Last week’s Adirondack Park Agency meeting generated several news stories. The highlights include:

• • The board passed a resolution allowing for herbicide use on Lake Luzerne to combat invasive Eurasian watermilfoil. This is the same herbicide that the Lake George Association and others did not want applied in Lake George without more research.
  • The board adopted a policy capping an increase of roads in wild forest areas at 11.6%. This gives the state Department of Environmental Conservation and APA about 13 miles of roads available for the future. While this interpretation wraps up a 50-year-old question, the APA gave itself an exit plan allowing for a “contrary interpretation.” Some speculate lawsuits could come of the interpretation, too.
  • The APA also backed down on its proposals to limit public comment and shorten its review time for policies.
  • And state Sen. Dan Stec made a surprise appearance at the end of the APA’s meeting and complained about cell tower regulations.

State Sen. Dan Stec’s legislation that would amend the state constitution’s Article 14 clause passed the Senate today. The amendment would allow the state to sell Camp Gabriels, a former correctional facility that is currently an illegal structure on forest preserve lands. The amendment has passed the state Senate in previous years. Last year it passed the Senate, but did not make it through the Assembly.

A constitutional amendment requires a bill to pass two successive legislatures. That means even if the amendment were to gain first passage this year, we would still have to wait for the 2025 legislative session. Those newly elected legislators would have to pass the amendment, too. Then, it would go to a public vote. We had more on the Adirondack Park’s prisons and constitutional amendments here: https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/prison-redevelopment-commission-former-adirondack-prisons-need-constitutional-amendments-for-redevelopment.

Members and staff of the Adirondack Park Agency sit around a table listening to a presentation during the March 16 meeting in Ray Brook. Photo by Gwendolyn Craig

This first appeared in Gwen’s weekly “Adirondack Report” newsletter. Click here to sign up.