Re: Completeness Determination for Project Application 2005-0100, Preserve Associates, LLC, for the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort

Dear Chairman Whaley:

The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks believes the application for a large-scale commercial development known as the "Adirondack Club and Resort" in Tupper Lake should be deemed incomplete. We believe the scope and scale of the applicant's proposed Adirondack Club and Resort poses major challenges and impacts to the Adirondack Park's resources and character that have been inadequately evaluated in the application. A project which doubles the size of the intensively developed lands in the Town of Tupper Lake should be evaluated for cumulative impacts, relationships with other large projects in the region and likely impacts to the character and quality of life in the region. None of these impacts are well addressed in the application.

In addition, this large project requires more application detail in regards to open space impacts, scenic impacts and community impacts such as water quality, traffic, electricity, water and sewer infrastructure and maintenance costs and responsibilities.

I. Critical Statutory Language

First, the Association finds that the Adirondack Club and Resort application does not sufficiently or comprehensively address how it would meet any standards implied by critical statutory language under the Adirondack Park Agency Act. In particular, we find the following:

The applicant fails to show sufficiently how the large scale subdivision and development of much of the project's 6,400 acres can be evaluated as being in keeping with the character of the Adirondack Park in that the Act calls for projects to be a supporting facility necessary to the proper use and enjoyment of the unique wild forest atmosphere of the Park.

The applicant, while providing extensive site design information and basic resource information, nonetheless fails to sufficiently demonstrate how the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort project insures optimum overall conservation, protection, preservation, development and use of the unique scenic, aesthetic, wildlife, recreational, open space, historic, ecological and natural resources of the Adirondack Park.

The application materials provided inadequately address the Adirondack Park Agency Act's requirements for recognizing all of the complementary needs of all of the people of the state as follows:

Preservation of resources,
Preservation of open space character,
The need of the permanent, seasonal and transient populations for growth and service areas, employment and a strong economic base.

II. Water Quality

The application fails to adequately address critical water quality issues and impacts. Given the extensive development proposed and the relatively rapid four-year development for phases 1 and 2 , the proposed erosion and storm water controls may be inadequate. The Association is particularly concerned that Tupper Lake itself could be degraded significantly by the proposed "upland development" of Mt. Morris and surrounding uplands that could negatively effect streams that feed into Tupper Lake.

In evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the applicant's proposal, the Association urges the APA to explore impact assessments undertaken on other large Adirondack lakes such as Lake George and Schroon Lake. Conceptual studies were conducted for Schroon Lake in the early 1990s based on significant limnological research. The authors of the Schroon Lake study concluded that, given a healthy lake to begin with, keeping the additional concentration of phosphorus in the lake to less than 1 part per billion (ppb) would result in no degradation of the lake's trophic status. However, a lake of outstanding quality from an ecological or use standpoint might require a more stringent standard (Lake Water and Visual Quality, Schroon, NY, prepared for the Schroon Lake Advisory Committee, June 1993).

Given Tupper Lake's classification and measures of productivity, volume and flushing rate, it should be possible to answer the question "what additional amount of phosphorus can Tupper Lake absorb within acceptable limits?" And it should be possible to calculate what contribution might be made to this amount from the "Adirondack Club and Resort at Tupper Lake," with all of its on and off site sewage treatment, runoff from clearing, roads, and impermeable surfaces.

III. Project Economics, Infrastructure and Realism

The project fails to adequately address key infrastructure, economic and taxation impacts locally and regionally. Based on our review, the application does not provide the Agency with sufficient information to answer critical questions in Section 809 of the Act, such as the ability of the public to provide supporting facilities and services made necessary by the project and the ability of the sponsor to demonstrate financial capacity to complete the project and to manage and maintain the project in accordance with the terms of a permit.

A project of this magnitude involves financial complexities that could have a significant adverse impact on the Park and in particularly the Town and Village of Tupper Lake. The financial responsibility for the demand on the sewer and water system infrastructure must be adequately secured before the project can be approved. The financing for the project must be examined carefully. Projects of this scale and nature are difficult to finance from traditional lenders since the upfront development, infrastructure and carrying costs are significant, while the financial return is in the distant future as lots are sold.

We urge that a complete examination be made of the sponsor's financial ability to complete the project which should include a review of prior projects undertaken by the sponsor as well as any related financial matters. There is also a fair chance that returns to the sponsor will be maximized by a quick "flip" of the project either when approvals are received or when the infrastructure is completed. This introduces another risk to the project and safeguards must be built in to assure the integrity of the wild and humanized landscapes of the Park.

The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks shares the concerns of many that the proposed tax revenue estimates proposed by the applicant may far exceed the project's true potential. While second home development is clearly up in the park, the project applicant has not provided adequate research as to the demand for second home or resort housing. Moreover the true costs of the extensive infrastructure required to undertake the entire development may well be underestimated in the application and must be verified by the APA.

