{"id":3478,"date":"2011-01-04T11:06:30","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T16:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=3478"},"modified":"2011-01-05T11:02:03","modified_gmt":"2011-01-05T16:02:03","slug":"adirondack-park-agency-says-71-homes-can-be-built-on-camp-gabriels-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2011\/01\/04\/adirondack-park-agency-says-71-homes-can-be-built-on-camp-gabriels-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Adirondack Park Agency says 71 homes can be built on Camp Gabriels site"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York’s Office of Governmental Services has been trying to sell off the former Camp Gabriels prison for $950,000, but an auction in November produced no buyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State Senator Betty Little and other critics blamed the lack of interest, in part, on the lack of an official designation from the Adirondack Park Agency on how a private buyer could use the 92-acre parcel.<\/p>\n

A property rights activist complained in the New York Post last month<\/a> that potential buyers were being frightened away by the threat of the “APA’s wrath.”<\/p>\n

Now the APA has issued a formal letter, addressed to OGS, declaring that if sold the property would be classified as “moderate intensity,” a designation which would allow one new home to be built on each 1.3 acre parcel.<\/p>\n

In the letter, dated December 17, the APA argues that new construction in the area would “not significantly harm the relatively tolerant physical and biological resources.”<\/p>\n

The former prison sits in a relatively developed area in the town of Brighton and there are already 48 structures on the property.<\/p>\n

Brighton town supervisor John Quenell praised the APA’s designation of the land, telling NCPR:<\/p>\n

“I wish it had been done sooner.\u00a0 And I’m not faulting the APA for it.\u00a0 I don’t think they were approached sooner, as they should have been.\u00a0 But they seem to be reacting quickly and cooperatively.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the APA’s letter is likely to draw fire from at least some environmentalists.<\/p>\n

In a November essay published in the Adirondack Almanack<\/a>, conservationist David Gibson — with the new group Adirondack Wild — argued that selling the property would require an amendment to the state Constitution.<\/p>\n

By definition, therefore, [the former prison] is Forest Preserve, notwithstanding the dozens of buildings and large amount of infrastructure…<\/p>\n

If the State wishes to sell or lease Camp Gabriels, than the Governor or a member of the Legislature should propose an amendment to Article 14 expressly for this purpose.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The APA’s letter makes no mention of any constitutional concerns raised by the sale of the property.\u00a0 Amending the “forever wild” clause would take at least two years.<\/p>\n

NCPR will have more on this story tomorrow during the 8 O’clock Hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York’s Office of Governmental Services has been trying to sell off the former Camp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[22,10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3479,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478\/revisions\/3479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}