RAY BROOK -- Commissioners at
the Adirondack Park Agency Friday approved a three-phase, big ski resort
development project in the town of Johnsburg, Warren County.
The project includes reopening
the town's defunct Ski Bowl Park at Gore Mountain and installing a 3,500-foot
quad chairlift, which will be built and operated by the Olympic Regional
Development Authority.
Commissioners also approved
new construction of a private resort complex on 432 acres of land beside
the ski area owned by FrontStreet Mountain Development LLC, a company
run by the Crikelair family based in Darien, Conn.
The resort, to be called the
Ski Bowl Village at Gore Mountain, will have five hotels and inns, 131
townhouses, 18 single-family dwellings, a private ski lodge, an equestrian
center, a nine-hole golf course, restaurants and retail space.
APA approved the development
in a vote of eight to one, with one abstention.
Commissioner Richard Booth
voted against approval, suggesting it should be sent to adjudicatory
hearing; Commissioner Cecil Wray abstained from the vote and Commissioner
Bill Thomas, former Supervisor of Johnsburg, recused himself from all
review of the project, since he had spent several years helping coordinate
in conjunction with the town process.
The Ski Bowl is the largest
project to come before the APA in close to 25 years, commissioners said.
It is about one-third the size
of the development proposed at the Adirondack Club and Resort in Tupper
Lake.
DEVELOPERS THRILLED
Developers appeared visibly
eager to have permit approval as they sat in a group watching the vote.
A few short handshakes and
a pat on the back confirmed their success through a long environmental
review process.
Two maps of the planned resort
sprawled open on easels at either side of the APA board room showing
clustered areas of townhomes, several secluded lots and interconnecting
loops of private roadways.
The new neighborhood in Johnsburg
will have its own wastewater-treatment plant and water-supply system.
The project was first submitted
to the APA in May 2006 and required four permits, including approvals
for town subdivision and for ORDA to build lifts and run them.
Talking to reporters in the
lobby afterward, Mac Crikelair, FrontStreet project manager, expressed
a "deep appreciation" for APA staff for their input saying
they did a "wonderful and thorough job."
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Construction will begin,
Crikelair said, "as soon as we can," expressing a cautious optimism
in the Adirondack second-home sales market.
"We planned phasing to not
compete with things going on in the community," he explained.
For example, no restaurants will
be built in Phase One to allow other businesses in town an opportunity
to grow as the resort is built.
The "very modest" workforce
housing was kept small to allow rental properties in North Creek and surrounding
sections of Johnsburg a chance to fill up first.
Crikelair said they would proceed
in a manner "conservative in nature" that includes a 34-room
inn and the Hudson Lodge, a private ski lodge exclusive to the resort.
FrontStreet Mountain Development
is supported by a group of private investors that Crikelair would not
name or define in any way.
When asked how much the developers
were banking on state investments at Gore Mountain, Crikelair said that,
though they were planned together, the projects are separate.
"Both projects are important
to the community. This is truly a model for public/private investment."
He rebutted Commissioner Booth's
suggestion to bring the entire project to adjudication.
"In my opinion, it would
have been redundant," Crikelair said. "There has been a public
process through this entire thing."
Environmental groups remain wary
of the public-private relationship.
Michael Washburn, executive director
of the Residents' Committee for Protection of the Adirondacks, said the
math was somewhat suspect.
"There is going to be a
strong connection between state investment (at Gore) and the success of
this project," he said. "Should the role of the forest preserve
be to enable this kind of exclusive development?"
APA commissioners had questioned
the impact on the community before approving the project.
"This (review) doesn't really
tell us what the impact of the project will be on affordable housing,"
Department of State APA Designee Rick Hoffman said.
"DOS is going to support
the project permit," he said, even though "there is not a great
wow factor here for local government."
Commissioner Leilani Ulrich said
that going forward, the developer and the town have an opportunity to
create the "wow" that's missing.
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