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APA: Jay development app still incomplete

The Adirondack Park Agency has issued a second “notice of incomplete permit application” to a Miami-based developer looking to build a resort-style hamlet on 385 acres in the town of Jay.

Developer Eric Stackman first submitted an application to the APA this past October for a large-scale residential subdivision project off of state Route 9N. The APA gave Stackman a notice of incomplete permit application — or NIPA — last December, saying he couldn’t seek a permit for the project until he submitted more maps and narratives considering the site’s natural resources and history. Starting last month — nearly nine months after receiving his first NIPA — Stackman began sending the APA additional application materials to fulfill the APA’s requirements for completion. Now, the APA has sent Stackman another NIPA, claiming that the agency needs three more components to his application to make it complete.

According to Stackman’s original application, the Jay development would include 20 townhomes, 60 villas with an optional guest suite, 18 estates with an optional guest suite, and possibly six mansions or two hotels containing 17 rooms each. A public comment period for the proposal, held last fall, produced a nearly 200-page-long PDF of comments showing that most people opposed the development.

Once Stackman’s application is considered complete, according to APA application documents, the APA will notify the public, hold another public comment period and start moving through the required consideration process that would ultimately bring the project before the APA board for a vote.

All of the application documents exchanged between Stackman and the APA, starting with Stackman’s original application submitted in October 2021, are available on the APA’s website at tinyurl.com/538ymjd9.

Application checklist

Stackman sent 83 pages of follow-up application materials with resource maps and assessments to the APA on Aug. 3, and the APA responded later that month requesting more information. Stackman submitted even more application materials to the APA at the beginning of September, and the APA responded on Sept. 22 with its second NIPA.

John Burth, an environmental program specialist for the APA and the author of the APA’s latest NIPA to Stackman, said Stackman has to submit a revised site design. Burth said that Stackman also has to hire a qualified biologist to perform a biological survey of the proposed project site over the course of “multiple seasons.”

Stackman’s new site design, according to Burth, will need to include proposed vegetative clearing, development and soil disturbances in relation to sensitive areas like wetlands as well as developed areas like Route 9N. Burth also asked Stackman to submit a revised map of proposed trail systems that “clearly differentiates” between existing and proposed trails.

Stackman also has to consult with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation about a historic structure on the property — the Carnes barn — and an old granite quarry on the site. Burth said the APA wants an assessment from the OPRHP on potential cultural or historical impacts his project could have.

Once the APA gets Stackman’s final site design, Burth said the agency wants a description of how the property would be owned and maintained; confirmation from local entities that the site could accommodate expected utilities, water and other services; information on and evaluation of the site’s water and wastewater services that’s verified by the local water district; documentation showing Stackman’s willingness to develop any roads on the site that might ultimately be owned by the town of Jay; application submissions to the state departments of health and environmental conservation; a forest management plan; a more detailed description of and plans for activity and development on the site; and information on any ground-mounted solar panel systems.

Stackman’s proposal is one of the largest developments to come before the APA since 2012, when the agency reviewed a proposal from Pennsylvania-based investment group Preserve Associates for a housing development in Tupper Lake with about 700 units, a spa, marina and an equestrian center. That development didn’t come to fruition.

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