A few years ago, when PBS was producing a documentary about the Adirondack Park, they asked me to opine about the Adirondack Club and Resort in Tupper Lake.<\/p>\n
I don’t remember my exact words, but I expressed real doubts about the project’s future.\u00a0 The housing market was collapsing.\u00a0 The Big Tupper concept was huge and complex and appeared to be tangled up in red tape.<\/p>\n
Developer Michael Foxman had also made some apparent missteps, including a proposal for bankrolling the massive enterprise that initially made a lot of people — even many pro-development Tupper Lakers — nervous.<\/p>\n
Some supporters of the project were grumpy when Foxman proposed diverting the process into backroom mediation sessions, which bogged the process down.<\/p>\n
But Foxman pared back his proposal significantly and agreed to eliminate some elements that made state officials nervous, including a ridgeline development and a shooting range.<\/p>\n
And here we are in 2011, and it appears that the Adirondack Park Agency is poised to give the project a green-light permit, albeit with some restrictions and conditions.<\/p>\n
Jessica Collier broke that story in yesterday’s Adirondack Daily Enterprise<\/a> reporting that the APA staff has outlined broad parameters for a permit, none of which appear to be deal-breakers.<\/p>\n Foxman reacted to the news this way:<\/p>\n “I consider the documents and the APA’s action very significant,” Foxman wrote in an e-mail. “The documents evidence the APA’s concern for both the environment and the local economy. They will be helpful to all involved and should sharpen the focus of the hearing. This is a very positive step for which the APA staff should be commended.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Opponents of the project, meanwhile, appear to be wearing down.\u00a0 Only one green group, Protect the Adirondacks, remains in full-bore opposition.<\/p>\n