sells to luxury clients who stay at the mountain for skiing, and it would be a direct competitor,” Flannigan stated in his letter.

The Lemans, in their letter, note that “there are a number of Windham lodgings that are highly awarded with well-earned accolades.”

“Quality in design, hospitality and service, as well as amenities, are all part of what makes up an exceptional "next level" lodging property. Our hope is if [Windham Mountain Club] hotel plans are before the Board, a standard of exceptionalism will be held as this is their publicly noted intention,” the Lemans stated.

Windham Mountain Club will be undergoing a stringent SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process that asks numerous questions, including the potential impact of the project on the “character” of Windham.

Questions could also surface about the economic repercussions for current hotels although fiscal competitiveness, defined by capitalism, is not generally within the purview of a planning board.

Leach, in a phone interview, said if all goes smoothly with planning board oversight, groundbreaking will occur in 2027 with occupancy in 2028.

Flannigan wrote that the hotel would allow Windham Mountain Club “to become a direct competitor to the independent lodging businesses that have invested in Windham for decades and is inconsistent with the character and long-term vision of Windham.”

“The result would be lasting negative economic consequences for those businesses and, ultimately, for the diversity and character of the Town itself,” Flannigan wrote.

“For these reasons, I respectfully urge the Planning Board to deny the proposed amendment to the master plan that would authorize construction of a new boutique hotel at Windham Mountain Club,” Flannigan stated.

The Lemans wrote, “a perceived shortage of hotel rooms does not take into account the 900+ Airbnb [properties] currently existing on our mountain top, many of which are unique, exceptional, and qualified as ‘luxury boutique’.”

“Windham Mountain Club can factually claim that it desires to build a hotel, but not to state that it is needed to ‘help address a shortage of lodging in Windham’,” the Lemans wrote.

The matter will continue to be addressed at planning board sessions, held the first and third Thursday of each month at the municipal hall in Hensonville and open to the public.