Hello, Adirondack Report readers. It’s Publisher Tracy Ormsbee filling in for Gwen while she’s taking some well-deserved time off.
And if you read this email report regularly, you’re aware the Adirondack Park Agency spent time recently working to rewrite their policy on public comment and public hearings. Whatever their intention, the end result was less opportunity for you to weigh in on important decisions. Thankfully for the public, who pay for this state agency to oversee public and private development in the park, they didn’t go through with it.
So, by all means, exercise your right to comment!
You have until Thursday to submit your thoughts on the conversion of the former Paleface ski resort and Bassett Mountain Estate in Jay to a bistro and wellness center, NewVida Preserve. The project uses existing buildings and roads, so owners are confident the Adirondack Park Agency process will go smoothly, allowing them to partially open in June.
Have something you want to say? The APA’s public comment form is here.
Here’s another opportunity to speak your mind: The Saranac Lake Marina has revised its expansion for Lower Saranac Lake after an Adirondack Park Agency permit was vacated by the courts in March. APA staff say the revised application will not need a permit but will require a variance to the agency’s shoreline restrictions. A virtual public hearing on the variance request (installation of open-sided, covered boat berths at a pre-existing marina located in Crescent Bay, Lower Saranac Lake) is scheduled for June 5.
And start thinking about what you’re going to say about a proposed development in Jay to build a 72-room hotel, multiple mansions, villas and townhomes on 385 acres along the Ausable River on the west side of state Route 9N. That public hearing is coming but is not yet scheduled.
