LAKE PLACID — Members of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) are hosting two public feedback sessions on the Cascade Cross Country Ski Center in Lake Placid as the club considers the future of the facility.

ADK finalized its purchase of the Cascade Ski Center in January with a mission to expand the club’s educational capacity, reach more hikers traveling along the popular state Route 73 corridor, and maintain the center’s cross-country ski and snowshoe trails for public use.

ADK’s board of directors approved a contract to purchase the Cascade Ski Center last October. They agreed to purchase the 200-acre property on Cascade Road for approximately $2.5 million, and the club was awarded a $500,000 state grant last December to help with the cost.

ADK Deputy Director Julia Goren said the club wants to hear what people in the community think should be done with the facility. The club is hoping to hear from as many people as possible.

“We are really trying to cast a broad net and hear what folks have to say,” Goren said. “And all of the ideas we hear will inform the planning process as we move forward.”

Anyone who cares about the ski center as a stakeholder is welcome to attend the sessions, Goren said. She noted that 50 people have already signed up for the first session.

The club plans to kick off the sessions with a short presentation of ADK’s ideas for the facility and why the club bought it, according to Goren. After that, the community will have the floor.

“It’s really meant, for us, to be a listening session,” Gore said.

The virtual feedback session will be held on Tuesday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m. People can register in advance for the meeting at https://tinyurl.com/9rp445hx. The club will hold a second public feedback session on Tuesday, April 12. People can register for that session at https://tinyurl.com/2p9buwtc.

Goren said the club held two feedback sessions in March with specific stakeholder groups including local governments, people who run facilities similar to the Cascade Ski Center, educators, people in local school districts, adjacent property owners and “like-minded” nonprofit organizations in the area, like the Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center.

ADK plans to fully summarize all four sessions in a public document. Goren said ADK plans to make the summaries available on the club’s website, www.adk.org, after the sessions. People who can’t make the feedback sessions can email their thoughts to ADK at cascade@adk.org.

The ADK team plans to review the feedback together once the sessions are over, Goren said. Right now, the club is trying to figure out what its planning process will be for any changes made to the facility. Goren said the club is considering working with consultants, and she said that the public feedback would be part of what the club presents to those consultants.

The club plans to renovate the public restrooms at the ski center this summer, according to Goren. She said the club is also working to get funding for upgrades to the building.

The center is expected to officially change hands on April 15. The Jubins have lived in the building for 42 years.

Goren said that former owner Art Jubin and his son plan to continue living at the center and storing some items there through the summer.

–

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article quoted ADK Deputy Director Julia Goren as saying the Jubin family, who formerly owned the Cascade Ski Center, asked for additional time to move their things out of the center before the Adirondack Mountain Club moved in. Jennifer Jubin said the family signed a contract with ADK in late October with a move-in date of April 15, and she said the family did not make arrangements for more time.