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FacebookALBANY, N.Y. – The closing hours of the NYS Legislative Session saw three Adirondack Park Agency appointees confirmed by the Senate, including the first Black appointee, Benita Law-Diao. The Legislature also approved important policy advances to curb the impacts of climate change, such as the commitment to protect 30% of New York’s forests by 2030. None of the several proposed amendments to the NYS Constitution’s “forever wild” clause was approved.
“Overall, the Legislative Session provided some great victories for Adirondack wilderness, water, jobs and communities,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway. “It was great to see new Governor Kathy Hochul reaffirm her support for the Adirondacks and work with Legislative Leaders to achieve it.”
Posts Tagged ‘Adirondack Park Agency’
Adirondack Park Fares Well in NYS Legislative Session
ALBANY, N.Y. – The closing hours of the NYS Legislative Session saw three Adirondack Park Agency appointees confirmed by the Senate, including the first Black appointee, Benita Law-Diao. The Legislature also approved important policy advances to curb the impacts of climate change, such as the commitment to protect 30% of New York’s forests by 2030. None of the several proposed amendments to the NYS Constitution’s “forever wild” clause was approved. 
Public meetings for Wild Forest and roads
As part of the ongoing public comment period regarding the interpretation of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan’s Wild Forest Basic Guideline No. 4 – no material increase of road mileage on lands classified as Wild Forest, the Adirondack Park Agency in coordination with the Department of Environmental Conservation, will hold a virtual public informational meeting and an in person meeting.
The virtual public meeting will be held on June 2, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. To access the virtual meeting the public is asked to please pre-register using the following link – tinyurl.com/APA-NMI-info. To dial in to meeting please call 518-549-0500 and use Access Code: 2347 466 3096. For those who would like to make an oral comment please email your name and phone number you will be calling in from to: [email protected]
Wild Forest roads: “No Material Increase” needs context
Fifty-one years ago (1971) the newly created Adirondack Park Agency was granted the authority to draft, revise, and interpret the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, or APSLMP. That plan was signed by the Governor in 1972 and revised by many Governors since. The NYS courts have found that the APSLMP has the force and effect of law.
No Material Increase: This past week, the APA sent the public notice that we have 60 days to comment in order to “inform the APA Board’s interpretation of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan’s Wild Forest Basic Guideline No. 4 – no material increase of road mileage on lands classified as Wild Forest.” The rest of APA’s press release consists of seemingly arcane questions and alternatives that presumes public awareness and understanding of the past and how it relates today.
APA to vote on Whiteface amendment
The Adirondack Park Agency is meeting in person this week for the first time since last summer. The two-day meeting will start at 10 a.m. on Thursday at the APA’s Ray Brook headquarters. It will pick back up at 9 a.m. on Friday. The meeting will be broadcast live online, but public comment will have to be made in person. Face masks are not required but encouraged, the agency wrote.
There are several projects the board is expected to vote on including an amendment to the Whiteface Ski Center Unit Management Plan. More background on that here. Staff are recommending approval for the amendment’s conformance with the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan.
APA announces open public comment periods for projects under review
The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) is accepting public comment on projects currently under review. The public is encouraged to go to the Agency’s website found at www.apa.ny.gov and click the Public Comment and Hearing Opportunities link found in the News & Activities information box.
The link will direct the public to the Requests for Public Comment page where more information is located. In addition, the public will find an option to electronically submit a comment for the posted projects.
Presently, the Agency is accepting comments on the following proposed projects:
- Three-lot residential subdivision in the Town of Fort Ann, Washington County
- Reissuance of un-recorded and expired Agency Permit 2021-0048 for the construction of a self-storage facility in the Town of Harrietstown, Franklin County
- Construction of two new access roads involving wetlands for replacement of a pre-existing utility line in the Town of Ticonderoga, Essex County
- Establishment of an agricultural service use, involving construction of a barn for maple syrup production and a detached garage for equipment storage in the Town of Dannemora, Clinton County
- Construction of a 5-megawatt solar generation facility in the Town of Ticonderoga, Essex County
- Proposal to install athletic field lighting poles and goal posts at Moriah Central School District’s new athletic stadium in the Town of Moriah, Essex County
See the following for a more detailed list of proposed projects including the end date for public comment periods:
Public comment is invited for the following projects under review by the Adirondack Park Agency. Notices are sorted by comment period ending date. If a public hearing is scheduled for a project, the hearing date, time, and location will be listed.
