By Pat Bradley
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-1000918.mp3
Ray Brook, NY – Preserve Associates plans to build a 6,200-acre, year-round resort and residential development called the Adirondack Club and Resort. The Big Tupper ski area would be re-built and new residential and resort facilities would be created just outside the village of Tupper Lake. Late Friday morning, after eight years of debate, redesign and adjudicatory hearings, the Adirondack Park Agency Board of Commissioners voted ten to one to approve the fourteen permits for the project to move forward.
Tupper Lake Mayor Paul Maroun calls the vote huge for his village and the region.
The Adirondack Council had intervened during the permitting process to obtain revisions in the project, including the cancellation of a planned shooting school. Council Executive Director Brian Houseal says he's satisfied with the outcome.
An effort this week by the environmental group Adirondack Wild to return the case to hearings was rejected. Partner Dan Plumley.
Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages Past President and Town of Morehouse Supervisor Bill Farber says the project, and vote by the APA, has implications across the entire Adirondack region.
The resort project still needs permits from other agencies, including the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Adirondack Club and Resort would be built in phases over approximately fifteen years.