From left, Assemblyman Billy Jones, Speaker of the New York state Assembly Carl Heastie and Lake Placid Olympic Center General Manager Chadd Cassidy tour the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid on Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

LAKE PLACID — Carl Heastie, speaker of the New York state Assembly, spoke on Thursday about Olympic Regional Development Authority funding, congestion pricing and short-term vacation rentals during a tour of the Lake Placid Olympic Center with Assemblyman Billy Jones.

“(Jones) just wanted me to come and see the state’s investment over the years to refurbish this classic place,” Heastie said. “It’s just great to see and to know that this was the place where it all happened. I feel very nostalgic.”

Heastie recalled that he was in junior high school during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, saying that standing in the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena and watching the Olympic Museum’s Miracle on Ice documentary on Thursday made him feel “proud to be an American.”

The state has invested more than $550 million into ORDA venue renovations and capital projects over the past decade, earmarking $82 million in this year’s budget predominantly for upgrades at ORDA’s three ski mountains: Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre.

ORDA CEO and President Ashley Walden said Thursday that visits from government officials is “crucial” to ORDA.

“It’s super important for the Olympic Authority, for us, to have our elected officials and our stakeholders here to be able to experience the venues,” Walden said. “There’s been a tremendous amount of investment from New York state and it’s really, without being here to get the full experience, you don’t really understand the full impact it has.”

Heastie said the millions of dollars the state has put into ORDA venues in the past decade were “absolutely” worth it.

“(ORDA venues are) something so iconic in the state of New York, and from what I understand, could allow for the Olympics to return, so I think it was well worth it. It looks beautiful,” he said.

The USOPC submitted a bid last December for Lake Placid and ORDA to host the sliding competitions for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano-Cortina, Italy, following Italian organizers’ announcement that it would be too costly to rebuild the historic Eugenio Monti track in Cortina d’Ampezzo. While the Italian organizers reversed course and have since begun renovating the Monti track, the International Olympic Committee is still evaluating “Plan B” options in case the renovations do not finish on time.

Walden said Thursday that Lake Placid is one of three remaining bid cities for the sliding sports. ORDA expects to continue working with the IOC over the summer to assess the feasibility of Lake Placid’s bid. The IOC will name the alternate venue in October, and Italian organizers have until March 2025 to finish renovations.

“(It is a) huge project, but one that we’re excited to continue,” Walden said.

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STRs

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Heastie also addressed the short-term vacation rental legislation that passed the Assembly earlier this month and now awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature. The bill would require STR owners to register their rentals with the New York state Department of State every two years. Municipalities would also be allowed to collect sales and occupancy tax on STRs. In Essex and Franklin counties, occupancy taxes are already collected on STR stays.

“I think the governor’s going to sign it. I don’t want to speak for her, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to sign it,” Heastie said. “There’s a revenue component of it, as we’re grappling with the concerns with the shortage of housing across the state.”

In the Tri-Lakes, STRs have proliferated in recent years, straining the long-term housing stock and causing municipalities to create sets of regulations and, in some cases, cap the number of STRs authorized to operate within their boundaries.

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Prison amendments

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Heastie also said that debate regarding congestion pricing “delayed things” when it comes to moving forward with an amendment that would allow abandoned prisons in the Adirondack Park like Camp Gabriels in Brighton to be sold. A constitutional amendment must be passed to remove Adirondack prisons from the Forest Preserve before they can be sold, and amendments require passage by both state houses in two successive legislative sessions before they can be presented to voters on a ballot.

The amendment regarding Camp Gabriels passed the state Senate last month but failed to be passed by the Assembly before its session ended.

“We’re just trying to come up with some more comfortable language. I thought we were close,” Heastie said. “There’s things that are in the Constitution that basically says, ‘When you deal with public land, it should be for a public purpose,’ and so, we’re trying to grapple with (that). … No one wants to see those buildings standing there and falling apart.”

The Senate will need to pass the amendment again in its next session, restarting the process for a sixth time. Once the Assembly also passes it in the same session, both houses will need to pass the amendment again in a second consecutive session before the amendment goes before Hochul and voters.