News stories tagged with "second-home"

(01/20/12) UPDATE: The Adirondack Park Agency this morning approved a series of permits giving the green light to the massive resort planned for the area around the Big Tupper ski mountain in Tupper Lake.

The 10-1 vote caps a turbulent and sometimes bitter seven-year debate over the project. Brian Mann has been following this issue from the start and he joins me now.

Brian Mann joined Martha Foley earlier this morning to talk about last minute deliberations. more

(05/18/11) Weeks of relentless rain have destabilized a massive section of hillside in the Adrian's Acres neighborhood in Keene Valley, which sits on the slopes of Porter Mountain.

Town and state officials say an area roughly a half-mile wide has begun to shift, slumping downward several inches each day.

One vacation home has already been condemned, and one other house evacuated. At least four more homes are threatened.

Brian Mann was on Porter Mountain yesterday and has our story. more

(04/22/11) For seven years, developer Michael Foxman has been promising to build a massive new resort in Tupper Lake, worth roughly $500 million.

He's hoping to win final approval for the project from the Adirondack Park Agency this fall.

Many community leaders have embraced his vision as a way to revive a former logging and manufacturing town that lost seven percent of its population over the last decade.

But an investigation by North Country Public Radio, in partnership with the Adirondack Explorer magazine, found that significant doubts remain about the economic viability of Foxman's resort.

Over a period of weeks and dozens of interviews, we found that important questions remain unanswered about how the resort will be financed and marketed.

As Brian Mann reports, it's unclear when the project's elaborate infrastructure and amenities, including those at the Big Tupper ski area, will be built. more

(11/14/08) The Adirondack Park Agency is poised to enact sweeping new regulations today. The rules would expand APA authority to restrict shoreline development inside a 50-foot buffer zone. Supporters in the environmental community say the changes close loopholes that endanger water quality and waterfront habitat. But critics describe the move as an illegal power grab that threatens local economies. Brian Mann reports.

(05/09/08) The Adirondack Park Agency is expected to approve another Verizon cell phone tower today along the Northway, closing a gap in service near Schroon Lake. The APA will also wrestle with a proposal to build a hotel on the shore of Raquette Lake. Brian Mann reports.

(09/18/07) The judge handling the hearing into the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort says talks will resume next month in Tupper Lake. In a letter sent Friday, Judge Daniel O'Connell made no decisions about developer Michael Foxman's request for mediation with pro-environment groups that oppose the project. O'Connell says the next hearing will be used to hash out whether mediation might be productive. The developer has specifically requested a chance to negotiate directly with the Adirondack Council. The Council has agreed to consider talks, but spokesman John Sheehan told Brian Mann that Michael Foxman's request appears to be a delaying tactic.

(08/13/07) A Philadelphia-based developer has proposed negotiating directly with at least one pro-environment group in an effort to win approval for a second-home and ski resort in Tupper Lake. As Brian Mann reports, Michael Foxman has also suggested that he may make major concessions on his plan to build Great Camp-style estates.

(12/29/05) Tupper Lake's town board held a public hearing last night to take comments on zoning changes proposed by developer Michael Foxman. Foxman hopes to build a seven hundred home resort near the Big Tupper ski area. Supporters of the project hoped to see a vote on the new zoning rules this month. But as Brian Mann reports, the effort to win quick approval faces growing opposition.

(06/01/05) In the North Country, the debate over motorized recreation - ATVs, snowmobiles, motorboats and jetskis - has hardened. The issue marks a bitter dividing line between environmentalists and riders who want more access to wild lands. ATV use has grown dramatically, but this spring state officials unveiled a draft plan that would effectively ban the machines on New York's forest preserve. 4-wheel clubs and local government groups are fighting back. They're better-organized and more vocal than ever before. At heated public hearings held by the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of Environmental Conservation, ATV and snowmobile fans far outnumbered their opponents. One of the leaders of the motor sport movement is Judy Wendt. Wendt grew up in Star Lake and lives now south of Potsdam. She represents the Adirondack Citizens Council, the Black River-St. Lawrence Resource Conservation and Development Council and the New York State Off Road Vehicle Association. Wendt sat down with Brian Mann to talk about the future of motorized recreation and the cultural divide that's formed over the machines.

(03/04/05) In the Adirondack Mountains, housing costs continue to shoot up, driven by state land purchases and by vacation-home buyers. Average homes now sell for more than two hundred thousand dollars, pricing many locals out of the market. State Senator Betty Little, a Republican from Queensbury, has introduced a new bill that would help locals in the Park buy or build homes by offering tax relief. The program would be paid for with a statewide sales tax on homes that cost more than a million dollars. Senator Little spoke with Brian Mann.