The public got a chance on Wednesday to learn more about the new, proposed headquarters for the Adirondack Park Agency.
The APA plans to relocate from its current headquarters in Ray Brook four miles up the road to downtown Saranac Lake.
Jessica Kemp showed up to the public information session in the village with her friend, Michael Burpoe, to learn more about the project. She said the only thing she knew about it before today was that it was happening.
“Quite honestly, I didn’t know anything else beyond that, and then Michael said, ‘Hey, we need to go to this, do you want to go to this?’ And I said yes, absolutely.”
Burpoe and Kemp grew up together in Saranac Lake, and both moved back as adults. "I live three doors down from the proposed APA building," Burpoe explained, "and I had heard a lot about it.”
He and Kemp both had questions, mainly about the parking. “It’s the number one objection that people give whenever there’s a new planned business or building that’s going to be going into town," said Burpoe.
So the two walked around the town hall, looking at renderings and talking to APA staff and other folks involved in the project.
The plan is for the agency to renovate the historic Paul Smith’s Electric Light and Power building on Main Street along the Saranac River and construct a new office building behind it. Right now that space is just a big public parking lot.
According to the APA, the parking lot's footprint will remain the same after some regrading and other work. There will be 60 spaces, with more lighting in the back of the lot, and it will be open to the public outside of office hours.
Kemp said learning more about the parking and other project details helped her get behind it.
"They’re keeping access to the boat launch, they’re keeping parking spaces and the parking spaces will be available to the public, and the fact that they’re going to intentionally take care of the Power & Light building means a lot to me.”
This project has been years in the making. The state has allocated $40 million over multiple budget cycles, and earlier this year, the village approved the agency’s lease to take over the site on Main Street.
APA executive director Barbara Rice said it will be a big upgrade from its headquarters, which they’ve been in since the agency was founded in the early 1970s.
"We’re in a building that is on its last legs," said Rice. "Although we can keep limping along there, our staff is, I think, looking forward to having a place where they can come in and have modern facilities.”
As this project has evolved over the years, some current and former staff members pushed back. Some said it wasn’t a smart use of taxpayer dollars; others had ethical concerns about the move.
But Rice believes sentiment has changed. She said each division within the agency has weighed in on the project and the staff has been surveyed, which Rice said has helped the project gain more internal support.
"We’re not getting a lot of pushback, but I do think that that’s also a normal part of any project like this," said Rice. "I mean, it’s a big, big change and different people react differently to change.”
The public information event on Wednesday was from 3 until 7 pm. Fifty-four people showed up, including Jerry Michael, chair of Saranac Lake’s downtown advisory board. Michael said he’s excited about the economic impact of the new headquarters.
"To take a project like this and move it into downtown Saranac Lake, it’s going to be such an amenity for all of the restaurants and the businesses downtown, clothing stores," said Michael.
The APA has grown in recent years from about 40 staff, now up to nearly 60 good-paying jobs with state benefits.
For Michael Burpoe, who grew up in Saranac Lake, he sees the new headquarters as a way to help sustain the village for decades to come.
"Saranac Lake has a really awesome thing going for it right now. We have a resurgence of youth in town and from out of town, so I think that if this is another way to bring more families into town and keep our schools alive and our businesses going, then that’s worth it," said Burpoe.
The next steps involve going before the village development board, which includes a public hearing. The APA hopes to put the project out to bid in January, break ground next spring, and be in the new building by 2029.