SARANAC LAKE – In a stunning move, the owner of the still-under-renovation Hotel Saranac is suing the village and its Planning Board for approving a hotel on Lake Flower that will compete with his.

Fred Roedel III of New Hampshire-based Roedel Companies field the lawsuit Tuesday in Essex County state Supreme Court in Elizabethtown. He’s challenging the Planning Board’s July 7 approval of Saranac Lake Resort LLC’s proposed 93-room, four-story hotel, spa and conference center on the site of three existing Lake Flower Avenue motels.

Roedel, in a press release titled “Play by the rules: Why we filed our lawsuit,” said the Planning Board’s decision “violates existing land use codes” and should have been sent back to the village board “given the numerous modifications to and the lack of specifics contained in the proposal during (the) site plan review process.

“It is the responsibility of the Planning Board and Village Trustees to enforce and follow the laws and regulations governing development in the Village. They have not done that,” Roedel wrote.

Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau said the lawsuit “is not good for our community” and rebuffed Roedel for what he described as an “obvious” attempt to stop or delay the Lake Flower project.

“It does appear to be quite an effort to thwart what he would believe is competition in the village of Saranac Lake,” said Matt Norfolk of Lake Placid, an attorney for Saranac Lake Resort LLC.

Rodel’s lawyer, John Muldowney of Saranac Lake, doesn’t dispute that Roedel is concerned about competing against another hotel.

“I don’t think they would hide from the fact that this is a competitive situation, and they’re taking steps in part to protect their investment in the Hotel Saranac,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that plays a role in this.”

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Prior concerns

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Roedel has previously raised concerns about the Lake Flower resort project. In a February 2015 Enterprise Guest Commentary, he said the project could saturate the market with too many upscale rooms just as his company’s renovated and restored Hotel Saranac comes online. The commentary came just days before the village board was expected to vote on a key zoning change for the Lake Flower project.

The board approved the Lake Flower Planned Unit Development District in March of last year. In the months that followed, however, the Malone developer who had led the project, Chris LaBarge of Lake Flower Lodging, was pushed out, and his former partner, Jacob Wright of Lake Placid, took control of it with a pair of new investors, later identified as hotel magnate Leland Pillsbury and health industry capitalist Mark Pacala.

Although they had signed purchase agreements with the motel owners, the new owners didn’t have control of 203 River St., a property LaBarge planned to use for off-site parking for the resort. It was critical to the Lake Flower zoning district because it pushed it over the 3-acre minimum the village requires for a PUDD. However, Saranac Lake Resort representatives said they no longer needed 203 River St. and would have all the resort’s parking on the three motel properties. They later said the 3-acre minimum was moot because deeds show the motel parcels extend out further under Pontiac Bay than the tax maps indicate.

Nevertheless, questions surrounding the removal of 203 River St. from the project were an issue throughout the Planning Board’s review. In June, Muldowney said his clients, Malone Real Estate LLC, were now the owners of 203 River St. He said the resort’s site plan application was improperly before the Planning Board and should be sent back to the village board.

Muldowney wouldn’t say then whom he was working for, but Roedel revealed in today’s press release that his company owns Malone Real Estate LLC, which bought 203 River St. in June for $179,900 and is suing the village.

Muldowney told the Enterprise that Roedel Companies is revealing itself now “because they’re taking a step toward enforcing the laws of Saranac Lake, and they want to be sure that everybody knows it’s them that’s doing that.”

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No surprise

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Rabideau said he wasn’t surprised the village is facing a lawsuit over the resort project.

“We’ve been well prepared,” he said. “We hired outside counsel and got the experts on board to make sure we had an ironclad decision from our Planning Board. We will prevail.”

The mayor also said he was pleased that Roedel admitted he’s the one who bought 203 River St. and is behind the lawsuit.

“The motive, obviously, is to stop or delay this other project on the other side of town that’s badly needed by the village,” he said.

The mayor went further, criticizing Roedel for spending money on a lawsuit instead of on the restoration of the Hotel Saranac, the planned opening date of which has now been pushed back to the winter of 2017.

“It’s been three years since Fred Roedel bought the Hotel Saranac. I could have built the Taj Majal in those three years,” Rabideau said. “If the money that’s being spent to try to stop another hotel on the other side of town could have got into the Hotel Saranac, there would be no problems and downtown businesses would be prosperous.

“I don’t understand the economic model going on here, but hey, it’s America. You can sue people.”

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Resort’s take

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Norfolk said Saranac Lake Resort LLC, which is named as party in the lawsuit, will take a closer look at the papers and file a response.

“I’m confident this petition will be dismissed,” he said.

Norfolk said his clients suspected Roedel was behind Malone Real Estate LLC.

“Now that we know it’s Mr. Roedel, it looks as if it has something to do with his perception that the Saranac Lake Resort is competition with the Hotel Saranac,” Norfolk said. “I’ll defer to others on the project team, but what I do know of my client’s hotel and the Hotel Saranac, they’re two different animals. I think they target two different markets.”

The Lake Flower resort project still needs state Adirondack Park Agency approval. Norfolk said he doesn’t think the lawsuit will delay his clients’ plans. At worst, the project could be remanded back to the Planning Board or village board, he said.

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Other stakeholders

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Adirondack Motel co-owner Fred Mueller said he wasn’t aware of the lawsuit until now, but he said he knew Roedel had taken ownership of the River Street parcel.

“The only reason he got it was to block the (Lake Flower) hotel,” he said. “I’ve always felt (Roedel) was a bully, a Donald Trump type of guy. He’s tried to derail things right from the beginning.”

“This project will be competition all right, but competition is what the country’s built on,” Mueller added. “It’s a totally different product. It’s waterfront and new, which makes it a different ballgame. It’s a big drawing card.”

Caper Tissot, an opponent of the Lake Flower resort project, called the lawsuit “a very interesting development.

“There have been a lot of issues and contention over this approval of the hotel, and it’s very interesting somebody is picking up on these issues,” Tissot said.

“One of the things that bothers people is we really want to support the Hotel Saranac,” Tissot added. “Let’s support one hotel and get it up and running, and then take it from there.”

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“That’s why we have zoning”

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Asked why Roedel Companies would spend money on a lawsuit when it could put those resources into the hotel’s restoration, Muldowney called it “apples and oranges.”

“You’re talking about a $17 million investment in the Hotel Saranac,” he said. “That’s progressing on its schedule, working through engineers, planners and construction companies. That has nothing to do from an investment standpoint with what was filed today.”

“There will be people who don’t like the steps taken here, and there will be other people who think it’s the right thing to do,” Muldowney added. “Even though we all want economic development, there are restrictions on development, and that’s why we have zoning. If we’re going to have zoning, it’s important to follow and apply the rules the way they were written. That’s what we think wasn’t done here and should have been done here.”

Roedel said his company has “consistently played by the rules.”

“We have never asked for any favors, never sought any special zoning,” he wrote. “We have done things above board and certainly do not hide from any steps we have taken along the way.”