SARANAC LAKE — With a new discovery that the plan to install boardwalks at Baldwin Park as part of a grant-funded redesign project might not work out, the Saranac Lake village board is again discussing the possibility of returning a tennis and pickleball court to the plans, installing a playground or something else.

Village Community Development Director Katrina Glynn said the village board will discuss this at its board meeting this coming Monday. Right now, she is checking what the state will allow into its contract for the $1.2 million project on the shore of Lake Flower off of Lake Flower Avenue.

Glynn said this change in the plans will not delay construction, which was set to start next summer anyway.

Other current plans for the park are the installation of a pavilion and “outdoor classrooms” and improvements to the existing Korean and Vietnam war veterans memorial.

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Boardwalk

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The issue with the boardwalks was discovered in a pre-application meeting with the Adirondack Park Agency, Glynn said.

While discussing the project, APA staff told the village they would need a wetlands permit for the boardwalks, and to get that permit, they would likely need to create more wetlands at the park to compensate for the space the boardwalk takes up in the existing wetlands.

Glynn said this would be impractical for such a small park.

“We would almost have no park left,” she said, adding that they would likely need to eliminate the pavilion from the plans.

She also said the APA estimated it would cost $45,000 and cause a three month delay for the redesign and permitting to keep boardwalks, and there would still be no guarantee of a permit. APA staff recommended they try something else, according to Glynn.

Former trustee Rich Shapiro, speaking as a member of the public, said the village Parks and Trails Advisory Board always viewed the boardwalks as a “luxury.” With them taking around 30% of the cost of the project, he said it would be fine to get rid of them since they didn’t realize it would be so intrusive.

Removing the boardwalks from the project would free up around $300,000, Glynn told the village board on April 29. Now they need to figure out what to spend that on.

Glynn said the Department of State, which issues the grant, does not want them to change the design too much from the original plan the grant was issued for.

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Court of public opinion

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Glynn recommended adding a tennis and pickleball court back into the plan. She said the DOS prefers they refurbish things rather than build new.

“I know this was a little contentious before I got here,” Glynn said.

Village Mayor Jimmy Williams said that is an “understatement.”

The debate over the courts last summer led to hours of discussion during village board meetings, numerous letters to the editor in the Enterprise and a 500-signature petition from pickleballers and tennis players asking for the village to keep the courts.

The village’s initial plan years ago was to remove the tennis and pickleball courts, but after more public discussion, one court was added back into the plan. Last summer, the village board changed the plan to remove all the courts again. They worried keeping the courts in the plans would endanger the village’s chances of getting grants for park work, based on their proximity to the water’s edge and wetlands.

Last summer, pickleballers urged the village to reconsider its plans to remove two existing courts from the park redesign, citing the sport’s growing popularity, the walkable location of Baldwin Park and the improvements they’ve seen the sport make in their lives. The village has so far chosen to keep these courts out of the plans, which currently would turn the park into a walking and picnic area with waterfront access.

Since then, three new pickleball courts were built at Mount Pisgah, funded by the High Peaks Pickleball Club.

Last week, Trustee Kelly Brunette said the village did not receive funding for the project in its first round of applying because of the courts.

In 2022, the village submitted a grant application to the state for a state Consolidated Funding Application grant which would have maintained one of the two courts. But it was not funded because the proposal did not score high enough on the state application. The reason for its scoring was that the application did not show “clear benefits for sustainability, natural resource protection/restoration and resiliency.” That could be related to the courts, former community director Jamie Konkoski said at the time.

“That’s what Jamie told us, I don’t know if that’s what (it was) actually,” Williams said last week.

Glynn said maybe that was true and has since changed. As she understands it, the courts were not included in the park plan in order to make room for the boardwalks. Glynn said she is checking in on what the state will allow.

Konkoski now works with engineering firm LaBella Associates, which is working on the Baldwin Park plan.

“Why not a playground?” Trustee Aurora White asked.

Several trustees said they would like something for kids on that side of town.

Glynn said they need to stay close to the plan to keep the DOS happy, but that she is checking into that.

White also feels the aesthetics of the tennis court with a tall fence is not “inviting” on a main route into town.

Trustee Kelly Brunette said she doesn’t want to spend a lot of money for an “underwhelming” improvement.

Glynn said that this decision needs to be made pretty soon, by the end of the month.

The project got started with a $57,700 Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund from North Elba bed tax money. With a $93,000 grant last summer and another $894,937 state grant in November, including a $300,000 village match, they are still working on a grant for the work from the state Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.