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FRANKLIN CLINTON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18/1995 By MARY THILL Staff Writer Sara-Placid Bureau LAKE PLACID - As threat- ened, Wal-Mart has taken steps toward suing the North Elba Town Board for asking the Adirondack Park Agency to review the retailer's plan to build a store here, A notice filed this month in state Supreme Court in Essex County preserves Wal-Mart's right to challenge a new North Elba law that shares jurisdiction of stores of greater than 40,000 square feet in floor space with the state land-use agency. Wal-Mart wants to build an 80,000-square foot store. . Town officials were expecting the action, but they haven't been served yet so they didn't have much to say. \Wal-Mart sues when the wind blows,\ Supervisor Matthew Clark said. \If the town of North Elba thinks it has to send projects like this to other agencies. . .,\ began Wal-Mart Spokeswoman Betsy Reithemeyer. \We were already in the local permitting process. We're entitled to that process.\ It's uncertain who would rep- resent the town. James Brooks, the long-serv- ing town attorney, will give up town business at the end of the year when Clark retires. Brooks is an experienced litigator who successfully defended the town Planning Board against an an- ti-Wal-Mart group's lawsuit over procedural issues. Brooks,.who was also modera- tor of a marathon Wal-Mart public hearing this summer, told the board he does not feel the law being challenged is legal. The Town Board went over Brooks's head this summer when it asked Timothy Smith, the town's long-serving land-use at- torney, to draft the law now be- ing challenged. Smith is not a trial attorney, but he said he expects he would help defend the town. \This was a valid exercise of the town's legislative authority,\ Smith said. \I certainly continue to think this is going to be sus- tained.\ This is the second legal action Wal-Mart has started in its bat- tle to build a store at the western entrance to Lake Placid, and no agency has even made a decision yet. The first action was against the Adirondack Park Agency. The retail chain charged the APA wrongly claimed jurisdiction of its first plan for a larger store. But that suit became moot when Wal-Mart designed a smaller store that evaded the APA's jurisdiction. But then the town handed the APA jurisdic- tion anyway, so Wal-Mart threatened to sue again. The APA would be a co-defendant in this action. The APA won't review Wal- Mart's plan until the town Plan- ning Board has made a decision, which it now expects to do by the end of the year, no longer the end of October. On Tuesday, the Planning Board entered the 2,930-page public hearing transcript into its Wal-Mart file. The board's con- sultant is now developing a document that weighs the store's potential economic, and en- vironmental impact. The Plan- ning Board will base a decision on this document. There will be public comment first. The Planning Board, too, is at odds with the Town Board over the local law. Some planners had threatened to sue, arguing that the Town Board should have con- sulted them before inviting in the. APA. Little calls for less government intrusion By MITCH ROSENQUIST ond MARY THILL Staff Wrltm Bitty Link PERU — Republican can- didate for the 109th Assembly seat Betty Little campaigned through the district's northern end in Peru and Lake Placid Tuesday, calling for leaner and smarter state government. Little said high taxes are the end result of numerous state gov- ernment pro- fa 1 e m s , namely man- dates. \We need fewer man- dates,\ she said. \The problem with New-York is that it wants to take federal mandates and enhance them,\ then apply them equally over the state. Welfare mandates are among the most costly, partly because federal law provides for a certain level of health care for the poor, but then the state greatly ex- pands those levels, she said. Little, a Warren County legislator for nine years, said local property taxes increase in large part because of those state mandates. \School taxes (increase), too, especially in areas like Peru where you have the air base closing,\ she said. And even landfills, which the state has ordered closed and new ones built to strict codes even though water tests may show no contamination. Many of those mandates may make sense for New York City or other highly populated areas, but they may not be applicable to rural areas. \A lot of those laws are absurd,\ she said. \There needs to be more flexibility.