Protect the Adirondacks! is pleased with the progress of the ACR adjudicatory hearing so far. On the first two days, Protect proved, primarily through cross-examination of ACR’s own witness, that ACR’s proposed valet boat launch service will overwhelm the capacity of the public boat launch on Tupper Lake, monopolizing this State Forest Preserve facility for private gain.
On the third day, despite the attempts by the attorneys for the applicant and APA to undermine his testimony, the Adirondack Council’s expert witness, Harry Dodson, proved that the project will create significant adverse visual impacts. Mr. Dodson also exposed a fatal flaw in ACR’s visual impact analysis, because ACR failed to consider the greater visual impacts that will occur at night, and in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees to screen the buildings from view.
We are also pleased with the stipulation of facts on the issue of the proposed transfer of development rights across the Reads’ property that bisects the ACR site. We now have the acreage numbers that prove that the application violates the APA Act’s Overall Intensity Guidelines for Resource Management lands.
We are also encouraged that the ALJ is supporting the rights of the public to participate in the hearing, despite the ongoing efforts of ACR’s attorney to limit their participation.
Protect looks forward to resuming the hearing in April.
