WINDHAM - The controversy bubbling around a new hotel possibly getting built by the Windham Mountain Club has splashed onto social media, and is expected to spill over into an October 1 planning board public hearing.
That meeting of Windham planners took place past deadline for this edition, but there has been a lengthy lead up to the session after the 26-room, upscale hotel project became widely known in the late spring.
Several local hoteliers quickly expressed concerns that have now been narrowed down to the overall planning board approval process. Two of those hoteliers spoke during a September 24 gathering of interested business owners and citizens held at the Wylder Windham resort. Wylder Windham owner John Flannigan was one of the speakers, joined by Albergo Allegria proprietor Marianna Radelich-Leman. They focused on a previously approved WMC development Master Plan that included creating 60-plus townhouses and single-family homes.
WMC has offered a change to that plan, essentially substituting the hotel rooms for an equal number of townhouses on ski center land. Planners have been moving through the required environmental review, determining if there are any anticipated negative impacts. Thus far, none have been singled out with the WMC apparently preparing to break ground, marketing the $25 million hotel as opening in 2028. However, a petition was circulated at the September 24 get together that has now been posted online and was expected to be presented to the planning board on October 1.
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The petition states, “Windham Mountain Club…has asked to amend its approved [Master Plan] to add a 26-room hotel.
“Three Planning Board members, Claudia Lane, Michael Troccoli, and Ray Curtis, have recused themselves for ties to the Club, leaving Board Chair Lisa Jaeger, member Nate Holdridge, and alternate member John O'Neill as the only members eligible to vote,’ the petition states.
“At an Aug. 6 [planning board] meeting, Ms. Jaeger and Mr. O'Neill stated on the record that they did not consider the hotel likely to have significant adverse environmental effects,” the petition states.
“On Sept. 3, 2026, those same three members voted unanimously to adopt that determination, closing the environmental review before the site plan itself has even been heard,” the petition states.
“The signed June 2025 Development Agreement between the Town and the Club, part of the Town's original approval of the Club's development plan, includes no hotel and can be changed only in writing signed by all parties, including the Town (section 9.2),” the petition states.
That 2025 development agreement between the town and WMC is tied to the Master Plan passage, addressing community concerns about skier numbers as the ski center announced a shift toward privatization.
The pact also spells out the addition of a water tower, “needed to address demand from the Project on the Town's system during peak flow days, and to rapidly supply fire flow to the area in the event of an emergency.”
Since then, a zoning law has been put in place by the town that contains language similarly related to the original WMC Master Plan.
It states that, “the developer shall submit any proposed modifications to the master plan in conceptual form to the Town Board for initial review and discussion,” prior to submission to the planning board.
WMC submitted its hotel change in May. Zoning was enacted in August and the intention of that language is to give the town board a direct role in helping offer input on any Master Plan modifications.
While the zoning language is aimed specifically at the WMC Master Plan, it would appear the hotel change is grandfathered due to the May filing.
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The new petition further states, “we, residents, property owners and business owners of the Town of Windham, NY, ask that:
—“The Town confirmed in writing whether the hotel falls under the new zoning law (section 13-4), and if not, why not.
—“Any approval of the hotel be paused until the Town Board completes the review required by Zoning Law section 6-8 C(3), including whether the change meets "a community and/or regional need,” the petition states.
—“No change be made to the Development Agreement without written, enforceable commitments to the town.
—“Given that the only three members eligible to vote, publicly took a position on the project's environmental impact before formally voting on that same question themselves, the Planning Board and its counsel issue a written response addressing whether this affects Ms. Jaeger's and Mr. O'Neill's ability to review the remaining site plan application impartially, and whether it provides a basis for recusal, before the October 1 hearing proceeds,” the petition states.
Town officials have maintained that the hotel application is undergoing the proper, independent planning board review and not within their purview.
And a town office staffer, Jessica Leto, has taken to social media, stating, “the [town of WIndham] Planning Board is properly following the laws of our town regarding this development.
“The town legal team oversees all actions made by the [planning board]. Particularly, regarding this project,” she continued..
“I know that every aspect of this project has undergone significant scrutiny. [Planning board] job is to make sure the project is following the laws of the TOWN. Not decide whether they think it is a good or bad project,” Leto wrote.
WMC and other applicants are obliged to establish an escrow account, paying for the outside consultants brought in to assist planners.
