Neighbors are concerned about health, safety and environment; comment period ends Thursday
By Gwendolyn Craig
RV park owners on Great Sacandaga Lake want to more than double the number of seasonal campsites at their 299-site Mayfield establishment. Neighbors are concerned about the potential health and environmental impacts of that increase.
In addition to 357 new campsites at Sunset Bay RV Park on Paradise Point Road, owners want to build three new bathhouses, a community building and pool house, a pickleball court and outdoor amphitheater. The entrance to the park, should the expansion be approved, will be relocated to state Route 30.
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The Adirondack Park Agency, which oversees public and private development in the park, is accepting comments until Sept. 11.
To learn more and submit comments, go to https://apa.ny.gov/contact/ApaCommentPopup.cfm?ProjectNumber=2024-0270.
Rick Becker, the applicant and one of the property owners of the RV resort, did not answer a call or email seeking comment. A voicemail left at the park office was not returned.
Expansions come as region seeks more tourist accommodations
In application materials, Becker and engineers state that Great Sacandaga Lake has limited public access and the expansion will provide more. They also pointed to the town of Mayfield’s comprehensive plan, adopted more than a decade ago in 2013, indicating Mayfield “lacks adequate tourist accommodations.”
The expanded resort would operate from May 1 to Oct. 31. It is expected to attract 1,400 visitors in the summer and around 1,125 visitors in the spring and fall, respectively, according to the application.
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The project is contingent upon the approval and completion of the Fulton County Sewer District No. 5.
Aaron Enfield, senior planner for Fulton County, said the expansion of that sewer line to Northville “will certainly transform this corridor of the southern Adirondacks.” The sewer line currently runs to the hamlet section of the town of Mayfield, which does not require APA review. The rest of the project, however, will need APA approval.
A handful of neighbors have submitted comments on the RV park so far, all worried about the expansion. Campfire smoke, noise, potential impacts to their well water, an increase in both vehicle and boat traffic and public safety are concerns.
The Mayfield Town Planning Board has addressed some of these concerns during its review of the project. The board has yet to issue its special use permit for the project. It will be discussing it and possibly issuing it at its Sept. 17 meeting.
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Enfield spent the Fourth of July weekend counting campfires. Planning board members also visited the resort on several Friday and Saturday nights. The largest number of campfires they counted, planning board meeting minutes show, was 23. Enfield wondered if some of the neighbors were experiencing the smoke from Canadian wildfires.
Residents have already had issues with their well water and low water tables, said Christy Gifford, one of the neighbors who wrote the APA. She worried what adding another 350 RV sites would do.
The planning board has indicated the RV resort will test nearby homeowners’ wells, but residents said the testing was offered in the off season.
Alexis Ostrander, who lived at the park in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, said water shortages have always been a problem on holidays and summer weekends. Ostrander has since bought a home near the resort, and said boat traffic at the southern end of the lake has also become an issue.
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Sunset Bay is not adding any boat slips to its existing lake access, but Ostrander and other neighbors think it’s likely those coming to stay by the 29-mile lake will want to enjoy it. Ostrander expects more boaters to use the nearby marinas and create more traffic on the waters she said are already crowded. She bought a “no wake” sign” and buoy for near her dock in hopes of reducing damage to her boat and shoreline.
Community voices frustrations over overlapping construction impacts
Neighbors are also concerned about even more boats frequenting their waters considering about seven miles south of the proposed expansion, Lane Winney and his family are building an RV campground called Woods Hollow Campground. It will have 277 sites and includes an expanded marina.
The Adirondack Park Agency approved that project in December 2022. Board members conversed about the marina expansion, but because it was outside of the Adirondack Park’s boundary, staff did not review it.
Former APA Counsel Chris Cooper had said without redrawing the park’s boundary, there was nothing the agency could do about the marina expansion, even though most of Great Sacanadaga Lake is within the Adirondack Park.
In written comments, some, who live in view of the current RV park, described its fencing and campsites as “unsightly.”
Holly Fisk, who can see the RV park from her house, said the resort was supposed to put up an “attractive fence.” Instead, owners put up a green tarp strung up with grommets and rope.
Paradise Point Road, Fisk and Ostrander said, is also torn up and needs repair. The town, they said, is refusing to pave it until a 40-megawatt solar project the state Office of Renewable Energy and Siting permitted in April goes up. Town officials told them they don’t want to put resources into fixing the road when construction vehicles will be using it.
“So what are we supposed to do in the meantime, just keep hitting potholes?” Fisk said. “We just feel like we can’t win no matter what with all these projects going on.”
Mayfield Supervisor Brandon Lehr did not return calls seeking comment.
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