MONTICELLO, NY — After a bit of tension, the board of the Town of Bethel and the Sullivan County Legislature seemed to have reached an agreement about how the former Smallwood Golf Course property will move forward.

At a meeting of both boards at the government center on September 4, the boards agreed that the county would take the steps necessary to allow the town to move forward with its plan to use 18 acres of the property to mine sand for use on town and county roads located in the Town of Bethel.

The county sold the property to the Bethel Local Development Corporation (BLDC) for $55,000, and the town spent an additional $70,000 related to expenses incurred by the creation of a conservation easement that would protect 125 acres of the property as being forever wild. An additional 40 acres was marketed for development at the site of possible homes on five-acre lots.

Earlier this year, the property was transferred to the BLDC, and according to county chair Scott Samuelson, this was done without notifying the county legislature. According to Bethel Supervisor Dan Sturm, Samuelson and the county attorney then blocked the attempt by the town to obtain a sand mining permit from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

The sand-mining operation was discussed at some length at the meeting. Sturm said it would be operational for only three or four weeks a year, during which time town employees could mine enough sand to last for a year for sanding operations during winter snowstorms.

Sturm said this would save the town about $30,000 per year because, without the mining operation, the town would have to buy sand on the open market. The mining operation would also save money for the county, because the county contracts with the town to plow and sand county roads in the Town of Bethel, and the mining operation would allow the town to reduce the price it charges the county by about 13%.

Sturm said the entire operation was a “win/win” for all parties because it not only provides a place where the public can enjoy nature, but the sand-mine operation is a source of revenue to help maintain the park, which is officially called the Forest Reserve at Smallwood.

The members of both boards agreed that the lawyers for the county and town should work together to come up with an agreement that will allow for the town to move forward with a bid to create its mining operation, while adding a safeguard that it would never be allowed to become a commercial operation.