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The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) is now accepting public comments for a proposed amendment to the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex Intensive Use Area Unit Management Plan.
The APA will accept public comments until July 27, 2018 regarding Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan conformance for the proposed management actions.
What follows is a press announcement from APA:
Proposed management actions include:
- Ski trails with lighting and snowmaking;
- Sliding sports start facility;
- New welcome center/base lodge;
- New trailhead, parking and hiking trail to Cascade, Porter, Mount Marcy and Mt. Van Hoevenberg;
- New alpine coaster and;
- New biathlon stadium with shooting range, bleachers and timing/completion building.
The Olympic Regional Development Authority has proposed this amendment to increase quality year-round recreational/competition programs on publicly owned lands for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of New York State, the United States and the international sports community. The Olympic Sports Complex currently benefits winter visitors and competitive athletes involved in bobsledding, luge, skeleton, cross-country skiing and biathlon sporting activities. It is maintained as a sports facility meeting international standards under developed and competitive conditions.
Summer visitors at Mount Van Hoevenberg can mountain-bike and hike on the cross-country and biathlon trails, use the biathlon target range, ride bobsleds and luges, visit the International Sliding Sports Museum, participate in an interactive natural history series, and tour the Complex.
ORDA’s overall purpose for the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg is to institute comprehensive activities utilizing the Complex to ensure optimum year-round use and enjoyment of the facilities to the economic and social benefit of the Olympic region. It is also intended to extend opportunities to improve the physical fitness, athletic education and recreational education of the people of New York State and the United States.
The Olympic Sports Complex is located in the Town of North Elba, Essex County and is a New York State – owned facility. It operates under the administrative jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and is managed by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) through a Memorandum of Understanding with the DEC. The facility is classified as an Intensive Use Area under the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (APSLMP). An Intensive Use Area is an area where the State provides facilities for intensive forms of outdoor recreation by the public.
The proposed 2018 Unit Management Plan amendment can be found here, on the APA’s website [pdf].
Address all written comments to:
Kathy Regan
Deputy Director for Planning
NYS Adirondack Park Agency
P.O. Box 99
Ray Brook, NY 12977
Fax: (518) 891-3938
Email – SLMP_UMP_Comments@apa.ny.gov
Submit all written comments to the APA by July 27, 2018.
The mission of the Adirondack Park Agency is to protect the public and private resources of the Adirondack Park through the exercise of the powers and duties of the Agency as provided by law. For more information, call the APA at (518) 891-4050 or visit their website.
Photo of View from Mount Van Hoevenberg by Phil Brown.
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It is interesting that the accompanying photo is from the ‘other side’ of Van Hovevenberg, not the area that appear to be the subject to UMP revisions. For my part, I wish that they would leave ‘the other side’ alone. “Intensive use” would spoil it.
Agreed! I love the HP side of Van Hoe!
This plan has been several decades in the making. These improvements are necessary for MVH XC to host high-caliber events, and to bring the skiing opportunities for tourists up to regional and even national standards.
As these types of improvements have been implemented at Whiteface and the sliding facilities in a nearly uninterrupted pace since the 1980 OWGs, it’s about time the XC facilities got some well deserved attention.
I hope that some profits might be earmarked for the students in the Lake Placid and Saranac Lake Districts; North Elba residents attend both school districts. My suggestion is that these students are provided either a considerable resident discount and or complimentary field trips to the same venues and activities that the tourists will enjoy.
Also, consideration for student employment should be a priority.
I think it would be helpful for Adk Almanack to include a link to the APA page(s) that detail the plans, whenever the plans are announced/discussed going forward. (I’ll proceed now to try to find them on my own; hope it’s not too bureaucratic or opaque a site!)
I get the impression that enjoying the Adks is a lot more complicated these days than just canoeing the Saranac Chain and climbing the 46, which was enough for me …
I’m having a horrible time locating it & the APA site is slower than molasses.
The current public proposed final UMP is here: https://apa.ny.gov/Mailing/2018/07/StateLand/MtVanHoUMPPropFinalredline.pdf
I am in favor of these upgrades to the X-C and Biathlon facilities, as well as the construction of a new welcome center and an indoor push training facilities for all the sliding sports. These upgrades are needed for visitors and athletes alike. I do feel that as part of these upgrades ORDA should develop and implement plans for radically reducing the light pollution for the Hoevenberg complex, and for that matter at Intervales and their other venues. Current light pollution impacts our ability to see the stars and planets in the night sky, and impacts wild life in a significant manner. Other, non-ORDA venues also a major sources of light pollution, and I believe the APA should take the lead in working with local government and business to address this problem throughout the Park.