APA weighs 'adverse impact'

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January 20, 2012

Resort decision expected today

KIM SMITH DEDAM Press-Republican The Press Republican Fri Jan 20, 2012, 02:28 AM EST

RAY BROOK — Commissioners at the Adirondack Park Agency aired their interpretations of a core clause of the APA Act Thursday.

And a permit decision on the Adirondack Club and Resort review moved one day closer.

Inside the APA Act — the statute that commissioners uphold — is the passage referring to "undue adverse impact."

"The project must not have an undue adverse impact upon the natural, scenic, aesthetic, ecological, wildlife, historic, recreational or open-space resources of the (Adirondack) Park — taking into account the (economic) or other benefits that might be derived from the project," the section says.

Commissioners Richard Booth and Cecil Wray have repeatedly questioned what they consider a gap in project review, which they say is missing a complete wildlife impact assessment.

Without it, they say, they cannot accurately gauge undue adverse impact.

NO ENDANGERED SPECIES

APA staff explained Thursday why it wasn't done. The APA never asked for more than the qualitative review done by Preserve Associates. It never asked for a species head count or impact analysis.

APA staff biologist Ed Snizek explained.

"We feel the project sponsor did do that qualitative survey," he said Thursday morning.

Research done early in project design showed no endangered or protected species on the 6,234-acres encompassing development, a property that has been logged systematically for more than 100 years.

"There was no new information that came out from desktop surveys; there was no need at that point to go to the quantitative level. Even though the scale of project is immense," Snizek said, "we did follow basic biology guidelines for the application."

GREAT CAMPS

Booth raised another prevailing concern he has with a project that is designed to spread large "great camp" lots out along its eastern edge.

"This project sponsor has chosen a pattern of development that is not in keeping with the intended guidelines on Resource Management land. A decision allowing this kind of subdivision is not a helpful precedent," he said.

Commissioner Bill Thomas, former Johnsburg town supervisor, pressed Booth for clarification.

"When you look at the project and the great camp (sections), there is a lot of open space around them that is protected forever. What is the difference between open space in this project and the open space you are talking about?"

Booth's interpretation of clustering means, in essence, no roads or infrastructure segmenting hundreds of acres of open land.

Thomas said that, economically, the developer's model might be more appropriate in Tupper Lake.

And the large lots might be desirable.

"Some people do like to have their places separated from others and a lot of land around them," Thomas said. "What they are doing is appropriate, as far as our regulations state."

'A COMPROMISE'

Newly confirmed Commissioner Sherman Craig weighed in, balancing "undue adverse impact" against the economic viability of a project planned at the edge of a village.

The point seemed to unlock discussion.

"We are talking about a large piece of privately owned property," Craig said.

"We are also talking about Resource Management land — a good deal of (Adirondack Park) Resource Management lands in active timber and logging would continue that way.

"Unfortunately, some of our forest resource uses have withered away, so you no longer can, apparently, make a profit owning large timberlands.

"This (Adirondack Club and Resort) seems to me a compromise. I'm willing to accept this compromise," Sherman said, suggesting that the developer could likely make a whole lot more money selling this land than logging it.

CLUSTERING

Commissioner Frank Mezzano, a former town supervisor from Speculator, raised concern with the notion of clustered great camps as an oxymoron.

"The idea of clustering great camps didn't make any sense — to cluster great camps is an oxymoron to me, almost like a jumbo shrimp."

The Adirondack Club and Resort has three areas set aside for larger land subdivisions; one lot, in fact, offers more than 1,000 acres.

"It is just a matter of where each person is going to come down on this and what they feel about it," Mezzano said.

Commissioner Art Lussi, an attorney and Lake Placid businessman, said many people own substantial acreage in the Adirondacks.

"If a person wants a great camp, I think they are going to be stewards of our park; they are not going to degrade the 500-acre parcel that they buy.

"People have invested in large tracts (for centuries). They employ people from caretakers to gardeners to support staff. I actually think this (development) plan is fairly thoughtful because it is allowing a substantial mix of planning, and there is some clustering of great-camp lots on Resource Management land."

Lussi made a case for the historic draw of wealthy second homeowners to the Adirondacks.

"A lot of the protections of our lands in the park are the result of those kinds of people making that kind of investment. I don't see this as undue adverse impact."

DOT IN THE WILDERNESS

APA Commissioner Bill Valentino, past president of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said he walked the site alone after APA commissioners completed a field trip to Tupper Lake last summer.

"The site isn't pristine," he said. "(It is) blocked in by the ski area on one end and the town on the other. It is a small dot on a real wilderness landscape."

It is a unique site, he said, with an existing ski hill bordered by a hamlet area.

"It doesn't cross my (undue) adverse (impact) threshold."

PROTECTIONS

Region 5 Department of Environmental Conservation Director Judy Drabecki said the resort design "presents the best (land use) possibility for this type of area. You have a plan in place that has protections built in," which is better than leaving 6,000 private acres open for purchase to multiple landowners.

Commissioners sorted through a myriad of conditions built into draft permits for different sections of the proposal.

They are expected to make the final decision today.

Email Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com