Legal resources added to development team
By Gwendolyn Craig
Franklin County will use occupancy tax dollars on an outside law firm to add to the team developing a proposed 500-mile off-road vehicle and multi-use trail network that has drawn numerous concerns from county residents.
The county Legislature unanimously passed the resolution on July 18 retaining Massena-based law firm Pease and Gustafson “for legal services relative to the county’s development” of the trail for off-road vehicle drivers, bikers and other recreationists.
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Phil Hans, the county’s director of the Office of Economic Development and Tourism, recommended hiring the law firm as he works with the county’s Tourism Advisory Committee.
“It’s standard practice to retain a law firm with experience in this field at the onset of a project like this to advise on any legal questions that arise,” Hans said in an email.
County leaders and Attorney Eric J. Gustafson finalized a legal services agreement on Aug. 9 that would pay Gustafson and any other attorneys in the firm $200 per hour and reimbursement “for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.”
According to the legal services agreement, Gustafson will attend various meetings, provide advice to the county on New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law, the State Environmental Quality Review Act and other rules and regulations. He will help prepare, negotiate and review contracts with landowners and review deeds, easements and other land documents. He will also assist with municipal ordinances.
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Tracy Santagate, one of the residents who won a lawsuit against Franklin County in 1999 after it passed a local law allowing all-terrain vehicles on county roads, called the county’s hire “a frivolous waste of taxpayer money.” She wondered why the county’s own attorney hadn’t read state laws involved with the trail network and felt such discretionary funds should not be spent on a lawyer.
“I’m incredibly disappointed,” she said.
The county’s occupancy tax law says such funding should be used for “the promotion of tourism development.” Hans did not respond to the Explorer’s question about how hiring a law firm fit that definition.
As of the end of July, the county had spent just over $81,000 of occupancy tax revenue to engineering consultants Barton and Loguidice. The county’s 2024 “Strategic Destination Marketing Plan” allocates $392,250 for trail development and planning.
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Franklin County Chairman Ed Lockwood did not return the Explorer’s call for comment.
Gustafson is no stranger to working with communities on off-road vehicle use. He successfully represented the Town of Clare in a lawsuit brought by the Adirondack Council over a local law passed allowing all-terrain vehicles on Tooley Pond Road.
Gustafson also represents a number of towns and villages in the North County, including the Town of Franklin, which passed a resolution in June against the trail network proposal. The Town of Brighton passed a similar resolution.
Franklin Town Supervisor Dorothy Brown said she was concerned the county had hired the law firm and had not heard back from county leaders after sending them the municipality’s resolution. An off-road-vehicle rider herself, Brown said she’s worried about the liability of such trails on local roads, enforcement and safety. Town residents have come out against having trails pass through their neighborhoods.
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“I have to stick up for them,” she said. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Brown said Gustafson is a great lawyer but expressed surprise that he was representing the county for the trail network.
Gustafson spoke to the Explorer on Friday and declined to comment.
Brown was frustrated that the county was using occupancy tax dollars on a law firm for the trail. She’d rather see the towns get more funding for road upkeep and other needs.
Brighton Supervisor Peter Shrope said he didn’t have an opinion on the county’s decision to hire outside legal help, but overall felt the trail proposal was “putting the cart before the horse.”
Hans has called the trail network “the most significant outdoor recreation project the county has undertaken,” though many local leaders and residents were surprised to learn of it earlier this summer.
The county released a draft scoping document under the State Environmental Quality Review Act noting the network would have significant environmental impacts. The document was released for public comment, and 90 of 94 commenters expressed concerns about it.
In a previous interview, Lockwood told the Explorer the proposed trail network had not yet been brought before the county Legislature. However, the county did name itself the lead agency to assess the environmental impacts under the state law.
While many residents said they were worried about the safety, noise and environmental impacts of off-road vehicles on multi-use trails, others were stunned by the lack of detail in the county’s assessment so far, and the disregard for vehicle and traffic law and laws governing state land.
Barbara Rice, the executive director of the Adirondack Park Agency, a state entity that oversees public and private development within the park’s boundary, noted the plan “lacks sufficient detail to enable a proper analysis” and that it “may interfere with, or run afoul of, the prescribed management and use of state-owned lands.” Rice, of Saranac Lake, also noted the county needed better maps. Rice used to serve on the Franklin County Legislature and was its first woman chair in 2017.
It’s unclear how the county came to release the draft environmental scoping document at this time.
The Explorer filed a Freedom of Information Law request for the contract between the Franklin County Office of Economic Development and Tourism and Barton and Loguidice, the contractor retained for the trail network.
In the contract, Barton and Loguidice laid out five project phases before coming to the sixth — the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Those phases included inventorying the existing trails and assessing needs, prioritizing creation and connectivity of new trails and identifying new trail corridors and infrastructure. Several phases included public meetings. The contractor also identified the need for web-based GIS mapping.
Hans did not respond to multiple requests asking whether any of those phases were completed and if not, why they were skipped.
Shrope said he would have thought the county would have held some sort of public hearing or presentation before the environmental assessment process began.
In a previous interview, Hans said the county was “making necessary pivots” to its proposal and more detailed maps would be released in the future. The county will also update the formal draft plan before holding a public hearing.
James Odato contributed to this report.
Top photo: One of the proposed trail maps for the Franklin County Multi-Use Recreational Trail System. Screenshot from the county’s draft scoping document
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Perhaps the law firm will figure out how to place trails across lands owned by the APA and the DEC…
Excellent reporting.
Why are people against more tourism in one of them most economically challenged areas in NYS? If Franklin county doesn’t do something to improve access to the wilderness and thence improve tourism, the entire county is at risk of becoming unincorporated. From reading the Explorer, I learned that the population in Franklin county has gone down about 20 percent over the past 20 years. If you don’t change how people can access the desolate, overgrown, woods north of Saranac Lake, then your going to loose the main economic driver behind the area. Paul Smith’s VIC is a perfect example. The college cleared trails, built parking lots and a VIC center and now tourists fill the place year around. The APA has killed the north country but all the downstaters support the corrupt agency. With more multi-use trails, you will finally get off road tourists along with hikers, skiers, paddlers, horse riders. There is enough Forever Wild land in the ADKs. Change is good.
Tourism as described in this plan might provide a small boost to Franklin County’s economy, but it will little to fix the long-term exodus of residents and associated economic drivers. Until the map provided by the proponents is updated to clearly designate the land ownership and management policies including conservation and recreation easements, the trail plan should remain a pipe dream.