TO: Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Members
FROM: Peter VanAvery
DATE: March 10, 2005
I urge you to obtain the April 2005 issue of Adirondack Life Magazine and read the article about Great Sacandaga Lake, "Reservoir Dogs." It's scary! Among the questions asked: Is the access permit system legal? If the state-owned buffer zone around the lake is part of the forever-wild Forest Preserve, why isn't it open free to all state residents? And doesn't "forever wild" mean that no docks, boats, storage sheds, stairways, precast concrete walls, marinas, roads, etc., should be allowed on the buffer zone? On March 3, the Daily Gazette ran a story on the same general theme; it will be posted on our web site (www.nybbac.org) in the near future.
Somewhere down the road, an Adirondack watchdog group could decide to test some or all of these issues in court -- and that's always risky. With the reservoir approaching its 75th anniversary, it is incomprehensible to me that our so-called political leaders have allowed these issues to continue to threaten our quality of life and property values. Here's some background:
- In 1922, the state legislature created the Hudson River Regulating District and charged it with establishing a system of 16 reservoirs. The only one built was the Sacandaga Reservoir, completed in 1930. At that time, the reservoir was outside the boundary line of the Adirondack Park. (I'm still working on the date when the Park's blue line was extended to include it.)
- The reservoir's access permit system went into effect around 1932. It predates creation of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (1970) and the Adirondack Park Agency (1971) by about four decades. Meanwhile, the state was issuing similar permits on state-owned land elsewhere in the state. In the 1970s, the state formalized its permitting process by creating Temporary Revocable Permits that allow private owners to cross public land. These permits are good for one year, are subject to conditions, and can be taken away by the issuing authority. The legal authority for Great Sacandaga's permit system is Title 6, Part 606 of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York.
- In 1926, the NYS Court of Appeals ruled (People vs. Fisher) that all state-owned watershed lands inside the blue line were Forest Preserve, regardless of how the state acquired them or the purpose cited in the deed. The new license on the reservoir, issued in 2000 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, records in a footnote the District's statement that "the entirety of the reservoir and its buffer zone lie within the 'forest preserve' as defined by New York law." Also in 2000, the APA signed an agreement concluding that "all of the lands affected by the reservoir appear to qualify as Forest Preserve lands." But the APA's zoning map of the Park continues to show the buffer zone as private property!
- The NYS constitution states that public lands in the Adirondacks "shall not be leased, sold, or exchanged." Some environmentalists have jumped on this clause to ask: How, then, can the access permit system be legal? The counter argument is that a permit is not a lease.
- Forest Preserve lands can be classified in any of nine basic categories, ranging from most restricted ("Wilderness") to least restricted ("State Administrative). The buffer zone has never received a classification. The Regulating District, the APA, and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation are now working to fix this. At the moment, the category of choice appears to be "State Administrative," which covers such uses as state offices, fish hatcheries, correctional facilities, and sewage treatment plants.
- Unfortunately, through intent or incompetence, the District has repeatedly chosen to look the other way while some access permit holders blatantly violated its rules and regulations. This has inflamed some environmentalists who charge that the District is mismanaging Forest Preserve land. Once the District completes its current review of these rules and regulations, it should enforce them equitably. Why invite a lawsuit that could result in all of us suffering for the transgressions of a few?
Clearly, this situation needs to be resolved -- and fast. But with a gubernatorial election looming in November 2006, the District and the APA, fearful of doing anything that might irritate anybody, will be even less inclined than usual to show any true leadership. The person who can help us is Governor Pataki, who appoints the District's board. I urge you to tell him that 1) if the state-owned buffer zone around Great Sacandaga is indeed part of the Forest Preserve, we want it classified as "State Administrative," and 2) we want the current exclusive-use access permit system to be retained. Remind him that we have huge investments in our lake property, that our expenditures and taxes are the engine that powers the local economy, and that we are highly motivated people who show up at the polls on election day.
Send your letter to Governor George E. Pataki, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224 ... or email it to him at gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us.
The financial and management consulting firm of Bollam, Sheedy, Torani & Co LLP, CPAs of Albany has begun its independent performance audit of the access permit system. It expects to conduct a survey of permit holders. In the meantime, it is conducting interviews with interested stakeholders, including the BBAC. The firm will interview me on Tuesday, March 15. I welcome your inputs. Just let me have them ASAP. Thanks.
Among the findings of NYS Comptroller Alan Hevesi's devastating audit of the Regulating District was that board members were illegally receiving full health, vision, and dental benefits -- even though a 1992 law states that they should serve without salary or compensation. As a result, benefits for post-1992 board members have been discontinued. (The pre-1992 situation is still legally murky; the District has asked the Comptroller and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for an opinion.)
By invoking the Freedom of Information Law, the BBAC has obtained the public's first look at the names on the benefits list. During fiscal year 2003 - 2004, benefits awarded to 12 past or present board members cost the District a total of more than $88,000. They include present board members James D. Jankowski of Broadalbin (total benefits: $10,621) and Anne B. McDonald of Ticonderoga ($1,598). Incidentally, both were involved in the board's illegal attempt in 2003 to hike access permit fees by as much as 1,000 percent. Also keep in mind that board service basically involves just a half-day meeting once a month.
Other familiar names on the list are Timothy J. Noonan of Old Forge ($11,386) and James L. Conkling of Northville ($1,598). Both resigned from the board this past January. According to an article on Great Sacandaga's scandals in the April 2005 issue of Adirondack Life Magazine, Mr. Noonan "is being sued by the APA and the New York Attorney General's office. State officials claim that he damaged a wetland and began work on a nineteen-thousand-square-foot mansion on the shores of Second Lake, one of the water bodies managed by the Regulating District. The APA had approved a house one-eighth that size."
Who was responsible for authorizing these illegal benefits to post-1992 board members? How come the problem wasn't spotted by the District's legal counsel, whom Comptroller Hevesi found was being paid a full-time salary of $75,000 for an 18-hour work week? We'll never know. But it is clear that the District was rooking the downstream hydroelectric plant operators that pay most of the reservoir's operating costs and that pass them along to their customers. So if Niagara Mohawk supplies your electricity, you kicked in your share. Remember, the figures above represent just one year, and this has been going on since 1992!
As I write, the lake's water level hovers at 748.1 feet above sea level, about three feet below the level last year at this time and almost exactly on target.
The Regulating District's board will not meet in March. Next scheduled meeting: 9:00 a.m. on Monday, April 11 at the Water's Edge Inn & Conference Center, Route 28, Old Forge, NY.