The three members of the Windham Planning Board eligible to vote on the Windham Mountain Club’s proposed 26-room luxury hotel unanimously moved the project forward last week despite continued concerns from area hoteliers.

At a Planning Board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 3, board Chair Lisa Jaeger, member Nate Holdridge, and alternate John O’Neill passed a resolution determining that no further environmental review was needed for the project.

Jaeger, O’Neill, and Holdridge are the only three board members able to vote on Windham Mountain Club-related proposals. Members Claudia Lane, Michael Troccoli, and Ray Curtis must recuse themselves because of ties to the club.

The proposed boutique hotel was announced earlier this year as an amendment to the club’s approved master plan. The hotel and a four-bedroom villa would replace eight townhouses off Resort Drive that were approved as part of the plan.

Windham Mountain Club President Kristen Leach has said the hotel would be a “step above” existing luxury hotel options, with room prices ranging from $1,000 to $1,200 per night.

The draft resolution says the board found no significant impacts to water, land, plants and animals, noise, light, and other areas. It also declares that the project would have no significant impact on community character, an area considered under the State Environmental Quality Review Act that opponents of the plan have cited as a concern.

The decision comes amid renewed concerns from John Flannigan, CEO of Wylder Hotels, that the plan could negatively affect other businesses in the Windham area. Wylder operates a hotel on state Route 296.

Flannigan has been an outspoken critic of the plan, arguing that it could hurt other hotels and businesses in Windham and that the Windham Mountain Club has been unneighborly throughout the process.

In a letter to the Planning Board and another to Supervisor Tom Hoyt, Flannigan argued that the Planning Board’s process “has been compromised” and urged the Town Board to intervene. He cited comments made by Planning Board members at a meeting in August and potential conflicts of interest, particularly Jaeger’s roles as Planning Board chair and a member of the Windham Chamber of Commerce.

Hoyt has said neither he nor the Town Board can intervene in the Planning Board’s environmental review.

Flannigan also condemned the club for advertising the boutique hotel as “coming in 2028” on its website, even though the plan had not been fully approved. In his letter to Hoyt, he said the club has “reportedly hired sales personnel to begin pre-selling the hotel.”

The Windham Mountain Club website previously had a page for the boutique hotel, but the link now redirects to a page promoting the club’s existing hotel, The Outpost.

Leach denied that the club was selling rooms before the hotel had been fully approved. She said the club was within its rights to describe the hotel on its website as a “future development.”

“Any other business could put a billboard in their parking lot and say, ‘future development,’” she said. “You see that everywhere in the world where they say future developments are in the process. We’re not trying to book hotel rooms by any means. We do show it’s upcoming in the future, and if it didn’t pass, we would take it down.”

“There is no way to book a hotel room now for that hotel,” Leach said.

Flannigan is one of several hotel owners who have opposed the plan since it was introduced earlier this year. In July, Leslie and Marianna Leman of Albergo Allegria Hotel and Kate Christman of Christman’s Windham House joined Flannigan in opposing the plan. In August, Flannigan and the Lemans joined Bjorn Boyer of Eastwind Hotels and JB Behling of Union and Post in another letter opposing it.

Allyson Phillips, an attorney for the Planning Board, has said the economic effects of a proposal are largely outside the board’s scope when conducting a review under the state environmental law. The board can, however, consider those effects more generally when assessing potential impacts on community character.

“We didn’t really see any evidence in the record of an economic impact such as widespread business displacement or cycles of divestment that could result in a really significant adverse effect on the community character,” Phillips said.

Phillips cited the hotel’s size and the transient nature of hotel guests and second-home owners as reasons the board did not find that the project would have significant environmental impacts. While the master plan is grandfathered under Windham’s new zoning law, Phillips said the project would be allowed anyway because hotels are permitted in the resort district where it would be built.

Leach said she was excited for the plan to move forward.

“We’re very eager to get our shovels in the ground,” she said. “We’re just going to continue to follow the rest of the process and wish for the best.”

Last week’s resolution completes the board’s environmental review of the project. The board will next determine whether the amendment meets the standards in the town’s laws. Another public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 1, at Windham Town Hall because O’Neill will be absent from the Sept. 17 meeting.

Written comments will be accepted through Oct. 1, officials said.

Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter, and surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.