April 28 — Brandon & Andrea Montag; APA:2022-0071;
NYS Route 186 and Airport Road, Town of Harrietstown, Tax Parcel 423.-2-3;
more information or comment on this project
May 5 — National Grid; APA:2021-0298;
Black Point Road and State Route 22, Town of Ticonderoga, TMP 160.2-2-3.000; 160.2-2-2.000; 160.2-2-1.000; 150.4-4-1.000, and 150.83-1-7.000.;
more information or comment on this project
May 5 — Malcolm Gatherer; APA:2021-0290;
Sunset Road, Town of Dannemora, Clinton County, TMP: 182.-2-2.1, 2.3, and 2.4;
more information or comment on this project
May 5 — Pivot Energy; APA:2021-0296;
Old Chilson Road, Town of Ticonderoga Tax Parcels 150.2-1-2.110 and 150.2-1-18.000;
more information or comment on this project
May 5 — Moriah Central School District; APA:2022-0002;
Viking Lane, Town of Moriah, Tax Parcel 97.17-5-1;
more information or comment on this project
May 12 — Denise Plano, Andrew Kropff, Stewart & Donna Jerdo; APA:2022-0022;
Simonds Hill Road, Town of Elizabethtown, Tax Parcels 74.2-1-27.100 and 74.2-1-27.300;
more information or comment on this project
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.
Cost to Lake George of Not Holding APA Hearings
The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) last held an adjudicatory public hearing in 2011 – the kind of hearing that involves sworn testimony and cross-examination of evidence before a law judge, followed by a full hearing record on which to base a judicious, carefully examined, evidence-based decision. That 2011 hearing was for the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort subdivision and development near Tupper Lake. In the eleven years since, and despite the many hundreds of permits issued by the APA since, including many large, regional projects, not a single adjudicatory public hearing has been convened by the APA.
APA, Gov. recognize former chief Terry Martino
In recognition of Terry Martino’s career as executive director of the Adirondack Park Agency, at her last APA board meeting before retiring, Martino was presented with a citation from Gov. Kathy Hochul, and the board passed the following resolution:
Whereas: On August 12, 2009, the Adirondack Park Agency Board appointed Terry Martino as Executive Director of the Adirondack Park Agency. For the next twelve and a half years, Executive Director Martino led the Park Agency with dignity, respect, and fundamental fairness until her retirement on February 22, 2022; and
Whereas: Terry Martino’s exceptional background was deeply rooted in decades of Adirondack environmental stewardship and smart growth accomplishments. Prior to her appointment to the Park Agency, she successfully advocated for the North Country as the Executive Director of the Adirondack North Country Association; and
Debating solar and cell tower aesthetics
Barbara Rice attended her first Adirondack Park Agency meeting last week as its new executive director just a few days after starting the job. It was a packed five-hour meeting.
“The one thing that stands out to me is how dedicated and hard working the staff here is,” Rice said, at the start of the meeting.
We published a couple of stories out of that Thursday marathon, including how the Olympic Regional Development Authority plans to widen some ski trails at Whiteface Mountain.
Improving APA Procedures Will Not Result in the Visionary Planning Needed. What Will?
This is prompted by David Gibson’s op-ed a week or so ago. David calls for the APA to return to its former practice of reporting finds of fact. He believes, as I read him, that this would justify the exemption of the agency from New York’s environmental review law, SEQRA, and result in better decisions.
I agree. Experience throughout the U.S. makes it clear that the best way, which is to say the most disciplined and defensible way to report significant land use decisions is in the form of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The terminology can vary, but these functions are essential. I will also take David’s argument further. Proposed findings and conclusions should be available for public review and comment before the public hearing that should precede all significant land-use decisions. That’s the minimum transparency needed.
The next APA executive director – a lot at stake for Kathy Hochul, John Ernst and the rest of us
After a dozen years, Terry Martino is retiring as the executive director of the NYS Adirondack Park Agency. Terry is an admirable person who has had a difficult job of balancing the pressures from APA applicants, staff, members and the Cuomo administration – and much else.
But for more than a decade she – like many others – loyally saluted as a member of Team Cuomo, the Governor who:
- put up those banners in Ray Brook that the Park was Open for Business;
- weakened both the Private Land Use and State Land Plans;
- weakened the APA and was satisfied with token environmentalism on its board;
- steered APA further off course from its mission as a planning agency in an era when climate change accelerates the urgent need for better land use planning.
Adirondack Park Agency: Still Business as Usual!
