‘We can’t get discouraged’
ARISE drives advocacy for Tupper resortBy JESSICA COLLIER, Enterprise Staff Writer
Article Photos
TUPPER LAKE - While mediation is over, the road to starting the proposed development at the former Big Tupper Ski Area will still be long and difficult, members of the group ARISE (Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving Their Economy) said Tuesday.
"We're going to have to keep working hard, and we can't get discouraged," said ARISE member Rick Dattola. "(Those who oppose the project) are going to try to do everything they can to stop this project, but this is our community, and as long as we keep saying that to the (state Adirondack) Park Agency and emphasizing that, we're going to be OK and we're going to win this thing."
The group, which supports the Adirondack Club and Resort development project, met Tuesday in a public session at the Tupper Lake VFW that drew about 45 supporters.
The resort project - which would reopen the ski area and surround it with up to 600 housing units, a marina and a restaurant - has been stalled in the process to get an APA permit for over two years, and two weeks ago developers pulled out of a lengthy mediation that was meant to negotiate a compromise between developers, municipalities, environmental groups and neighbors to the project site.
"Mediation is over, and it didn't go as well as expected," said ARISE member Jim LaValley.
An agreement that was produced by the mediation sessions was endorsed by only one-third of the parties involved.
Environmental organizations and neighbors to the project say they have questions about the environmental and economic impacts of the development, which is one of the largest proposed for the Adirondack Park.
The Tuesday ARISE meeting was organized to talk about the future of the group now that the mediation has ended, with plans being made to reopen the T-bar lift at the ski slope and advocate for the project in Albany.
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T-bar opening
LaValley, a Tupper Lake real estate broker, said volunteers have been working at the mountain to get the T-bar up and running over the last week-and-a-half.
ACR developers are not able to work on the project, since it may violate their APA permit application, LaValley said. They are, however, supportive of the community effort to get the T-bar running and are allowing the community the use of the facility.
LaValley said he was hopeful that, with all the work volunteers are doing at the mountain, the T-bar will be open this winter.
Organizers are in the process of compiling a list of things that need to be done in order to get the T-bar in operational condition and figuring out the costs of the effort, LaValley said. These tasks include restoration of bathrooms, electricity and part of the ski lodge as well as brush clearing.
Advocate in Albany
ARISE member Ben Peets said it is imperative that ACR supporters contact representatives in Albany and tell them they want the project to go through.
"This is our last chance," said Peets. "If we don't get this project, I hate to think of what will happen to Tupper Lake in the future."
ACR supporters should write to their representatives and government officials in Albany and use their contacts outside the area to pass the message along that they are in favor of the development, LaValley said.
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Lawsuit
Dattola announced that, separate from ARISE activities, which he said are meant to support the development in a positive light, he wants to gather a group of local business owners to bring a lawsuit against the environmental groups that he said are stalling the project.
He said that by stalling the permit application on procedural grounds, these groups are getting in the way of his right to make a decent living.
Dattola, who with his brother owns Tupper Lake Supply, said he would be looking for 15 to 20 business owners to contribute to the lawsuit.
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Contact Jessica Collier at 891-2600 ext. 25 or jcollier@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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contrary1
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07-10-09 9:01 AM
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Given the secrecy, confidentiality agreements, and backroom deals most of these groups are involed in, the only way to ensure laws aren't being broken...is through the legal process. Like the Wall Street fraud artists, they will probably disband and consolidate these organizations rather than allow the case to be taken to it's open and honest conclusion, but so be it. Paul Maroun sued the individuals, not the legislature after the faulty 2000 redistricting. Suing the individual officeholders responsible for making these decisions, might allow the lawsuit to proceed after the organizations are disbanded. They might be enviros, or they might be front organizations for businessmen who want to rebuild Tupper in their own image, to increase their personal fortunes. Stay tuned.
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Lumberjack11
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07-10-09 7:17 AM
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Yes, the developer probably has more work to do on the project from what is being published in the media - reasonable given its scope; unfortunately, the details are still masked behind the "closed door" proceedings. with typical project SEQRA review, it needs conceptual approval before it can proceed and it's not even close to that. All stakeholders at the table need accoountability; if the "non profit groups" (synonymous with the environmental opposition) are able to have the "right" to sit at the table during the process and provide their "points of view", they too should be accountable. I detest out litigious ways especially here in NY but that is how he legal system has evolved.
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twinrivers
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07-09-09 9:17 PM
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Careful what you wish for yes - higher real estate taxes would be among the first visible "benefits" of a successful development. Like LP the people screaming for a project with no boundaries will be moving out of town. People comment on "enviros" (or name calling variations) "not compromising." But, it's up to the developer to adjust. There is really nothing to compromise about. The developer had a specific questions outlined by the APA to answer and he hasn't done the work. The idea of suing non-profit groups that just voice a point of view (they can't actually make any decisions!) seems like an awful waste of "decent living" pay.
