SENATOR CONTINUES
ATTEMPT TO SYSTEMATICALLY DISMANTLE
THE ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY
Bill Would Force Land-Use Agency to Rubber-Stamp Major Developments
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released: Tuesday, May 23, 2006
ALBANY –The Adirondack Park’s
largest environmental organization today criticized State Senator
Elizabeth Little (R-Queensbury) for her continued attack on the
regulatory powers of the Adirondack Park Agency, this time criticizing
the Senator’s attempt to eliminate the Agency’s authority
to review, alter or deny any development plan approved by a local
government.
“If the Legislature approves
this bill, the Adirondack Park Agency might as well close the
doors and hang a ‘for sale’ sign on the front of the
building,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian
L. Houseal. “Its authority to review any development plan
with regional impact would be meaningless. It could never order
a project to undergo a formal public hearing, due to the lack
of time. By law, the agency can’t alter or deny any project
permit without first holding a public hearing. So the APA would
be forced to approve anything that made it past any town planning
or zoning board.”
The bill (S.7743) is due to come
to a vote today before Senate Finance Committee. It would force
the APA to act on any permit before it within 30 days after any
local government entity has approved the permit.
“The timing of this legislation could not be worse,”
Houseal said. “Only 15 of the Park’s 105 towns and
villages have an APA-approved land-use plan. It’s no secret
that there are several major development projects coming down
the pike at the Park Agency this summer that already have substantial
support at the local level. Worse yet, the APA is on pace to
receive a record-setting number of development permit applications.
At the last meeting, APA staff members noted they expected more
than 500 requests for permits in 2006.”
Just one of those applications
is for a 750-unit resort development in Tupper Lake. There is
another project nearly as large proposed for the slopes of the
Town of Jay in Essex County. In Warren County, developers are
planning a 10-turbine wind power plant on a mountaintop near
Gore Mountain Ski Center and a resort/hotel complex next to the
North Creek Ski Bowl. Several proposals are pending or in the
works in several counties for tall communications towers as well.
Houseal noted that the Adirondack
Park Agency currently has a staff of 63 and is expected to receive
500 project applications this year. In 2001, the agency had 60
employees and 256 applications.
Last Bill Aimed at Campgrounds
Three weeks ago, Senator Little
sponsored a bill that would strip the APA of its authority to
regulate private campgrounds beyond the statewide requirements
of Department of Health regulations. This bill passed by a narrow
34-22 margin with three of her Republican colleagues defecting
to vote against the bill.
New Bill Guts Development
Review
The bill coming to a vote at
the Senate Finance Committee today would require not only the
APA, but any other State or local agency with jurisdiction, to
act within the time period. This would include the Departments
of Health, Transportation and Environmental Conservation.
“This is just a blatant
give-away to developers,” said Houseal. “The Senator
has declared that she wants an open season for developers in
the state’s most beautiful and ecologically sensitive region.
Another Attacks the Forest
Preserve
On a related note, the Senate
is likely to consider a Constitutional Amendment proposed by
Senator Little (S.6389), which would allow Adirondack Park residents
to take fallen trees off of the Forest Preserve for their own
use. This bill moved through the Judiciary Committee last week
and is poised for a floor vote at any time.
“Fallen trees are an important
part of a healthy forest,” Houseal explained. “They
often support more wildlife than live trees do. They play an
even more important role in the Forever Wild public forests of
the Adirondack Park. When they decompose, they return calcium
to the soil, helping to buffer the damaging effects of acid rain.
Removing them will make the Forest Preserve more vulnerable to
soil depletion, mercury contamination, tree deaths and fish kills.
“Just as important, every
time the state has allowed private individuals and corporations
to remove dead trees from the Forest Preserve, the result has
been widespread theft of live, high-value hardwood trees,”
Houseal said. “There aren’t enough rangers in the whole
state to supervise this kind of activity.
“The vast majority of the
citizens of New York State would be outraged to know that a high-ranking
state official is proposing this type of attack on the Adirondack
Park,” Houseal said. “This is the same Senator who
successfully sponsored legislation a few years ago to increase
the penalties for stealing trees from the Forest Preserve. We
urge her Senate colleagues and members of the Assembly to send
her a strong message that this legislation will not be approved.”
The Adirondack Council is an
18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit organization
whose mission is to ensure the ecological integrity and wild
character of the six-million-acre Adirondack Park. Founded in
1975, the Council carries out its mission through research, education,
advocacy and legal action.
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