\ She said the state must also take greater financial responsi- bility for those communities liv- ing within the Adirondack Park, and for business interests throughout the North Country. \There should be more support for businesses instead of an adversarial relationship,\ she said. In a Lake Placid campaign stop, Little touted both creating jobs and shrinking government. In the case of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, the region's largest employer since the Air Force Base shut . down, Little said the state should preserve its investment in the 1980 Olympic Venues. Twenty percent (about $3. mil- lion) of ORDA's annual budget comes from New York State. The quasi-public authority has been mentioned as a candidate for scrutiny by a new state task force on privatization. First and foremost, New York should ensure that the quality of the venues does not erode, Little said. She said privatization should be studied, but that the organization could never be sold if it were deteriorating. \The bottom line is the economy of our area,\ she said. Little's opponent, Democrat David Sawyer, said Tuesday Lit- tle sounds like Gov. George Pataki. \These are all the same state- ments Pataki made last year,\ but little progress has been made, Sawyer said. \It's easy to take these issues and turn them into vague cam- paign slogans,\ he said. Sawyer said not only are her promises vague, but they're emp- ty as she's a Republican can- didate running^ for the Demo- crat-controlled Assembly. Sawyer didn't say he could make significant changes, either, \but the doors would certainly be more open to me whereas they've been closed to the Republicans.\ And he criticized Little's stance on lowering taxes, too. \I find it very interesting that she's calling for tax reform when she's supported record tax in- creases in Warren County for, nine years in a row,\ he said. PAGE 13 PRESS-REPUBLICAN REGIONAL ROUNDUP rejects fee Staff Photo/Lohr McKinstry John Whiteiey of Ticonderoga told the Essex County Board of Supervisors not to impose a special fee on vehicle registrations because it would be a hardship on many taxpayers. The board nixed the new tax. Public hearing sealed fate of registration tax proposal By LOHR MCKINSTRY Staff Writer Southern Euw Bureau ELIZABETHTOWN - Forget about a $2.50 tax on motor-vehicle registrations in Essex County. The county Board of Supervisors consid- ered the tax, which would have raised $50,000 a year, but easily defeated it after a public hearing this week. \I think the sentiment you're hearing against this proposal is understandable and should have been anticipated,\ Ticonderoga resident John Whiteiey said. \The 'mood in our county is the same as across the nation — people are fed up with taxes.\ Whiteiey, a member of the Ticonderoga Association of Concerned Taxpayers, said if the $50,000 from the special fee was used to reduce the county highway budget by a like amount, people might support it. \I think the board's intent could have been made clearer, and some formula could have been worked out to ensure the new fee would not just be used as a revenue windfall,\ he said. Essex County would have been the first county outside of New York City to impose the registration fee, which was authorized by a 1991 state law. \I don't think a county as poor as Essex has to be the leader in imposing a new tax,\ Richard Holroyd of Chilson said. \This is not a pot of gold.\ \It looked like a way to subsidize the budget without hitting property taxes,\ board Chairwoman Joyce Morency, R-St. Armand, said. Supervisor Michael Connery, R- Ticonderoga, said the special fee was in- 1 tended to supplement loss of some state Comprehensive Highway Improvement Program money. \As the state and federal governments begin to cut back, this is just the tip of the iceberg,\ he said. \When the article came out in the Press-Republican, I found out there were a lot more people against it,\ Supervisor Gerald Morrow, D-Chesterfield, said. \I represent the taxpayers of Essex County and the Town of Chesterfield (and) I am going to vote 'no.'\ \We need to find new revenues other than the property tax, which is a regressive tax,\ Supervisor Thomas Scoz- zafava, R-Moriah, said. \We did not do a good enough job advertising this to our constituency.\ \The $50,000 would only have been a drop in the bucket,\ Supervisor Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro, said. \We have to spend a half-million dollars on bridge repairs.