ADIRONDACK ENVIRONMENTAL
ORGS PREPARED FOR LONG,
TOUGH HEARING ON CONTROVERSIAL 700-UNIT RESORT
PLANNED FOR TUPPER LAKE
Three Major Advocacy
Organizations Will Seek Party Status,
Plan to Call Experts to Testify on Details as Formal Adjudicatory
Hearing Begins
Released: Wednesday, April 18,
2007
TUPPER LAKE, N.Y. – With the public hearing process beginning
today on a controversial 700-unit resort development here, three
major environmental organizations said today they each intend
to bring expert witnesses and file formal testimony to illustrate
the shortcomings of the largest residential development ever
considered by the state’s Adirondack Park Agency.
The Adirondack Council, Association
for the Protection of the Adirondacks and the Residents’
Committee to Protect the Adirondacks said they would work to
improve the project, but noted they had met with stone-wall resistance
on key issues from Preserve Associates, the developer. The groups
said they would work together and with local residents to oppose
this project unless it is significantly modified.
Since the developer has continued
to reject proposed modifications that would reduce the development’s
severe environmental impact and economic strain on the community,
the groups said they would urge the Adirondack Park Agency (APA)
to deny the permit application. The APA must first hold a public
hearing before it modifies or rejects a proposed development
project.
“This project is too big
for Tupper Lake to handle, even after the handful of tiny modifications
made last week,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director
Brian L. Houseal. “As currently designed, it would still
cause widespread water pollution, fragmentation of wildlife habitat,
noise pollution, light pollution and would permanently alter
the character of one of the Park’s most serene and scenic
communities. The flaws in the development scheme are obvious
to us. But they may not be so obvious to the APA, which has never
considered a project of this scale before. Now, it’s up
to us to prove our case.”
"Now that this project has
been sent to a formal public hearing by the APA, we have our
first opportunity to provide the Agency with an independent analysis
by respected experts from across New York and the U.S. We will
explore the issues of economic impact, forest fragmentation,
ecological and wildlife impacts, fiscal analysis, water quality,
visibility, sewage treatment, among other issues. To date, the
APA has not provided adequate scrutiny of the many questionable
claims of this project and the applicant's information is hopelessly
one-sided and rose-colored,” said Peter Bauer, Executive
Director of the Residents' Committee to Protect the Adirondacks.
"The adjudicatory hearing
for this out-scaled, speculative development project represents
a challenging though critical opportunity for Tupper Lake, the
Park and its people," stated Dan Plumley, Director of
Park Protection for the Association for the Protection of the
Adirondacks. "Through this deliberation we intend to
see factual evidence and straightforward answers to critical
questions finally brought forth that have been left wanting for
far too long. We trust that true conservation design principles
and a genuine call to optimize safeguards for Tupper's unique,
threatened and special wild landscapes, water quality and quality
of life will be the result. Tupper Lake and the Adirondack Park
deserve nothing less."
Today’s public hearing in
Tupper Lake is the first, informal phase of the hearing process.
Anyone can speak at this hearing, but each individual opinion
carries no more weight than any other with the APA’s commissioners.
The formal, adjudicatory hearing begins with a pre-hearing conference
slated for April 26. At that hearing, an administrative law judge
will decide which petitioners will be granted “party status,”
which gives them the right to call witnesses, submit formal,
sworn testimony from experts and to cross-examine any witnesses
brought in by the developer.
The staff of the Adirondack Park
Agency has already identified 10 separate problems with the permit
application which must be sorted out before any permit can be
issued. The groups said they would call expert witnesses for
each of the 10 issues, plus any others allowed by the judge.
After the conclusion of the public
hearing, the Park Agency’s hearing staff will prepare a
brief for the APA’s senior staff (executive director, chief
counsel, etc.), who in turn will make a formal recommendation
on the permit to the APA Board of Commissioners. The hearing
is expected to last through the summer and fall of 2007.
The Adirondack Council will be
represented in the case by the law firm of Marc Gerstman of Albany,
former chief counsel at the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.
All three groups agreed that
they were in favor of reopening the Big Tupper Ski Center, but
that this development project (proposed for its slopes) would
neither ensure the ski area’s long-term viability nor ensure
the economic vitality of the surrounding community.
For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Adirondack Council, 518-432-1770 (w); 441-1340
(c); 456-4512 (h)
Peter Bauer, Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks,
518-251-4257 x13.David Gibson, Association for the Protection
of the Adirondacks, 518-377-1452
|
