Groups lodge new lawsuits against the state agency
By Gwendolyn Craig
With the Adirondack Park Agency in the midst of a half dozen or so pending court cases, including two new suits filed last week, its counsel has announced he is resigning.
Christopher E. Cooper confirmed for the Explorer on Wednesday that he is leaving the agency’s top legal post for family reasons and plans to move to the Albany area. He set his last day as Sept. 13.
The APA oversees long-range planning and development in the approximately six million acres of mixed public and private lands.
Cooper started at the agency in March 2019 as counsel, he said. He oversees the APA’s entire legal division, which includes the Office of Counsel, Legal Services Unit and Jurisdictional Inquiry Unit, according to the agency’s website. The APA’s legal division focuses on administering the Adirondack Park Agency Act, the Wild Scenic and Recreational Rivers System Act and the Freshwater Wetlands Act.
It also applies related statutes including the State Environmental Quality Review Act, the Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law. The state Attorney General’s Office usually represents the agency in lawsuits, though Cooper assists the office.
Latest lawsuits
The agency is embroiled in a number of thorny cases. Most recently, two nonprofit environmental groups Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve and Protect the Adirondacks, sued over a variance the agency issued to LS Marina on Lower Saranac Lake in June. Lower Saranac Lake is near the village of Saranac Lake and is one of three in a chain of lakes that are part of the Saranac River.
Developer LS Marina’s project to install dock covers and make upgrades to the Saranac Lake Marina has been met with lawsuit after lawsuit for nearly a decade. The conflicts have been over wetlands protections, and the state’s failure to study the number of boats water bodies in the Adirondack Park can handle before there are negative impacts.
The APA approved the marina’s permit application in 2020, and the state Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, overturned it in March. The court ruled the agency had incorrectly applied its own wetland regulations.
After marina developers reworked their proposal, the APA board authorized a variance in June to allow for 134 covered boat slips and the replacement of a boat launch. It approved about 49,000 square feet of dock coverings, an increase of over 36,000 square feet.
Protect the Adirondacks and Adirondack Wild filed separate lawsuits in Warren County Supreme Court over what they say is the APA’s failure to require a wetlands permit.
APA spokesman Keith McKeever said the agency is reviewing the lawsuits and has no further comment at this time. Matthew Norfolk, attorney for the marina owners, said he was reviewing the court filings.
David Gibson, managing partner of Adirondack Wild, called it “astonishing and disturbing” that the agency charged with protecting wetlands should ignore its duty. While Protect the Adirondacks commonly brings lawsuits, it is unusual for Adirondack Wild to pursue litigation.
“In this case the agency shrugged at its lawful duties, regulatory responsibilities, and the Appellate Court’s decision,” Gibson said. “That legal carelessness cannot be tolerated or other wetlands elsewhere in the Park will be at immediate risk. We take this action as a last resort and only because the APA’s arbitrary, unlawful actions harmful to Park wetlands compel us to do so.”
Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, said his organization has “grown into a public interest law firm for the Adirondacks.” Attorneys Claudia Braymer and Christopher Amato hold top positions at the organization and are leading a lawsuit over an APA quarry permit in White Lake and a contentious road in the southern High Peaks wilderness. Protect also continues to seek redress from the state over illegal snowmobile trails on the forest preserve.
“We anticipate more legal challenges in the future,” Bauer said.
Looking forward
McKeever said the agency will post for recruits to fill the position of counsel and current staff will handle the workload in the interim.
Cooper will be leaving for a new position, though he said his new employer has not yet authorized him to disclose it.
“I have been honored to work at the APA,” Cooper said. “The staff are highly dedicated to the mission of the Agency; balancing development within the Adirondack Park with protection of the Park’s resources. The staff are highly qualified and I have been consistently impressed with their professional approach to their work and to the public. Personally, I have learned much from my co-workers and consider them to be friends.”
He said he is proud of achieving a record level of work throughout and following the pandemic and despite a reduction of staff. He listed accomplishments as finalizing “the long-overdue” interpretation of the State Land Master Plan’s no material increase provisions for Wild Forest roads; addressing the proliferation of telecommunications eligible facilities requests and the initial small-cell installations in the park; and handling an influx of large-scale solar projects.
Executive Director Barbara Rice said Cooper has demonstrated patience and leadership. “His calm demeanor and attention to detail is invaluable. …we are definitely going to really have a void there with Chris moving on.”
Cooper was instrumental working on agency policy, new project applications and in a policy question on wild forest road mileage.
“That brings to resolution a decades-long standing issue with the (Adirondack Park State Land) Master Plan,” Rice said. “That was a lot of work. He has positively impacted all of the different divisions, so we are very very grateful for all he has done. And we wish him well in his next adventure.”
Cooper and his wife Elizabeth currently reside in Lake Placid after living in Star Lake. Cooper previously worked as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York. He earned a master’s degree in marine systems engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, according to his LinkedIn page. He also served as lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve and Merchant Marine Reserve, according to his agency biography. He earned a juris doctor degree from the New York University School of Law.
Editor’s note: This post was updated with information collected on Thursday morning.
Adirondack policy, in plain speak.
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The APA does not investigate VIOLATIONS unless it is for their favor. My road PUMPKIN HOLLOW ROAD IN WELLS NY is illegally having flooding issues, and it involves my land also 193 SLLC BMM–I want to plant seedlings, but my land is being flooded illegally by a 4 ft culvert put in by the town of WELLS, and well over a year I have complained about it. 214 above me is sitting on SOLID ROCK FORMATIONS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. The APA denied a permit for the previous owner, but this owner built without a permit, and is the main reason the town of WELLS put in the 4 ft culvert. I lost everything in a fire so getting a lawyer has to be either PRO-BONO, or CONTINGENCY—maybe I can get support via ADIRONDACK EXPLORER and Agencies to PROTECT THE ADIRONDACKS.