Community infrastructure in terms of the development and maintenance of electricity, sewer and water, and the question of who will bear these costs are crucial issues that have not been adequately addressed by the applicant. Electrical upgrades are a major regional issue in Franklin and Essex Counties with many regulatory hurdles ahead of it. Water and sewer district lines in Tupper Lake are currently too small to accommodate the project as proposed. For instance, the Town of Tupper Lake's sewer district 23, which would presumably be the tie-in point for the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort, is documented as being inadequate. The very basic question as to the requirements, true costs and liability and the overall impacts of these systems needs to be far more thoroughly explored and independently verified before the application can be deemed sufficiently complete.

IV. Regional Resource and Resource Management Issues

Furthermore, the application ignores matters of regional and statewide concern. The project really consists of a new, semi-urban or suburban-type community being constructed within the Park at the expense of the unique resources that define the Park. The preservation of these resources is not only the public policy of the State of New York, but also the very cornerstone upon which other economic concepts and benefits are based, such as sustainable tourism within the Adirondack Park region.

Thus, the Association is particularly concerned that the application fails to adequately address the true nature of the forest and lands classified as Resource Management. By statute Resource Management lands are required to be protected and managed to enhance forest, agricultural, recreational and open space resources. These uses and management, under the statute, are designated as being of paramount importance because of overriding natural resource and public considerations. Here, the Adirondack Club and Resort project is proposing a residential subdivision in unfragmented, undeveloped, forested backcountry for purely private purposes. Forest fragmentation, with all of its negative ecological impacts, must be zealously guarded against in all areas of the Park, but without question the law requires that such safeguards be employed in Resource Management.

The applicant claims the development is clustered to prevent impacts and purports to reduce development to only 7 percent of the Resource Management lands. While this percentage may mathematically equal the minimum number of acres within building footprints as proposed, factually the subdivision, roads and related development spans much of the project's 6,400 acres, fragmenting the Resource Management lands into extensive single family, multi-family duplex and triplex units as well as so called "great camp" lots. Cumulatively, these will impair a far greater total acreage than the applicant is admitting. The project will require at least 8 miles of new roads, extensive blasting, bulldozing, borrow and infill, resurfacing and complex engineering for a vast infrastructure of water, sewer, telephone, cable and electric service, appurtenant buildings and facilities.

Although the application provides that an "open space, recreation and forestry management plan" will protect the Resource Management lands and resource, the Association believes that the details of this plan are entirely inadequate for the Agency to find that the applicant meets all the requirements of Section 809. The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks does not believe that the project application as proposed would truly assure that the character, description and purposes of Resource Management requirements will be met given the extensive development, subdivision and forest fragmentation that is proposed.

Additionally, the amount of timber cutting in total over the life of the project should be determined and assessed as well for any applicability of the Agency's mandates or regulations regarding clearcutting.

V. Visual Analysis

The Association finds that the project application underestimates the true nature of the visual impacts of the project. Given the breadth of development across the width and elevations of the tract, the Association believes that much of the development will pose significant long-range visual impacts in the Tupper Lake region. While we are particularly concerned with the higher elevation development's visual impacts, the Association urges the Adirondack Park Agency to require the applicant to provide a more accurate visual impact analysis that compares present scenic experience of the relatively undeveloped viewshed of the site from surrounding locations of both public and private lands and from Tupper Lake itself. This analysis should accurately depicts the change in character at each stage of the project and at full proposed build out.

VI. Light Pollution

Given the proximity of the project site to the Western High Peaks wilderness, the Saranac Lake and Horshoe Ponds Wild Forests and the Racquette River and Tupper Lake in particular, the Association believes that a project this massive poses very serious light pollution impacts that could be very detrimental to park and wilderness character. The Association urges the Adirondack Park Agency to call upon the applicant to accurately assess the project's impacts in terms of light pollution and make recommendations in terms of overall project design and lighting components that could reduce such impacts.

VII. Noise Pollution

Given the proximity of the project site to the Western High Peaks wilderness, the Saranac Lake and Horshoe Ponds Wild Forest and the Raquette River and Tupper Lake in particular, the Association believes that the Adirondack Park Agency should call upon the applicant to complement its preliminary application with an accurate noise pollution impact assessment and mitigation plan.

VIII. Alternative Development Options and Designs

The applicant fails the Agency's SEQRA requirements by providing a paucity of alternative designs. Despite thousands of pages and hundreds of maps provided by the applicant in presenting their case, only three pages were devoted to alternative design options.

In particular, the applicant should fully explore options that cluster far less residential development around the existing ski area, at lower elevations and with undeveloped backcountry and Resource Management lands around Moody and Simon Ponds and other outlying portions of the tract.

IX. Cumulative Impacts

The Association believes that the project as proposed poses serious cumulative impacts to the quality of life in Tupper Lake as well to the environment, forest, water, soil, air and viewshed resources and to the recreational resources of the area. The Agency should be prepared to fully assess and understand the cumulative impact of the project's full build out for the Tupper Lake region, for neighboring Forest Preserve units, wild, scenic and recreational rivers like the Raquette River, boat launch sites and other state held recreational and park resources.

This project poses likely cumulative impacts to the entire Adirondack Park. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the APA to assess potential cumulative impacts and require impact mitigation.

Thank you for considering our viewpoints and input.

Sincerely,

David H. Gibson, Executive Director
Daniel R. Plumley, Co-Chair, Conservation Committee

CC: D. Fitts; G. Outcalt; T. Ulascewicz