A constitutional amendment to preserve the 1940s-era camp fell apart when town pulled support
By Gwendolyn Craig
Legislators abandoned a constitutional amendment that would have saved Debar Pond Lodge in the town of Duane after town officials passed a resolution opposing it.
It’s unclear why the town flipped its position. Town Supervisor Pam Lemieux declined to comment, saying she could not speak for the board. She planned to ask the board about issuing a press statement after its next board meeting scheduled for Feb. 22.
The amendment’s sponsor, state Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, said it was pulled in the Assembly in early January. It was pulled in the state Senate in late January.
“I do whatever local governments want, and whatever their wishes are,” Jones said. He declined to say whether he was disappointed or whether he agreed with the town’s decision. “That’s what they want, then that’s what they want,” he added.
State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury and the amendment’s sponsor, did not respond to the Explorer’s request for comment.
State Assemblyman Matthew Simpson, R-Horicon, was a co-sponsor of the amendment. He said he was “personally disappointed” in the town’s opposition. “It’s unfortunate that we are not all in agreement on this. We had a solution, a compromise.”
Debar Pond Lodge was built in 1940, designed by Adirondack architect William Distin. The two-story camp is on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The lodge and its surrounding lands transferred to the state in 2004, turning the area into constitutionally protected forest preserve. The building became an illegal structure.
In November 2020, the state Department of Environmental Conservation released a draft unit management plan for the 88,000-acre Debar Mountain Wild Forest Area, which includes the lodge. It proposed removing the building and classifying 41 acres next to Debar Pond as intensive use. The area is currently classified as wild forest, which is more restrictive of development.
Several groups banded together, including Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) and the nonprofit Debar Pond Institute, to save the building by advocating for a constitutional amendment. The amendment included a land exchange, 400 acres of privately owned Meacham Lake for Debar Pond Lodge and six acres. The organizations had hoped to renovate the lodge and rent it for overnight stays and conferences. They planned to keep public access to the lake and hiking trails and make the site more accessible to people with disabilities.
Two successive state Legislatures must pass a constitutional amendment before it goes to a public vote. The amendment failed to pass both houses the first three years it was introduced.
In 2021, former Duane Supervisor Ned LeMieux Sr. told the Explorer he had been trying to save Debar Pond Lodge for over 20 years. LeMieux Sr. died on June 16, 2022 and is the father-in-law of current supervisor Pam LeMieux. His obituary includes mention of his efforts to save the lodge, too.
But on Dec. 20, the town board changed course, passing a resolution that it “does not agree to the proposed 6-acre land swap. The Town Board believes that it is not equal in value or greater and the town would lose state tax to a non-profit organization.” The resolution said that public access to the site was not well-defined, and it did “not support any proposals that would potentially limit the current ability of residents to have access at Debar Pond.”
Protect the Adirondacks and Adirondack Wilderness Advocates have opposed such a constitutional amendment. The groups would rather the area revert to forest. Protect the Adirondacks also spurned the proposed land swap, calling the 400 acres “logged … with no trails, vistas, or lakefront.”
“This exclusive setting of the Debar Lodge complex on what is basically its own private lake makes this trade uneven, a rip-off of the Forest Preserve and New York State taxpayers,” wrote Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect.
Erin Tobin, executive director of AARCH, said the town never contacted her about their change of direction and has not returned her calls made after the resolution was passed. She is hoping the DEC will be open to a different solution from what it had proposed in 2020.
“I frankly think the intensive use is the worst of both worlds,” Tobin said. “You lose the lodge and you have new construction and a parking lot on the shores of Debar Pond. You lose the wild forest characteristics and you lose the lodge.”
She thinks the camp contributes to the magic of the area. Visitors to the site tend to agree. A public opinion survey the Debar Pond Institute and AARCH conducted over the summer of about 250 people showed 97% favored saving the building.
A DEC spokesperson said the department is revising the draft unit management plan, and it is incorporating the public’s feedback. The DEC will release it “in the coming months.”
Top photo: Debar Pond Lodge. Photo by Mike Lynch
This is a sad turn of events for the Adirondack Park area.
Agreed this is a sad turn of events. Especially if you read comments over past 10
Years in petitions surveys and town meetings etc the general consensus was that the lodge enhanced the setting but nys and Dec and various environmental agencies win and the general public loses..the town of Diane had yet to explain their change and f heart and that’s especially frustrating!!
Tear down Debar Pond Lodge and return the property back to its forested setting
Yes indeed it’s very sad. Over the years we the local constituents have been working with AARCH local politicians and other groups who wanted to keep debar pond lodge going. It is an assetvto the whole place and now it will be torn down to be replaced by platform, picnic tables and ouhouses. This will be our view . Despite years of surveys , petitions, contacting politicians, emails, phone calls it comes down to the general public of whom a great percentage wanted to see lodge saved or environmentalists who had funds and political power to squash our efforts. It’s a cryin shame!!
Would it be that difficult to construct a legal agreement between Debar Pond Institute and the state that would guarantee public access to the lake for non-motorized boating and fishing and maybe swimming and let them renovate the existing lodge? Why does society need to keep tearing down history and try to erase it? The Town of Duane said they would lose property tax revenue if a non-profit managed the existing lodge. What about an increased sales tax revenue from new people visiting and perhaps staying at the lodge? This a unique setting. Keep it. The two times we were there at most 10 other people were there in this beautiful setting. Is this a case of build picnic tables there “and they will come?” There are no major highways going thru the area. No huge population just waiting to use a new picnic area. There could be increased sales tax revenue and visitors from: a newly opened Great Camp with a chance to tour or even stay there. What would the Village of Raquette Lake lose if there was no great camp Sagamore? A great camp experience vs. a picnic table experience. There are some picnic tables in Raquette Lake just outside the store/marine. Hardly any use. Many more people are down the road at Great Camp Sagamore enjoying the great camp setting and history.
That building is part of the history of the area leave it alone. I guess the next step would be to install out houses in it place Joe bear