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Saturday,ÊJ anuaryÊ21,Ê2017
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www.SunCommunityNews.com
In SPORTS | pg. 20-21
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The week in sports
In opinion | pg. 6
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Proposed state budget
Local teams compete
In STATE | pg.13
Property tax blame game
Bold proposals lauded; mandate relief needed Gov. Cuomo, counties square off over tax levys
‘Gateway to the Adirondacks’ proposal sparks investment By Pete DeMola
pete@suncommunitynews.com
NORTH HUDSON — Phones are already ringing in Essex County over private businesses hitching their wagon to the Gateway to the Adirondacks, the proposed $32 million project to transform the former Frontier Town theme park into a recreational hub. Essex County Board of Supervisors Chairman Randy Preston spent 20 minutes on the phone Friday morning with someone who he described as a “credible” potential investor. “They’re interested in whatever property the state doesn’t take,” said Preston, who declined to identify the individual, citing the early stages of the talks. “But it’s real,” he said.
BIG DEAL Officials in Essex County have described the plans to develop the 85-acre site, which has sat unused for nearly two decades, as a game changer. The state, working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Open Space Institute, has said they will invest up to $32 million in the partnership. Initial plans, announced Wednesday in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive project proposals, call for a visitors center, entertainment complex, museum space and retail space. Campgrounds and recreational offerings are also planned along areas designated for commercial business development, including those which provide food, lodging and amenities.
Located at Exit 29, the parcel is 100 miles north of Albany, and about 120 miles from Montreal. A tourism hub along the highly-trafficked thoroughfare has the potential to revitalize the struggling economy, say officials — especially in conjunction with Boreas Ponds, the newly acquired parcels of state land awaiting classification. GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES Essex County lawmakers have long grappled with how to resurrect the ailing property, which they seized for failure to pay back taxes. The former theme park is essentially split into two large tracts, including one that remains under private ownership.
In 2014, the county put their holdings up for sale at a tax auction. George Moore, the late Keeseville business magnate whose estate continues to own the building that anchors the site and 50 surrounding acres of what is primarily wetlands, unsuccessfully bid on the parcels, which would have unified the site. The county engaged, and ultimately prevailed in, litigation with Moore. Voters in North Hudson then scuttled plans for the town to purchase the acreage, and the county retained ownership. The gateway proposal skirts the Mooreowned lands entirely, which means their development remains a dangling question mark — and surely a lucrative one. >> GATEWAY | pg. 18
YMCAÊ CenterÊ startsÊ expansion
The Silver Bay Conference Center will add a $13 million building By Lohr McKinstry
lohr@suncommunitynews.com
The company will receive Adirondack Park Agency approval as soon as a stormwater drainage plan is submitted, agency commissioners were told at a Jan. 13 meeting. APA Deputy Director of Regulatory Programs Rick Weber said the WhistlePig project is consistent with plans for the Business Park, pre-approved as an industrial site in 2005. “We see that it is consistent with the original plans and there are no significant environmental review concerns,” Weber said.
SILVER BAY — The Silver Bay YMCA Conference Center is planning a $13 million expansion that will include a new two-story lodging, dining and conference facility. Construction is expected to start in September, Silver Bay Chief Executive Officer Steve Tamm said. The new complex will add an undetermined number of new full-time jobs to the 45 already at Silver Bay. The resort additionally has about 200 part-time seasonal positions that will also increase. Tamm said construction of the 42,000-square-foot building will be funded in part through a $4 million gift from Virginia (Rowan) and Manning Smith, long-time supporters of the Silver Bay YMCA. The building will be named in honor of Virginia Rowan Smith’s great-grandfather, William Boyd, an early leader of Silver Bay and the YMCA, Tamm said. Tamm said the William Boyd Center will become the heart of Silver Bay’s 700 acre campus in the town of Hague.
>> See WHISKEY | pg. 17
>> See SILVER BAY | pg. 8
Whiskey maker ready for move WhistlePig Rye Whiskey will store product in Moriah Business Park By Lohr McKinstry
lohr@suncommunitynews.com
MINEVILLE – A Vermont whiskey maker is getting ready to move some of its operations into the Moriah Business Park. WhistlePig Rye Whiskey of Shoreham, Vt. plans a storage and aging facility at the park for both barrels and tanks.