By Ralph A. Cossa
In his Jan. 11 commentary in the Adirondack Almanack, Peter Bauer asked the question “Will the new boss be the same as the old boss?” in questioning whether the Adirondack Park Agency Board, under new chairman John Ernst, would finally start holding adjudicatory hearings regarding contentious issues, or would it continue to avoid this process which allows citizens’ and experts’ views to be heard and questions answered. The issue in question was the White Lake Quarry Application (APA2021-0075) which called for extensive mining operations directly over the community’s aquifer and within 1000 feet of their pristine spring-fed lake, in the middle of a tourist-oriented residential community of some 400 homes and small businesses.
Adjudicatory hearings used to be a regular occurrence; between 1973-2008, there were 151, or roughly 4-5 per year. Since 2008, not a single adjudicatory hearing has been held as the APA has become more and more inclined, especially during the Cuomo era, to support business activities in the Park it is sworn to protect. Governor Hochul has pledged to change that mind-set. Obviously, the word has yet to trickle down to the APA.
Adirondack Council leader recruited to Park Agency
Megan Phillips, former VP of Conservation, to become APA’s new Deputy Director for Planning
RAY BROOK, N.Y. – The Adirondack Council said today it was both pleased and disappointed today by the announcement that the Adirondack Park Agency had hired the Council’s Vice President for Conservation Megan Phillips to become the state agency’s new Deputy Director for Planning.
“We are pleased that the APA recognized her talents and will assign Megan a key role in its efforts to protect the park,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway. “But we are disappointed to be losing her talents here on our staff. She will be missed.”
White Lake Quarry: Business as Usual for the APA?
By Louanne Cossa
In announcing the appointment of John Ernst as the new chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) in late October, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul referred to the Park as “a unique asset” and a “natural gem,” while further noting that “we must preserve its natural beauty for future generations to enjoy, while also boosting tourism and small businesses across the region.” Unfortunately, the word has yet to filter down to the APA staff, whose primary mission is “to protect the public and private resources of the Park.”
Under the previous Cuomo administration, the APA had been very pro-development in the supposedly protected Park. That mind-set regrettably continues, one case in point being the application to begin extensive mining operations in close proximity to White Lake in the Forestport/Woodgate area inside the Park. Local affected residents in this small largely tourist community have submitted hundreds of letters and a petition with over a thousand signatures requesting an adjudicatory hearing to address the many deficiencies they have documented in the Red Rock Quarry Associates application to begin extensive granite mining operations – an initial excavation area of 5.2 acres within a 26.6 acre life of mine zone involving up to 3-6,000 cubic yards of dimensional stone and 10,000 cubic yards of aggregate annually hauled out by up to 20 tractor-trailers daily during an April-October 5 1/2 days/week operation.
First Major Test at Adirondack Park Agency for Gov. Hochul, Chairman Ernst
Will the new boss be the same as the old boss?
We’ll know the answer to this question when the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) meets on January 13-14th. On its agenda is a draft permit for a new granite quarry in White Lake in the town of Forestport in the western Adirondacks. This project is widely opposed by neighboring landowners, residents, and property owners in the general area. There have been very few private land development projects in the last two decades that have engendered such a high level of public involvement and concern.
Latest News Headlines
- Going for a hike with my new friend Merlin
- A dig into the past
- ‘Pride means everything’
- A new giant tree found near Bolton
- Legislature passes bill for 9/11 death benefits to Adirondack officer’s widow
- Area unemployment numbers near record lows
- For the North Country's future workforce, job training starts in high school
- CVPH opens new Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Unit
- Employee shortages abound throughout the park
- Film takes a new, close look at Lake Champlain
Latest News Headlines
- Going for a hike with my new friend Merlin
- A dig into the past
- ‘Pride means everything’
- A new giant tree found near Bolton
- Legislature passes bill for 9/11 death benefits to Adirondack officer’s widow
- Area unemployment numbers near record lows
- For the North Country's future workforce, job training starts in high school
- CVPH opens new Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Unit
- Employee shortages abound throughout the park
- Film takes a new, close look at Lake Champlain
The Adirondack Almanack
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The latest state, APA policy news
I know I previewed this in my last newsletter, but in case you didn’t get a chance to read it, here is my roundup of the four Adirondack Park constitutional amendments that didn’t get first passage this legislative session. The conservation design bill, legislation intended to protect more open space and natural resources when planning for some subdivisions, passed the Assembly but not the Senate. Also of note, a bill that brings forest rangers and environmental conservation officers’ retirements up to the same standards as State Police passed both chambers. We’ll see if Gov. Kathy Hochul signs it this time.
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