Most New Yorkers regard the state’s growing budget crisis with dread. The opponents of the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, however, see opportunity.

In an act of political vulturism, the Catskill Heritage Alliance last week cited the state deficit in calling on Gov. David Paterson to do what the group would want under any condition: defunding of the $60 million state commitment to the public/private project.

The $400 million resort would straddle the border of Ulster and Delaware counties adjacent to the state-owned and operated Belleayre Mountain Ski Center. The resort was first proposed in 1999, but got a big boost last year under an agreement brokered by then Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Under the plan, the resort would comprise two complexes — one with a 250-room hotel and 139 townhouse-style lodging units surrounding an 18-hole golf course; the other with a 120-room hotel and spa, 60 lodging units in two buildings and another 60 detached units in up to 52 buildings. The resort and state lands would be developed to physically connect.

The deal also calls for about 1,200 acres of woodland near the resort to be sold by Crossroads to the state to be protected.

Selectively casting the project as a simple matter of state support for private interests, the Catskill Heritage Alliance, a grassroots community and environmental organization, last week asserted the project “makes no sense at all” in light of the deficit crisis “when so much is being asked of so many.”

The truth is that the partnership crafted by Spitzer with the developer is innovative and intended to mediate public and private interests, while delivering both economic growth and new environmental protections. These are laudable goals, which we support.

We have expressed support for the project, pending a complete review of whether or not it proves to be environmentally acceptable.

But no such suspension of judgment is necessary to state the obvious: Eliminating money earmarked for economic development because of a state fiscal crisis deepened by a wobbly economic base makes no sense whatsoever. It is the equivalent of stopping a transfusion because the patient is bleeding.

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