RAY BROOK - The state Adirondack Park Agency is concerned that a 2009 decision in the Old Mountain Road case could lead to former town roads in the Adirondack Forest Preserve being reopened to motorized vehicles.
That's according to a brief the agency filed on March 18 that asks the state Department of Environmental Conservation to clarify the decision that the recreational trail is a town road.
The APA brief specifically mentions the truck trail from South Meadow Road to Marcy Dam and the hiking trail through Indian Pass from Heart Lake and the Adirondak Loj to Upper Works in Newcomb as former roads that could be reopened. Both are located in the High Peaks Wilderness.
"These are just two among many recreational trails that occupy the track of 19th century roads and are placed in question by the argument in the Commissioner's May 19th determination," APA counsel John Banta stated in the brief.
The APA believes these roads and Old Mountain Road are closed. One of the APA's main claims is that Old Mountain Road was abandoned and closed to motor vehicles by the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan and that former DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis didn't have authority to overturn that.
The APA's brief is in response to Grannis' May 2009 decision not to fine Lake Placid snowmobile activist Jim McCulley for driving his truck on the Old Mountain Road in 2005. In his ruling, Grannis said the recreational trail was a town road that was not properly conveyed to the Forest Preserve. The DEC had ticketed McCulley for driving in a wilderness area within the Forest Preserve.
In the months following Grannis' decision, DEC Region 6 attorney Randall Young asked Grannis to clarify that decision. That request remained unanswered until Dec. 30, 2010, when then-acting DEC Commissioner Peter Iwanowicz - who took over briefly after then-Gov. David Paterson fired Grannis for leaking his objections to budget cuts - granted the request, while also allowing both the Adirondack Council and the APA to intervene in the case. Both have expressed opposition to Grannis' decision.
Old Mountain Road is a 3.5-mile section of the Jackrabbit Cross-Country Ski Trail that runs through the Sentinel Range Wilderness and is located mainly in the town of Keene, although a short section is in the town of North Elba. Since Grannis' decision, Old Mountain Road has maintained its status as a ski trail in the winter. The Keene town board passed a law in 2009 to allow ATV use on a mile-long section of the trail during hunting season, but it banned other motorized use of it.
The APA isn't the only party to weigh in on the status of Old Mountain Road lately. McCulley's lawyer, Matthew Norfolk of Lake Placid, argued in recent legal briefs that the original Grannis decision "should not be reconsidered, revised, modified or altered in any way, shape or form."
Norfolk writes that the motions for clarification and reconsideration, along with the Iwanowicz's decision to reopen the case, "have made this particular administrative proceeding to be a spectacle of lawlessness and abuse of process."
Norfolk told the Enterprise Monday that the APA is not just looking for a clarification but is essentially attempting to appeal Grannis' decision without including McCulley, something Norfolk says they should not be allowed to do. The APA is not seeking a reinstatement of the enforcement case against McCulley.
"The whole purpose of this administrative hearing, the entire purpose was to determine whether or not Jim McCulley violated a DEC regulation," Norfolk said. "And it was ruled in his favor that he did not. ... If you are not going to revisit that, the proceedings should be over."
Norfolk states in one brief that if Grannis' decision is altered, McCulley will not recognize the new decision "just as DEC refused to recognize the Essex County Court decision, dated March 23, 2005, issued by Judge Andrew Halloran, which reversed the conviction of Mr. McCulley and found Old Mountain Road to be an existing town road."
McCulley would also challenge any revisions to the original Grannis ruling with an Article 78 lawsuit, Norfolk said.
The case is being heard by DEC Administrative Law Judge James McClymonds.
APA spokesman Keith McKeever was not available for comment.
DEC, when contacted by the Enterprise Monday, could not immediately provide any examples of town roads in the Forest Preserve that had been reopened in the past two years.
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Contact Mike Lynch at 891-2600 ext. 28 or mlynch@adirondackdailyenteprise.com.
