HOWES CAVE — Potential construction of a $75 million indoor recreational water park and hotel near Howe Caverns moved one step closer Monday when the Cobleskill Town Board unanimously approved a zoning change needed for an 18-acre part of the 43-acre site.

“This is strictly a zoning issue,” said town Supervisor Roger Cohn, noting all the land involved is already owned by Howe Caverns Inc.

The change shifted 18 acres that was zoned rural residential to the same B-2 highway business district the remainder of the land was already zoned.

The change was recommended by the town Planning Board Aug. 20, and endorsed by the Schoharie County Planning Commission on Sept. 2, said Town Clerk Tina Ward-Shuart.

Rhode Island-based Destinations Development Group is eyeing the Howe Caverns location and another, unnamed site, for the project, according to Howe Caverns co-owner Emil Galasso.

No one spoke during a brief public hearing Monday on the zoning change. Before the session, Galasso said the potential developer is continuing to evaluate the project, and he is hoping for a decision later this month.

“We just did the hydrology studies,” Galasso said. Tests of the output of a an existing 200-foot-deep well indicated “we have plenty of water,” he said.

Galasso said two days of pump tests measured the well producing 114 gallons of water per minute “for 12 hours straight.”

Even though many private wells throughout the nearby region often have water with a sulfury odor, “there’s no sulfur smell,” Galasso said.

Besides water slides and an acre of various recreational pools for resort guests, the water park under consideration would also include a 250-room hotel. A private sewage and wastewater treatment plant would be constructed on the Howe Caverns site as part of the proposal, Galasso said.

No plans or applications have yet been filed with any local or county agency, except for a related request to shift business incentive Empire Zone status from an already designated Cobleskill Stone Products quarry site that Galasso also owns.

“I think we’ve done everything we’re supposed to do,” said Cohn. “We’ll just wait and see what happens now.”