Private Development in the Adirondack State Park and the Role of the Adirondack Park Agency

The Adirondack Park is the largest area of protected land in the contiguous United States.  However, the Adirondacks are unique in that the Park is composed of both public lands owned by the State of New York and private lands owned by individuals.  The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is in charge of regulating the public, state owned, lands in the Park.  The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) was created through legislation in 1971 and the regulating body of the privately owned lands in the Park.  In 2004, a development permit was brought before the APA called the Adirondack Club and Resort (ACR).  The development was based around the Big Tupper Ski Resort and including hundreds of housing units on 6,300 acres in the Tupper Lake region. It was the largest permit application ever submitted to the APA.  The APA and the project team of the proposed ACR went back and forth in meetings, hearings and through numerous rounds of edits and revisions to the ACR application.  Many individuals and environmentalist groups focused on the Adirondacks were strongly opposed to the APA granting the ACR’s development permit.  Many other groups and individuals believed that this development would bring a much needed economic boost to the struggling Tupper Lake Region.  This paper explores the proceedings between the APA, the project team of the ACR development, and many other organizations and individuals who are trying to do what they believe is best for the Adirondack Park in the 21st Century.