With the exception of grievance number 13, which was acknowledged by one Commissioner, the Adirondack Park Agency Commission did not acknowledge these grievances at their September 8, 2005 meeting, when Carol W. LaGrasse, President, PRFA, read this statement formally during the public comment period. In fact, two of the commissioners snickered and shuffled papers.

1. A two-decades old “cap” on snowmobile trail mileage is maintained by the APA. This cap was set by two radical preservationists, who advocated “piano wire stretched taut and chin high across the trails” at the time, according to a recent article by one of the two.
   
   
2. No new motorized access on Forest Preserve lands is allowed by the APA, although hundreds of thousands of acres have been acquired for the Forest Preserve since the original mileage was determined.
   
   
3. Closing logging roads and destroying town highways in the Adirondacks, against the will of local people and town boards. Dismissing local community reverence for historic structures that are the sole evidences of history and traditions. Destroying community history and landmarks, eradicating the local culture. Eliminating access to cemeteries.
   
   
4. Prohibiting ATV use in the Adirondacks, in direct disregard for packed hearing rooms filled with ATV users, where the agency made a pretense of hearing the public, and disregard for the local economy.
   
   
5. The APA’s proposed 90 day/120 day camper rule - New unworkable regulations proposed that would so restrict the use of private campgrounds that the rules only purpose appears to be to close down private camp grounds on private land, with serious local economic impact.
   
   
6. The APA’s ongoing efforts to eliminate hunting and fishing camps, the existence of which was established by right under Assemblyman Glenn Harris’s successful negotiations with Governor Nelson Rockefeller to allow unopposed passage of the final APA law in 1973.
   
   
7. Using the Unit Management Plan (UMP) process to close drive-in access to small family camping spots on Forest Preserve land.
   
   
8. New “General Permit” for single family dwellings to squeeze property owners into accepting 35 ft. building height — measured from the lowest, not the average grade, when the law allows 40 ft. height.
   
   
9. The practice of requiring forever-wild strips between houses and roads, in direct contravention of the compromise deleting “aesthetic” jurisdiction over houses from highways under the 1973 Glenn Harris negotiations.
   
   
10. The APA’s practice of requiring that owners build one-story, rather than more visible two-story houses, even though the 1973 Glenn Harris amendments removed aesthetic jurisdiction related to the view of houses from highways.
    
    
11. The practice of stopping all use of some grandfathered pre-1973 parcels on the basis of wetland or other jurisdictional features. In addition, the APA’s refusal to recognize pre-existing filed subdivisions.
    
    
12. The practice of dismissing all comments by critics of so-called “draft” UMPs and land classifications. The APA Commissioners permit the staff to fail to convey these criticisms orally during Commission deliberations.
    
    
13. The practice of giving special consideration to comments of radical environmental groups when the APA law requires balance.
    
    
14. The practice of sweetheart settlements to lawsuits brought by environmental groups to close down access to the Forest Preserve.
    
    
15. The practice of hostility and delays and imposed costs to emergency services wishing to establish critical communication systems.
    
    
16. The failure to provide a simple mechanism for local building departments to warn applicants of APA jurisdiction, including wetlands.
    
    
17. The APA’s encouragement of the use of snitches for enforcement, thus contributing to the lowering of the moral level of the population, pitting neighbor against neighbor.
    
    
18. The APA’s proposal of new law to take away much of the little remaining environmentally sound, valuable development allowed on lakefront lands. Large blocks of shorefront lands are at the same time being bought up by the State for preservation.
    
    
19. The cover-up of parties using APA computers for porn and establishing a hostile workplace for women. Names of additional men in high places other than the Executive Director Fitts, who resigned in disgrace, are widely circulated but applicants have no way of knowing whether they are dealing with such a person. In addition, the APA has hired a new Executive Director, Richard Lefebvre, who already faced similar accusations to those lodged against Mr. Fitts.
    
    
20. In summary, the APA is anti-local people, anti-community, and anti-family. The APA treats the Adirondack people with disdain. If the APA continues to exist, its nightmare management needs to be fundamentally altered, and the APA made responsible to the people over whom it wields power.

For more information, please contact:
Property Rights Foundation of America
P. O. Box 75
Stony Creek, NY 12878
(518) 696-5748
prfamerica.org

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