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HOMES EVERY WEEK! Valley News
February 2, 2019
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
Towns STATE BUDGET PROCESS angry over suit BRINGS RENEWED CALL FOR MORE RANGERS Green groups say snowmobile bridge violates law
Van Laer: “The time for decisive action is now”
By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER
NORTH HUDSON | Representatives of the central Adirondack Five Towns coalition expressed disappointment and a degree of anger last week over a lawsuit fi led by two environmental groups intended to prevent the state from building a 140-foot bridge for snowmobilers over the Cedar River in Indian Lake. The bridge would close an important gap in a snowmobile route that town officials believe is vital to their economic future. But Protect the Adirondacks and Adirondack Wild contend that the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is overstepping its legal authority because the Cedar is designated as a “scenic” river under New York’s Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers System Act, a classification that prohibits motors. Therefore, they contend, the state is trampling the Adirondack Park’s master plan as it pertains to protecting the forest preserve. Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks wrote in a press statement, “The state is violating its own laws and regulations. The new bridge is also unnecessary and redundant. Upstream of the proposed bridge there is already an existing snowmobile trail bridge over the Cedar River. This bridge is part of the Cuomo Administration’s plans to significantly expand motorized uses in the public Forest Preserve.”
Scott Van Laer, a Forest Ranger stationed in the High Peaks, has been meeting with local governments to make the case for boosting ranger levels in the wake of increased visitation and search and rescue operations. Photo provided By Pete DeMola EDITOR
RAY BROOK | The campaign to increase the number of Forest Rangers who patrol the Adirondack Park has taken center stage in state budget hearings. Scott van Laer, a Forest Ranger and union delegate, implored lawmakers last week to authorize staffing increases as the High Peaks struggles to adjust to a tourist influx, and with it, an uptick in search and rescue operations. “Please give us the staffing and funding to carry out our mission,” van Laer testified at a joint Environmental Conservation hearing held by the state Assembly and Senate. “The time for decisive action is now.” At present, there are 134 Forest Rangers and command staff across the state, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), including
9-10 that have some patrol responsibilities in the High Peaks Wilderness. Van Laer is requesting the total number statewide increase by 40, which would accommodate the state land added under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, some 130,000 acres, including Boreas Ponds. The governor earlier this month proposed a $175 billion spending plan for the 2019-2020 fiscal year that begins April 1. But aside from adding five employees to staff the upcoming visitors’ center at the Gateway to the Adirondacks at North Hudson project, the executive budget proposal does not contain new funding for Forest Rangers.
STATISTICS SUPPORT
Van Laer has spent much of the past year asking local governments to pass resolutions of support. Approximately half of Adirondack towns
have signed on, as well as the Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages. “None of the (towns) I approached ever voted it down,” van Laer told The Sun. Statistics back up the PBA of NYS’ campaign, he said. “Between 2005 and 2015, the number of hikers registering at the Van Hoevenberg Trail soared by 62 percent to over 53,000 per year,” van Laer testified. The number of hikers to Cascade Mountain doubled to more than 33,000 during that same period. The popularity has led to skyrocketing search and rescue incidents. Rangers now average a search and rescue incident daily, he said. That’s roughly double the number during the 1970s when there were 10 more rangers patrolling DEC’s Region 5 than there are today. » Rangers Cont. on pg. 2
» Suit Cont. on pg. 3
Lake Placid ER moves to new facility
Five-year project ends By Kim Dedam STA FF W RITER
LAKE PLACID | Adirondack Medical Center’s Lake Placid Emergency Department officially opened last Tuesday in its new digs at the Adirondack Health Medical Fitness Center, Uihlein Campus. The emergency care update for Lake Placid and surrounding communities comes after nearly five years of fiscal and
strategic planning, fundraising and about a year-and-a-half of construction for a new building. The $20 million new medical and fitness center is situated at 203 Old Military Road, across the road from the Olympic Training Center and beside Elderwood of Uilhein, the longterm senior care home formerly owned by Adirondack Health. In addition to emergency care, the new facility was designed to provide rehabilitative and fitness services, including a swimming pool with public membership options, offices for sports medicine doctors and radiologic facilities.
‘NO SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS’
Adirondack Health is opening its strategic blend of medical
and fitness components in stages. And the new Lake Placid ER is open. “The transition went according to plan, thanks to the hard work of many, many Adirondack Health employees,” health consortium spokesman Matt Scollin told The Sun. “At 11 p.m. on Monday night, Adirondack Health’s Lake Placid emergency department closed as regularly scheduled. Work began immediately, and continued through the night, to physically move the department to its new, permanent Lake Placid location. “At 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, Adirondack Health’s Lake Placid emergency department opened in the new location, as regularly scheduled. Despite the condensed timeline and -15° F air temperatures, no service interruptions occurred,” Scollin said. The move is permanent, he said, directing people with ER needs to the new site. “All subsequent Lake Placid emergency care will be rendered in the new Adirondack Health location at 203 Old Military Road.” Dental offices will move from the former Placid Memorial Hospital building to vacant dental office rooms at the Outpost Plaza, near Price Chopper.
FORMER SITE
Once cleared, Lake Placid’s hospital building, which opened in 1951, will revert to Town of North Elba ownership, a provision made when the hospital merged with the General Hospital of Saranac Lake (now Hodson Hall at North Country Community College) to form Adirondack Medical Center 30 years ago. The town has considered conveyance of the eight-acre property to the Olympic Regional Development Authority for development as a sports complex, according to reports in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. ORDA has not formally announced a plan to buy and repurpose the site.
FINAL STEPS
Lobby entrance of the newly opened Adirondack Health Medical Fitness Center at 203 Old Military Road in Lake Placid. The facility includes the Lake Placid Emergency Department, which formally moved from the Church Street location in the former Placid Memorial Hospital. Photo provided/Adirondack Health
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Meanwhile, Adirondack Health’s Medical Fitness Center has a few final steps for completion. “Adirondack Health is working with the Adirondack Park Agency to permit and relocate an emergency services radio antenna from the top of the former emergency department location (29 Church St.) to the new building,” Scollin said.
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