TUPPER LAKE - A group of Tupper Lake business people met Monday night with local attorney Kirk Gagnier to discuss whether they could have any legal recourse in the battle over the Adirondack Club and Resort.
The project, which would overhaul the former Big Tupper Ski Area and develop the land around it with up to 600 luxury housing units, a restaurant and a marina, has prompted battle lines, with environmental groups and those with questions about the project's impact pitted against many local business owners who see the project as the only way to stimulate a dying Tupper Lake economy.
Rick Dattola, co-owner of Tupper Lake Supply, and several other local business owners were looking into the possibility of legal action against Adirondack environmental groups, thinking they might be able to bring a lawsuit accusing the groups of hindering their ability to make a living.
Gagnier quickly put that notion to bed, informing those at the meeting that it would be very difficult to win such a lawsuit and that the business people would be throwing their money away. There are, however, some other legal options they might have.
"The environmental groups are very good at organizing their resources," Gagnier said after the meeting. "I think these guys are looking to take a page from that book."
The options mostly center around how the group can get involved in the adjudicatory hearing that the project is set to go through on the way to getting a permit from the state Adirondack Park Agency. The project was sent to such a hearing in 2007 when the agency ruled that there were 10 issues with the plans that needed to be further explored in such a forum. Then the development group, Big Tupper LLC, headed by lead developer Michael Foxman of Philadelphia, requested that the hearing be adjourned and go into confidential mediation sessions to hash out some of the issues away from the public eye. Foxman ended the mediation in June and said he is ready to return to the adjudicatory hearing. That could happen as early as January, but APA leaders told the Enterprise Monday that they still have not received the developers' revised application. If they don't receive it soon, the hearing will have to be pushed back.
Gagnier first suggested that the group of assembled business owners put together an "amicus curiae" brief to file with the administrative law judge reviewing the project. An amicus curiae brief, literally translated as "friend of the court," is an officially submitted paper advising the court on a specific case.
Second, Gagnier said the group should find some expert witnesses to present data in an appealing way at the hearing. Jim Ellis said he spoke with Rob Camoin, a consultant who has a long relationship with Tupper Lake and has collected a load of data about the area in the past, under hire by municipalities. Camoin told Ellis he has plenty of data and would be willing to present it at the adjudicatory hearing for between $700 and $1,000, Ellis said.
The group also discussed ways to have more of a say at the hearing. When he discovered that three local business entities are parties to the hearing, Gagnier said it would likely be best to organize behind those people and use them as a way to communicate the feelings of the business community, since it would be difficult or impossible for the business group to gain party status at the hearing now. For each party, the business group could organize a clear, concise argument that was tailored to each party's point of view.
Timber Lodge owner Don Dew Jr. and Tupper Lake Free Press Editor/Publisher Dan McClelland, both parties to the hearing because they own property near the proposed development, were present at the meeting and seemed receptive to the idea. The Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce is also a party and had two board members at Monday's meeting.
To organize the effort, Gagnier suggested the business group hire legal counsel and offered to donate 15 hours of service if the group would hire him at a rate of $175 an hour after that.
"To do it and to do it right, to put these packages together, you're probably talking 30 hours," Gagnier said.
Dattola estimated that if there are 20 businesses interested in supporting the effort, each business would have to contribute about $300.
"I think $300 per business, I think that's cheap insurance for our future," local book store owner Randy Jones said.
Quite a few of the roughly 20 people attending the meeting in the Aaron Maddox Hall said they would be willing to contribute that amount. Dattola said he believes more people may be on board who weren't able to show up.
"There was a lot of interest when I sent the e-mail out," Dattola said.
Some people expressed concern that the group's efforts would overlap with those of ARISE (Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving Their Economy), a local group on its way to achieving nonprofit status that has been organizing volunteers to get a ski lift at Big Tupper up and running for the winter. ARISE also includes supporting the Adirondack Club and Resort in its mission statement. Several ARISE officers, including Dattola, were at the meeting.
"You don't want to duplicate efforts; there's no question about that," Gagnier said.
The group came to a consensus that the business group could be a specific subgroup under the ARISE umbrella.
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Contact Jessica Collier at 891-2600 ext. 25 or jcollier@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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(Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce had two board members at Monday's meeting.)
