The site is in consideration for the Adirondack Park Agency’s headquarters
By Gwendolyn Craig
A Saranac Lake village building the Adirondack Park Agency has eyed for its new headquarters will get more than $500,000 in state funding for upgrades to its high-hazard dam and hydroelectric infrastructure, village officials said.
The state announced the funding at the end of December with a slew of Regional Economic Development Council grants.
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In its description, the grant award for $526,312 will be used “to preserve architectural integrity while accommodating modern operational needs and enhancing local infrastructure and historical conservation efforts.”
Updates to hydropower operation
Saranac Lake Mayor Jimmy Williams clarified the village will use the funds for the building’s hydroelectric generation.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the dam at Lake Flower, and in a May 2024 inspection it met “current standards.”
But Williams said inspectors identified some issues connecting to the hydroelectric generator at 1-3 Main St., the former Paul Smith’s Electric Light and Power building.
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Katrina Glynn, community development director for the village, said the facility’s penstock needs work. A penstock is where the dammed water flows into the hydroelectric turbines. The kinetic energy creates electricity. The electricity flows into National Grid’s infrastructure.
The Lake Flower dam is listed as a “high hazard” dam. That is a federal classification indicating any failure could “cause loss of human life and significant property destruction,” according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Williams said federal inspectors found some cracks and issues with the retaining wall, but called it “nothing major.”
How the funds fit into historic preservation
The state funding is in the form of a reimbursement grant, according to the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which is funneling the money through the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. Glynn said the Parks Department is involved due to the building’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The village will provide a 20% match.
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The next step, Glynn said, is for the state and village to enter into a contract.
The Parks Department provided little information on the grant, only saying that any specific work would be “finalized between the village and OPRHP prior to executing a contract.” It deferred questions about the future plans for the building to village officials.
What’s next for the building?
In the state’s 2022 budget, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration allocated $29 million to the APA for its headquarters. The agency, which oversees public and private development in the 6-million-acre park, operates out of a log cabin building in Ray Brook.
APA Executive Director Barbara Rice told the Explorer in June 2023 that rather than renovate the existing building or build new at the state complex, the 1-3 Main St. building in Saranac Lake was the agency’s “preferred site.” She shared renderings showing the agency would also construct a 19,000-square-foot addition behind the village’s building and create a new parking lot.
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The agency has been relatively silent on its headquarters plans since the summer of 2023. A spokesman declined to comment at this time.
Williams said he had no update on whether the agency plans to move there. Either way, he said, the hydroelectric infrastructure work has to get done.
But there are signs such a move may still be an option. The 1-3 Main St. building once housed county social services offices and the village police department, but both entities have moved out, leaving the building vacant.
Agency keeping plans quiet
The Explorer filed two Freedom of Information Law requests for a feasibility study on the proposed move, both of which the agency denied, though it had located such records.
The agency denied the Explorer’s latest appeal on Dec. 5, noting a “final determination has not been made and the record constitutes an inter-agency document that is not (i) statistical or factual tabulations of data; not (ii) instructions to staff that affect the public; not (ii) final agency policy or determinations; and not (iv) an external audit.”
In June 2023, APA spokesman Keith McKeever had called moving to Saranac Lake “a unique opportunity to partner with local government, support a Downtown Revitalization Initiative community, increase accessibility to the public, and restore an existing historic building.”
Village officials and historic preservationists are enthusiastic about the proposal.
Former APA staff expressed a number of concerns with such a move. The APA’s headquarters are currently on land zoned state administrative, meaning only state entities can operate there. Should the APA move, it’s unclear what would happen to the existing building in Ray Brook. Additionally, the APA cannot own property, therefore the village would still own the Main Street building. There have also been questions about the agency permitting its own project for the new construction, and Rice moving the agency to her hometown and location of a family business.
Some expressed safety concerns with the move. With its extra layer of zoning and oversight, the agency’s more than 50-year history is somewhat tumultuous with park residents. Some current and former staff have said they prefer their offices located in the state complex where state police are also located. The state Department of Environmental Conservation, which manages the public forest preserve lands the APA oversees, is also located in the Ray Brook complex.
Zachary Matson contributed to this report.
Top photo: Lake Flower Dam in Saranac Lake. Photo by Mike Lynch
Again, I have to ask why NYS wouldn’t take the $29 million earmarked for the APA headquarters upgrade and apply it to the existing Raybrook facility? Come on NYS, it’s our taxpayers money, spend it wisely.