\ Five supervisors voted for the special fee: Morency; Vernon McDonald, R-Jay; Nona Duntley, R-Lewis; Daniel Palmer, D-Minerva; and Mildred Dobie, D-North Hudson. When the vehicle-tax vote failed, Super- visor Robert Purdy, R-Keene, advocated reintroducing a county bed tax. In the last few years, the board has twice approved a tax on .lodging in the county, but the state legislature has never given its required approval for the tax. \I travel quite a bit,\ Purdy said. \I never ask 'how much is the bed tax?' \. High Peaks proposal gets mixed reaction By LISA FORREST Staff Writer Sara-Placid Bureau Ti school delay cancelled for Thursday - $£6J8$bi^ District won't have a delayed opening on Thui'sday, Oct 19, as plannedl This will Be\ a full school day for students. . * . • ' RAY BROOK — Reactions to proposals to impose some limits on use of the High Peaks have been as varied as the terrain be- ing considered. A draft of possible measures to help preserve the untrammeled nature of the mountainous wilderness was released last week by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The proposed protected areas are located primarily in the towns of Keene, North Elba, North Hudson, Harrietstown and Newcomb. Letters about the draft plan have been steadily coming in from a wide area, according to Thomas Wahl, regional forestry manager in Ray Brook. Describing reaction as being \across a wide spectrum,\ Wahl said some people are in favor of restricting use in certain wilderness areas, many are in favor of parts and against other parts, a few feel they need more information and a couple others want more time. \That's what we are looking for: We threw this out to get. reactions and the jury is still out,\ Wahl said. He said mail has come from throughout the region as well Canada, Connecticut, New Jersey and the New York City area. The DEC has alsb received in- put from people as far as Califor- nia, describing measures taken to protect wilderness areas from overuse. Although representatives of the Adirondack Mountain Club have verbally gone on record op- posing camping permits and the Adirondack OouncirHasl:ntisi»ed~ the location of-^. proposed visitor center, there has been no written reactions' from any organization - as-yet^saidWahL^ While the DEC may get a copy Staff Photo/Mary Thill The parking lot of the Adirondack Loj as it appeared Monday. This private High Peaks outpost of the Adirondack Mountain Club is the hub of the most-used trailheads in the busy wilderness area. A state plan to manage hiker traffic proposes a new state-run lot down the road from the Loj. in advance, he does not expect any official written responses from the ADK or Adirondack Council before the first informal public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the Olym- pic Center in Lake Placid. The more controversial measures suggested in the draft would limit camping in the east- ern part of the High Peaks zone to certain areas, with no at-large camping allowed. It would be banned outright in a few areas, including the higher elevations, and permits may be required. Group size to limit camping and day-use parties to 10 people in the High Peaks, with- excep- tions for educational institutions and other organized 'groups under special permits, is\also in- cluded. Other measures under con- sideration include curbed use of cellular phones, limited camping stays, a bari wr^pen'ifiTSB from Marcy Dam to Lake Colden, limits on usage of certain areas where human waste has become a problem or even requiring peo- ple to carry their waste out with them, mandatory registration and a requirement that all pets be leashed. The draft was formed from recommendations drawn up by a citizens' advisory committee which included representatives from the ADK, the Society of American Foresters, Essex Coun- ty Fish and Game League,' Adirondack Conservation Coun- cil, Cold River Ranch, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Adirondack 46ers and area townships. Wahl, along with DEC Region Five Director Stuart Buchanon and othersrhas-emphasized that any plan will only work with the cooperation of these groups. \We can't do anything alone,\ said Wahl,. noting that the Adirondack Trait \Improvement Society has been instrumental in maintaining trails around the AuSable Club and around Giant and Hurricane mountains. \We wanted their input. We tried to include everyone,\ he said. Based only on those who regis- tered, crowds of hikers and campers have increased at least 20,000 over the past two years. \We're looking for ideas,\ said Wahl. \With use spiraling, we have to get a handle on some way to get some control. It's impor- tant that we hear from a divergence of views and that is why we will be having meetings across the state.\ Copies of the summary of the draft High Peaks Wilderness Unit Management Plan are available from the DEC by writ- ing to P.O. Box 296, \Ray Brook, N.Y. 12977, or by calling 897- 1277. Written comments may be iritiiied tolhe same address.
