NEW REPORT CRITICAL
OF ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY'S
ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS
"Swept Under the Rug" Calls for New Staff and Legislative
Reforms
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released: Tuesday, December 12, 2006
ALBANY, N.Y. - The Adirondack Council today called on Governor-elect
Spitzer to make much needed changes to the Adirondack Park Agency's
enforcement division, citing a list of specific recommendations
in its just-released report on the topic, entitled "Swept Under the
Rug."
"This is our third formal report on the problems with enforcement
of the land-use rules in the state's most sensitive environment.
All have been critical of enforcement at the Adirondack Park
Agency. Our first two reports documented a backlog of thousands
of enforcement cases that had built up over more than 20 years,"
said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal.
"Those unresolved cases have all been swept under the rug,"
Houseal said. "Even though our first two reports led to
slight increases in personnel and spending on enforcement, it
seems that very little was done to investigate complaints or
even blatant violations before the cases were summarily closed
and filed away. Far too many cases were closed with little or
no attempt to resolve the land-use violations that led to the
complaint, nor any attempt to impose a penalty on the violator."
The report contains a number of case-studies, in which violations
and the APA's response are detailed. Houseal said the report
would contain a more thorough statistical analysis of the enforcement
trends at the APA, but the Agency refused to provide the information
the Council requested in June 2006 (under the Freedom of Information
Law) until sometime after February 1, 2007.
"That isn't the proper way to run a State agency. And it
is not simply a matter of counting open or closed cases. The
quality of the settlement and remedial actions to address any
violations counts just as much as quantity. Right now, we're
not satisfied with either," Houseal said.
"We were hoping this third report wouldn't be necessary,"
Houseal said. "But unfortunately, little has changed with
enforcement and some areas have even gotten worse. All cases
need to be thoroughly investigated. Violations of land-use laws
inside New York's largest and most fragile park should be treated
seriously, remediated when possible, and generally discouraged."
The new report documents the Agency's shortcomings, including
its inability to force compliance or collect fines, except when
a case is turned over to the NYS Attorney General's office for
court action. It also notes that the enforcement program continues
to limp along with only four officers to cover the 3.4 million
acres of private land overseen by the Adirondack Park Agency
- an area four times the size of Rhode Island.
"Would-be violators must laugh when they hear each officer
has nearly a million acres of land to watch," continued
Houseal. "New York City DEP has 60 officers in the Catskill
watershed, which is one-fifth the size of the Adirondacks. That's
75 times the amount of coverage per square mile when compared
to the Adirondack Park. APA's staff is so overburdened, they
don't even seek out violators because they can't keep up with
the cases that are reported by neighbors, or those discovered
as part of a new permit request.
"It is time for serious changes to APA's enforcement division,"
said Houseal. "We hope Governor-elect Spitzer begins reforming
the Park Agency on 'Day One' and gives the APA the tools needed
to do the job well. He can start by creating additional enforcement
positions at the APA through his Executive Budget, which is due
out early in 2007."
The Council not only called on Governor-elect Spitzer to help
with enforcement, but also Attorney General-elect Cuomo, whose
Environmental Protection Bureau assists the APA with court cases.
"The APA needs all the help it can get," Houseal said.
"We believe that Governor Spitzer and Attorney General Cuomo
can and will do the job."
This report follows up on the Council's previous works, After
the Fact (1999) and Falling Further Behind (2001), which resulted
in the addition of two new staff and revisions to the Agency's
enforcement regulations. However, additional staff and legislative
changes are also necessary to make the APA's enforcement division
truly an effective arm to police the laws and regulations of
the Park.
"APA also needs help from the Legislature to put some teeth
into the enforcement program by giving it the ability to levy
fines and mandate orders," concluded Houseal. "I sure
hope this third report in what's become a 'trilogy' is our last
critique of APA's enforcement for a long time."
Click here to see all three reports
The Adirondack Council's mission is to ensure the ecological
integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. Founded
in 1975, the Council is an 18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit
organization with offices in Albany and Elizabethtown and with
members in all 50 United States.
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