Finding common ground in the Adirondacks

By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer

Sat, May 17 2008

— LAKE PLACID -- A new steering committee is charged with driving policy toward an economically viable Adirondack future.
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis introduced the 11-person panel this week after handing out $1 million in freshly signed Smart Growth grants.
The new planning group -- essentially a think tank feeding DEC stewardship of the 6.5 million-acre park -- is billed as Partnerships for People and Nature.
MOVING FORWARD
The new Adirondack-wide, government-civic panel mirrors a challenge sparked by several regional groups in the past year.
"We kicked off this steering committee to help keep moving issues forward to solution," said DEC Region 5 Director Betsy Lowe. "DEC is here at their pleasure to facilitate."
The committee is built of experts who sometimes sit on opposite sides of a table: Brian Houseal, executive director of the Adirondack Council; Town Supervisors Noel Merrihew III from Elizabethtown and Bill Farber from Morehouse in Hamilton County; Bill Johnston, former county planner now on the Adirondack Community Housing Trust; Cali Brooks, executive director of Adirondack Community Trust; Ron Ofner, newly assigned executive director of the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council; and John Mills, president of Paul Smith's College.
They listened to suggestions from about 50 state, civic and business leaders a few hours ahead of the kickoff APA Local Government Day reception.
PLANNING CONCERNS
Houseal asked a question that rose above the din.
"Is the Forest Preserve an asset or a liability to the people of the Adirondacks?"
Fred Monroe, executive director of the Adirondack Local Government Review Board, said roads and planning are key sticking points in most every issue.
Monroe called attention to the way roads are closed by state agencies, when there is "a well-established method" for closing them at the town level.
He called Adirondack planning "a process focused on the environment and environmental quality review" and put affordable housing at the top of the crisis list.
"It's crystal clear to me," he said, "you cannot have affordable housing in (land zoned) Resource Management on 42.7 acres per principle dwelling."
Even towns that would like to grow cannot do so without expanding hamlet boundaries, he said.
"And it all takes APA involvement."
GROWTH INHIBITOR?
Essex County Planning Director Victor Putman told the committee that being a state "park" increases the cost of infrastructure, including water-treatment systems, which most towns do not have but should install to protect the forest preserve.
"For every foot of pipe, it's that much more expensive," Putman said.
Curt Stiles, the new chairman of the APA Board, said his agency is often seen as a "growth inhibitor" and hoped the committee would set five priority goals with consensus.
"There ought to be some things that are fact-based that can be accomplished."
The committee will likely begin breaking into work groups in the next few weeks, Lowe said.
kdedam@pressrepublican.com