News stories tagged with "foxman"

(03/22/12) A coalition of environmental groups and local landowners filed suit this week, hoping to block construction of the Adirondack Club and Resort in Tupper Lake. The lawsuit claims that state officials ignored key environmental rules protecting open space and wildlife in the Park.

But the suit also alleges that members of the Adirondack Park Agency broke the law by meeting secretly with the resort's developers in the weeks before commissioners voted 10-to-1 to approve the project.

As Brian Mann reports, that claim is based in part on a story that first aired here on North Country Public Radio back in January. more

(01/23/12) On Friday, the Adirondack Park Agency voted to approve the largest project in the Park's modern history, giving the green light to a massive resort planned around the Big Tupper ski area.

Supporters hope the project will bring hundreds of jobs to the Adirondacks, and revitalize the economy of Tupper Lake. Hundreds of people gathered in the village Friday night to celebrate the historic decision.

Critics say developers haven't developed a realistic business plan for the resort. And they worry that hundreds of mansions and condos will create sprawl on the edge of one of the Park's biggest wilderness areas. Brian Mann has our story. more

(01/20/12) Just before mid-day, the Adironack Park Agency voted 10-to-1 to approve development of a massive new resort in Tupper Lake. The vote at APA headquarters in Ray Brook sparked a standing ovation from the project's supporters who crowded the hearing room.

The Adirondack Club and Resort project has been under review for seven years. In their final deliberations, commissioners acknowledged lingering questions about environmental impacts and the economic plan behind the development.

Several board members called the decision "agonizing." But in the end, it was a decisive vote. NCPR's Adirondack bureau chief Brian Mann spoke with Nora Flaherty about the decision. more

(12/14/11) Thursday in Ray Brook, the Adirondack Park Agency resumes deliberations over the huge resort proposed for Tupper Lake. Developers hope to build more than seven hundred homes, mansions and condos over the next fifteen years.

A final vote on the precedent-setting project is scheduled for January. The debate over the Big Tupper resort has drawn national attention and it's also reshaped life and local politics in Tupper Lake.

Brian Mann sat down to talk with Paul Maroun who was elected mayor in November after campaigning on a platform of full support for the development. Maroun says he still has questions about how the project will be financed and when it will move forward. But he thinks the resort will revitalize his town's economy. more

(06/13/11) In Tupper Lake, the latest round of hearings into the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort has been focusing on economic questions about the project. Developers Michael Foxman and Tom Lawson hope to build hundreds of condos and mansions, along with a new ski area, marina, equestrian center and other amenities. The price tag for the project is roughly $500 million.

Some business leaders in the village say they're satisfied that the company has laid out a realistic plan for building the expansive resort. But some resort experts, state officials, and local government leaders in Tupper Lake say they still have questions about how the project will be financed and how enough buyers will be found for the new homes. Brian Mann 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

(04/22/11) The story reported above by Brian Mann, in cooperation with the Adirondack Explorer, looks hard at the financial underpinnings of the big luxury resort project proposed for Tupper Lake several years ago. It raises complicated questions and concerns still on the table as the Adirondack Park Agency prepares for its final review, and decision.
Martha Foley spoke further with Brian this morning about the skepticism he found, and why these questions matters.

(03/10/11) The Adirondack Park Agency's staff has released a draft version of what the state is calling "potential permit conditions" that would shape the big new resort proposed for Tupper Lake.

APA officials say those conditions for the Adirondack Club and Resort could change following a final round of hearings that are set to get underway later this month.

The project also needs a final vote of approval from the APA board.

But it appears that the Park Agency's staff is preparing to recommend that the project be allowed to move forward with some relatively minor changes and restrictions.

Jessica Collier broke the story about these APA documents in yesterday's Adirondack Daily Enterprise. She spoke about her story with Brian Mann. more

(01/20/11) After years of public review, town hall meetings, mediation sessions and negotiations, the Adirondack Club and Resort project is entering its final phase.

An adjudicatory hearing will begin soon, possibly as early as next month, overseen by administrative law judge Daniel O'Connell.

When that hearing is finished, the Adirondack Park Agency will have sixty days to vote on whether the 600-unit resort should be given a permit or not.

But as Brian Mann reports, the various factions taking part in the hearing are still as deeply divided over key issues as they were half a decade ago. more

(01/19/11) The debate over the Adirondack Club and Resort proposed for Tupper Lake has been underway in various forms for nearly seven years.

Developer Michael Foxman wants to build roughly six hundred mansions, homes and condos, while also reopening the Big Tupper ski resort.

Now the process is winding to a close, with the Adirondack Park Agency expected to vote on a permit sometime later this winter.

Today and tomorrow, we will be looking at how the final steps in this process could play out.

As Brian Mann reports, some Park Agency commissioners worry that after years of debate and delay, their decision could be made in haste. more