More information shared on APA’s ‘preferred’ Saranac Lake location, while fielding questions around funding, decision process
By Gwendolyn Craig
After months of withholding documents, the Adirondack Park Agency is promising a more transparent process detailing the plans for a new headquarters in Saranac Lake. The agency addressed its proposal with a presentation and additional records posted to its website on Thursday.
The APA, which is charged with long-range planning for the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, operates out of an old log cabin in Ray Brook made from blowdown timber collected after a 1950 storm.
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Executive Director Barbara Rice has led a controversial effort to abandon the building and move the agency down the road to the village of Saranac Lake. The agency’s “preferred site,” the public learned at the APA’s monthly board meeting, remains the former Paul Smith’s Power and Light building at 1-3 Main St., plus a 19,000 square-foot new office building the state would erect in the hillside behind it.
The village owns 1-3 Main St., and APA Communications Director Keith McKeever said the agency is working out a lease agreement.
Two critics of the move spoke during the agency’s public comment period on Thursday before the presentation.
Mark Wilson, of Saranac Lake, said “there is no way to undo the damage to your public image caused by years of closed-door horse trading.”
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James Connelly, former planning director at the APA, scolded board members for not asking APA staff why they are moving.
“Ask good questions,” he said. “This whole thing is ridiculous.”
Rice said the agency was ready to open a dialogue about the move and would continue the public engagement.
How the moving proposal came about
A more than two-decade veteran of the APA, McKeever reiterated inefficiencies of the current office building from its leaky insulation, to its rotting logs. The agency again showed a photo of a bat found inside the building. The log cabin was originally the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s headquarters in the 1960s; McKeever described it as a “hand-me-down.”
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In 2018, McKeever said, the agency made the decision to retire the structure and look for another location. But at that time, Saranac Lake was not on the table. Former Executive Director Terry Martino, now retired, was examining building a new headquarters next to the old one.
When the 2022-2023 state budget was adopted, the $29 million appropriation did not stipulate a location.
The Saranac Lake location
McKeever described the historic Saranac Lake location as sitting without a viable use for decades. However, the village police department and the county’s social services department had operated out of the building until recently. Both have since moved during the agency’s investigations of the site.
In June 2023, the agency shared renderings of its vision for the Saranac Lake headquarters and on Thursday shared updated images.
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McKeever highlighted its proximity to staff’s homes, its connection to public infrastructure and its potential to assist downtown development as reasons to move.
“It’s the environmental right thing to do, and it would be transformational for the agency and the community,” he said.
Ben Brosseau, public information officer, called the proposal a “responsible use of funding,” though his presentation highlighted how the project is already over budget and the agency will be taking on a lease.
The agency’s $29 million allocation was originally for one new building in Ray Brook. It needed $10 million more for the Saranac Lake proposal, bringing the project to $39 million. The agency pointed to inflation for the increase.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers granted the increase in the 2025-2026 state budget this year.
At 1-3 Main St., the agency plans to have office space, a conference room and a visitor center detailing the history of the Adirondack Park. The new building will be all offices. A revamped parking lot will hold about 70 spaces and will be available for the public to use after business hours, Brosseau said.
Zoe Smith, an APA board member, inquired about the current building’s fate. McKeever said there are ideas to memorialize it, but nothing has been decided.
Transparency
The agency has received public scrutiny over its handling of the headquarters news over the last few years. Past and present staff have been critical of the move and the lack of information.
In June 2023, Rice had discussed a feasibility study underway for moving the headquarters to the village.
In April 2024, the Explorer filed a records request for the feasibility study. The agency denied it, citing an exemption for “intra-agency materials.” The Explorer filed for it again in November and it was again denied in December.
In August, the agency announced a new online dashboard where the studies and other relevant documents about the headquarters are posted. There are two site assessments and feasibility studies posted that provide recommendations for additional health and environmental testing.
Brosseau said there will also be a public information session about the headquarters sometime this fall.
Board member Mark Hall praised the new dashboard.
“It’s hard to put information out to the public, but I think we have a plan now to do that,” Hall said, “which is, I think, extremely transparent.”
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