From left, Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board members Chip Bissell and David Genito and Whiteface Resort CEO Mark Sperling, right, review a sketch plan of five duplex townhomes on Marina Way on Wednesday evening. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board reviewed a sketch plan Wednesday night for five duplex townhomes proposed for Marina Way.

Whiteface Resort first proposed the townhomes in 2008, going so far as to receive a permit from the Adirondack Park Agency. At that juncture, the townhomes were supposed to be built on Whiteface Inn Road, and an additional single-family home was included alongside the 10 units in the proposal. However, according to the resort’s review board application, the town of North Elba never approved that particular project.

The new application proposes that the previously approved lots would be transferred to a new site with access from Marina Way. It also abandons the additional single-family home, leaving just the five duplex townhomes.

The townhomes are not slated for immediate construction. Mark Sperling, CEO of Whiteface Resort, said Wednesday that the resort is going through the approval process now to get the planned townhomes on the books.

“I need to get it on the map. I’m obligated to get sites located on the map … obligated by the sense that we have a certain many APA rights and building rights here,” he said. “I feel a lot more comfortable, and the people who’ve invested here would be more comfortable, if they’re on the map so there’s never a question as to the building rights.”

According to application materials, the townhomes would have footprints of around 3,000 square feet, with each unit having a footprint of around 1,500 square feet. Each unit would have four bedrooms and would be constructed in a style keeping with its Adirondack surroundings.

Sperling, CEO of Whiteface Resort, said at the review board meeting that the townhomes would be very similar to five neighboring duplex townhomes — the Bluff Townhomes, on Lodge Way — that the resort constructed in the late 1990s. According to an online real estate listing, one of the Bluff Townhomes units sold in 2021 for $1.4 million. Other Bluff Townhome units are available as vacation rentals; one is a long-term vacation rental available at $200 a night for a minimum of 30 nights, while another unit is a short-term vacation rental available at $800 a night.

The new townhomes will have similar siding and windows to the Bluff Townhomes, the application said, but will have slightly different interiors. They will also have integrated single-stall garages instead of the Bluff Townhomes’ detached garages. Sperling said that the new townhomes would be situated in a way where their roof lines fall below the deck lines of the Bluff Townhomes to preserve the Bluff Townhomes’ views.

“We don’t want to take away the sight lines,” he said. “They’re going to have the same views … as they’ve always had.”

Sperling said he has not brought the project before the APA yet, as he is still waiting on a finished storm water management plan. He said that he planned on the project’s APA and review board approval being a “simultaneous process.” The review board will need to conduct a site visit and have a public hearing concerning the project. The APA also typically collects public comments on potential projects.