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TLNAT7
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07-09-09 4:45 PM
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in theory getting the T-bar running sounds great. after talking to a former Big T employee the reality of it happening seems remote. hte lift was vandalized a few years before the area closed leaving the lift inoperable. one of the lift towers was torn out of the ground and sublsequently removed. so the lift hasn't been used in 12 yrs or so. the former employee estimated the cost of repair at about $250,000. if it was even repairable at all. it is after all a 49 yrs old. and what are the chances of having enough natural snow to ski on, climate has definitely changed, we're lucky if we get enough natural snow once every 10 yrs to ski on. the brush up there is 15 feet high in many places, not 4 feet as the TL Free Press "reported". then there is the issue of ski patrol, 4 people needed to run the lift minimum,plowing the parking lot, staff person for the lodge. Seems like a big PR stunt for the Developer with ARISE as the front. Good Luck.
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contrary1
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07-09-09 11:48 AM
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Is it better to try to find food, or wait for a benevolent entity to provide it for you, while you watch the people around you expire? Please don't stop Tupper from trying to find it's own sustenance. They've been waiting for a benevolent presence for a really long time, and all they get is people like Bobrow and Hacketts. Taking matters into their own hands is an act of empowerment by people who have nothing left to lose. It's either that or starve, while they watch LP rake in the cash. Trickle down doesn't work, if the revenue stream doesn't trickle.
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JJReiss
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07-09-09 9:13 AM
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For all of the supporters of the project, be careful what you wish for. Until you carefully examine how the infrastructure for the project will be financed, you will not begin to comprehend the financial risk the County and Town, and their respective taxpayers, will be assuming. Any where else, the developer would obtain the financing from private lenders, i.e. banks, insurance companies and large pension funds. Instead the developer is asking the taxpayer to finance the development. The reasons why the developer is pursuing public financing is because he then has no liability when the development fails and the fact that private lenders deem the project too speculative. So as residents and taxpayers, be careful what you wish for. There is a better way to do this, but it takes foresight and political will something apparently lacking from the local political leaders. If contruction had started, it would already have failed.
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contrary1
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07-09-09 8:23 AM
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As a member of the Constitutional left, I think it's Pre-2K thinking to set aside great tracts of wilderness to preserve it, when the focus should be on individual conservation habits, so we can maintain the ruse of freedom. Enviro-elitists and developers of the far right and left, no longer seem to have a need for Constitutional protections, they've got money and political influence. ARISE has done a very good thing. LP has ORDA, the APA, DEC, State Police, 2 prisons, and WhiteFace Mt. within close proximity. The Adirondacks needs private enterprise to restore the economic and poitical balance. In 20 years, Old Forge could be connected via the railroad tracks, and Tupper Lake could be booming. Good job. Economic competition makes us stronger.
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Outlaw63446
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07-09-09 7:01 AM
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In my town, the attitude toward development was "who needs it?" over and over again, for every project. After twenty years, all of the businesses got fed up and left because they coould no longer attract employees to an area with only a post office, a pharmacy, and a convenience store. It's called evolution, progress, making whatever you have today better than it was, or trying to. Of course we did not have the additional problem of a couple thousand people trying to tie up six million acres for their own use, even though they pay NO TAXES to do so. Let these fellows risk their money, and profit or lose as they might. Someone will pay taxes on these improvements, and 20 years from now, if they really are "worth nothing to anybody", they will be replaced by something that it.
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Lumberjack11
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07-08-09 11:00 PM
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Continued: enterprise. acwolff, who butters your bread? when you're buttering your own bread, life has a new and different meaning. It is ironic that the project opposition in their concern for the economy and taxes, et. al. have no business asking who's "going to buy", "how much" - a developer of this caliber has doen his marketing studies over and over again to quantify the risk. the resort sector will bring in much more than the hunters & fishermen ever will will (no slight on them) and I am one of them too as well as a skier, admirer of the "forest beauty". Lie with most things in life, it comes down to balance, fairness and compromise - something which will be hard fought but won on this project.
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Lumberjack11
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07-08-09 10:45 PM
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It is clear how acwolff bats on this issue - I think he's blowing smoke, grasping for straws and invoking fear-mongering. TL has been on the moon in terms of (intentional?)isolation and lost opportunities for years but is a Phoenix. Ihere are plenty of displaced natives (not "outta staters") who had to leave due to lack of economic opportunity that would buy those "moon plots". The developer has made significant meaningful concessions (i.e. reductions).Where are the ones from the other side? Let's face it, there never will be any. Any number of units will be of real & intrinsic value to the community via increased tax base, $$$ infusion into the local economy by their very occupancy / use and a psychological boost. The proposal is moving to a more "balanced" state so the "spoiling" theory doesn't hold water anymore. I believe that Rick Dattola is a decent, hard-working businessman/philanthropist with his hands tied behind his back from free
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concerned
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07-08-09 10:27 PM
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the tree huggers have LOT'S of money and LOT'S of influence consequently i hope they all freeze to death in the dark.........i hope we win but the wonderful folks we put in office listen to the almighty buck
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acwolff
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07-08-09 6:37 PM
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Might as well be 600 condos on the moon. whose gonna buy 'em? personally i always thought the hunting/fishing camps generated more interest. the beauty of the woods is the important attraction ,spoil it? you'v got nothing.
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acwolff
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07-08-09 6:26 PM
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amazing... years down the road those "600 units" will be of no value to tupper or any community. the change to the region would be massive it a simple land grab,open up north country for the rich folks from outta state.
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AntiLib
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07-08-09 1:18 PM
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Decent: Without intimidation from Enviro-extremist-wacko groups.
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TEastman
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07-08-09 12:29 PM
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"right to make a decent living" ? Please define "decent."
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