The Adirondack Council

News Release

For Immediate Release, Tuesday, October 8, 2002

LAKE GEORGE, NY -- The Adirondack Park Agency has announced its intention to issue a controversial development permit for a five-story, 97-unit hotel expansion project proposed by the APA’s former chairman, Robert F. Flacke. The announcement was made two weeks before the end of public comment period on the permit application.

"Since when do the letters APA stand for ‘Application Previously Approved’? This is a serious breach of public trust by the Park Agency," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "The Agency is not even supposed to form an opinion on a project until all public comment has been heard."

The Agency is slated to hold its monthly meeting on Thursday and Friday of this week (Oct. 10 and 11). Because the public comment period on the hotel permit doesn’t end until Oct. 17, the APA’s commissioners would normally wait until the November meeting to vote. Instead, the staff announced, on October 2, that it had already made a decision to approve the permit and will ask the Commissioners to delegate the decision to them.

"If the Agency moves forward with this sham of a review, said Houseal, "It is an insult to every law-abiding Adirondacker who ever had to wait two months, or more, for permission to build an addition to their home or to open a small business."

Houseal noted that the APA staff based its decision that the hotel will not cause "undue, adverse impacts" at least in part on the fact that it would be built on the site where a hotel of the same name once stood. But that hotel burned in 1969, long before APA review was even required.

According to the APA, the new hotel would rise nearly 70 feet above the knoll at the south end of Lake George. Staff at the APA have found that the project will be "highly visible" from Lake George, a portion of Route 9N and from Prospect Mountain, a popular tourist destination for thousands every year.

In proceedings before the Village of Lake George Zoning Board, the Lake George Association also criticized the project for its height. LGA claimed that the decision by the village to give a variance would lead to a flood of new expansion proposals now that the previous 40-foot height limit has been disregarded.

"This project has far-reaching implications for the future of Lake George, not only for the village, but for businesses and visitors throughout the basin," Houseal said. "The public deserves a chance to be heard and then the full Agency should debate the merits of the project. That is why the Commissioners are there. This project should be decided at the November meeting and not a moment sooner."

Flacke was APA chairman from 1975 to 1979, while he was Lake George Supervisor (1970-1979). He was also Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation from 1979 until 1983.

The area around the hotel has been declared an "Empire Zone" by the state, which provides tax incentives (sales, real property, income, etc.) and breaks on utility rates.

The Adirondack Council is an 18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the natural character and human communities of the Adirondack Park through research, education, advocacy and legal action.