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Resort is too big for its site

To the editor:

Re: Lake Flower Resort:

The developers of this project are seeking a massive and unprecedented variance from the shoreline setback requirements of the Adirondack Park Agency. The following has been submitted to the APA as part of the public hearing process:

The variance requested from the 50-foot shoreline setback requirement is not marginal or trivial. Rather, it involves significant structures, overhangs, walkways and other paved areas, including a portion of the parking lot.

Counsel for the applicant argued that the reason that the proposal represented the minimum relief necessary and that there is no feasible alternative is that the site is “too small and narrow” to encroach any less onto the setback zone. Precisely. The corollary of the site being too small is that the project is too big, and the solution is to scale back the project. It has been argued that the 90-plus-room hotel is the minimum size economically feasible. This argument is fallacious: While a smaller project would have less future cash flow (although maybe more certain), the capital costs of construction would also be lower. A less crowded site is likely also to be more desirable to potential guests.

The manner in which the “hardship” arose is clearly that the applicant sought to develop the site beyond its capacity. The inability to make as much money as one would like does not amount to “undue hardship” — in a capitalist economy there is no “right” to a given return.

The variance request should be denied or, at the very least, an adjudicatory hearing held.

Sincerely,

Alan G. Brown

Saranac Lake

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