SARANAC LAKE – The village Planning Board is nearing the end of its review of the Lake Flower resort project, but it’s still got some work to do.

Following a two-hour session on the proposed 93-room, $17 million project Tuesday night, representatives of Saranac Lake Resort LLC promised to answer the board’s additional questions promptly and asked the board to move to the next step in the process, a public hearing, as soon as possible.

“I feel like our whole team here is essentially done,” said Jacob Wright of Lake Placid, the spokesman for the group of so-far-unidentified investors backing the project. “We’ve submitted well over 1,000 pages between the (state Adirondack Park Agency) and here, and we’re pretty comfortable with it. We’d love to move forward and really get the project going.”

Board Chairwoman Leslie Karasin said she thinks the village is close to declaring the project’s application complete, but she was hesitant about moving too quickly.

“I think it’s important that we don’t get too far ahead of the (APA) in terms of our timing,” she said. “We’re going to need to decide when the right moment is to schedule a public hearing, once the application is complete from a village standpoint, but I don’t feel confident we’re there yet.”

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Changes

This was the third public session between the Planning Board and Saranac Lake Resort LLC since it took over the project last fall from Chris LaBarge, who shepherded it through a controversial zoning change the village enacted last year – the Lake Flower Planned Unit Development District.

Karasin opened the meeting by saying the board wanted to zero in on “higher-level issues” and not get bogged down in the details.

Joe Garso of North Woods Engineering outlined several changes made to the project in recent weeks. He said a “green roof” with vegetation on it was added over the kitchen area of the hotel’s lakefront restaurant, improving stormwater management and aesthetics. Garso said it was suggested by village Community Development Director Jeremy Evans.

The restaurant’s roof and a lakefront “pergola” archway were both pulled back from the shoreline so they fit the PUDD’s setback requirements, and more landscaping was added around the property, Garso said.

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Parking, traffic

One big change is that the developers no longer plan to use 203 River St., an across-the-street property LaBarge is still under contract to buy, for off-site parking. Roughly 100 parking spaces are planned on the hotel site. Board member Dave Trudeau asked if those would be enough to accommodate big events and conferences.

Wright said the size of the parking spaces has been reduced from previous designs to fit more on the hotel site. Things will be “tight” at those busy times, he said, “but at this point we feel we can fit” all the vehicles there.

Screening the hotel’s parking was discussed at length. Some board members asked for a decorative wall between the sidewalk and parking lot so car headlights wouldn’t shine across Lake Flower Avenue and “so you don’t see a sea of cars and pavement,” as Karasin described it. Board member Molly Hann suggested a small berm with landscaping, while others said the trees and shrubs the developers have planned along the sidewalk would be enough.

Wright said his planners favored landscaping over a wall because they wanted to have as “green” a project as possible.

“But if you want a wall, we’ll create one to the specs you want,” he said.

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Building height, architecture

The height and bulk of the building remain a big issue, Karasin noted. It’s nearly 65 feet tall at its four-story level with a tower that reaches 69 feet.

“This design is a big improvement over some of the previous iterations, and maybe all of the previous iterations,” Karasin said. “That being said, it is a high building. I think the trade-off of making the roof a real roof (as opposed to a mansard roof and other styles LaBarge attempted) does push up the building height.”

Wright said his team has worked to “shave” down the height of the building as much as possible, making the floors between each story 4 inches narrower and reducing the ceiling in the banquet hall from 14 feet to 10 feet.

“Every single chance we could squeeze, we did squeeze,” he said.

“I know you need a certain size building to make it economical,” Trudeau said. “You only have a certain size piece of land there, so you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. The last group that came here tried and tried, and there’s only so much you can do. I think they’ve done a pretty good job here.”

“We want to see the project succeed,” Hann added. “We don’t want to approve a project that doesn’t have enough rooms to be economically viable for our community. … I’m comfortable with the size, and this is certainly the best rendering we’ve seen.”

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Other issues

Karasin noted there are several mature trees slated to be cut down on the site’s open space areas. She said that’s contrary to language in the PUDD requiring all trees to be kept except those the Planning Board identifies for removal.

The project includes a deck along the lake, next to the restaurant, that’s designed to help fill a PUDD requirement for public open space on the property. The public is supposed to feel welcome and comfortable there, according to the PUDD, but Karasin questioned whether the deck fits that bill. She asked the developers to add some “visual cues,” including signage, to make sure “it doesn’t feel like just a deck of a restaurant but open space where the public would feel comfortable going.”

Board members also suggested the developers provide a northern access between the property and the planned sidewalk along Lake Flower Avenue to make it easier for hotel guests to walk into town.

Evans said there’s not a lot of additional detail the Planning Board is seeking at this point.

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APA review

Bill Kissell, a Lake Placid lawyer and former APA commissioner representing Saranac Lake Resort LLC, said the company responded to the APA’s Notice of Incomplete Permit Application and expects the agency to issue a second, “hopefully shorter” notice on Friday.

The process of going through the agency will be longer, Kissel said, because the project will require a permit and a variance, each of which will involve public hearings.