The Adirondack Council

News Release

Released, Wednesday, March 13, 2002

RAY BROOK, NY -- The Adirondack Park's largest environmental organization today urged the Adirondack Park Agency not to give up its jurisdiction over the conversion of homes into bed & breakfast tourist accommodations.

"The APA is proposing to give up its right to require a permit from those who want to convert a home into a bed and breakfast," said Adirondack Council Acting Executive Director Bernard C. Melewski. "If that happens, the APA will have no idea which homes have been converted to a commercial use, where the homes are located until they put up the ‘welcome' sign.

"We have been trying to give the APA a wake-up call on this issue, but it keeps hitting the ‘snooze' button," Melewski said.

"This is especially unfair to neighbors, who will have no notice of the conversion and no say in whether a house on their street is a suitable place for a B&B," Melewski said. "This isn't the same as having a big family and lots of friends. With two people per bedroom and a maximum of five guest bedrooms per B&B, each converted building could play host to 3,650 tourists per year. That's a lot of people to invite into a quiet neighborhood. And that's a lot of people using a septic system designed for a single family."

Instead of waiving the requirement for a permit, Melewski asked the APA to consider issuing a "general permit." A general permit would allow the Agency to encourage the creation of bed and breakfast tourist accommodations by reducing government oversight, but would still provide the applicant with the proper guidelines for legal conversion while providing the APA with information on where B&Bs were springing up and how many there were. Applicants would simply register with the APA. There is no fee for APA permits.

Melewski noted that new B&Bs wouldn't be environmentally benign in every possible location. He doubted that the APA would be able to ensure that new B&Bs have adequate septic systems. "The (APA) staff asserts that if the septic system was not originally designed for the number of bedrooms in the house, ‘the Agency's regulations require the septic system be upgraded.' How will the Agency do that? Without a permit, this is wishful thinking at best and downright misleading at worst."

He cautioned that the change was coming at a time that could bring unprecedented tourism to the Adirondack Park.

"Tourism officials throughout the Adirondack Park expect this summer to be one of the best tourism seasons they have ever seen," Melewski explained. "People are looking for vacations closer to home because of the economy and a lingering distrust of air travel. Close to 90 million people live within one day's drive of the Adirondack Park. It makes sense to help the Adirondack economy grow by encouraging new, small businesses. But we mustn't destroy the health and beauty of the Park we are encouraging people to come and see."