STATE TO CLOSE CAMP GABRIELS IN 2009

The Spitzer administration announced plans today to close Camp Gabriels and three other New York prisons due to declining inmate populations.

Department of Correctional Services spokesman Erik Criss said the local prison, along with Camp Pharsalia in Chenango County, Camp McGregor in Saratoga County and Hudson Correctional Facility in Hudson will close in January 2009. 

Criss said the need for minimum security facilities has diminished because there are less non-violent offenders in the state prison system.

Criss also said the camps are not equipped to provide the increasing number of mandated inmate programs and services. “And so we have fewer and fewer inmates in our camps – many of them are about half empty,” he said.  “It makes sense not to continue having all four camps but consolidate and move all those inmates to one camp or other minimum security facilities.  It doesn’t pay to keep these facilities open.  They’re not cheap to run.”

Correction officials say closing Camp Gabriels will save the state $9 million a year.  Currently, the prison has 336 beds but only 187 inmates.

By January of next year, the inmates at all four prisons will be transferred to other correctional facilities.  The nearly 600 employees affected by the move, including the roughly 120 at Camp Gabriels , will be offered jobs at other prisons or with other state agencies, Kriss said. 

“There are a lot of other correctional facilities in the region,” he explained.  “Hopefully we’ll be able to help as many employees from Gabriels transfer to those facilities, if they want, as we can.”

Under state law, corrections officials have to give one year’s notice to employee unions and local governments before a prison is closed. 

They’re also required to work with the Department of Civil Service, the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, the Department of Economic Development and other state agencies to find ways to minimize the impact of the closures on the state workforce and the local and regional economies.

Brighton Supervisor Peter Martin, who works as a correction officer at Camp Gabriels, said they were told the prison would be closing during a meeting this afternoon. “It was pretty grim,” he said.  “Quiet.  There were not a lot of happy people there from what I could see and observe.”

Martin said he was completely surprised by the news. “The governor just said he was going to boost the economy in this area,” he said.  “To have him turn around a couple days later and say he’s going to displace a whole bunch a people and close a facility which you will never replace.  It was kinda hard.”

Jeff Branch is president of CSEA Local 170, which represents the 35 civilian workers at Camp Gabriels .  He said there have always been rumors that the prison could close, but they were never taken seriously.  “They were really more of a joke than anything.  Until something like this happens and it becomes reality and it’s not so funny anymore.  It’s going to hurt a lot of people. And for the community.  Gabriels puts $9 million a year into our community, not to mention the work the inmates do.  It’s going to be quite a blow to the community and the jail.”

Apart from the impact on local residents who work at the prison, Peter Martin says the closure will mean a loss of business in local stores.  Brighton and other communities have also benefited from inmate work crews that help out with everything from roadside trash clean-up to the building of Saranac Lake ’s Winter Carnival Ice Palace .

Martin said they’ll be contacting their state legislators but admits the prison’s fate may already be sealed. “After speaking to a representative of the Governor’s Office, he made it sound like it’s a done deal.  But I’m sure we’ll fight and do what we have to do to keep the place open until we get right down to the very end.”

State Senator Betty Little says the announcement took her off guard.  She acknowledges that the Spitzer administration has the authority to make the decision, but says there's still a chance to save the facilities.  “It was a total shock to me,” she said.  “There will be a lot of discussion on this and hopefully we’ll be able to change some minds.  There aren’t a lot of job opportunities in the North Country particularly in that area of the park. We don’t see a lot of growth and we need to continue to have these state jobs where they’re located.”

Little said Department of Corrections officials should look for new functions for the camps that would improve the effectiveness of the prison system. “Shuttering them is too simplistic and is not the answer,” she said.

Kriss said they plan to consult with local officials to find another use for Camp Gabriels and the other prisons.

The state also announced plans today to close six underutilized residential youth facilities next year including the Adirondack Wilderness Challenge in Clinton County .

Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion aid the closings are part of ongoing restructuring meant to improve services to troubled children and will save the state approximately $16 million a year.

-Chris Knight

CREWS STILL WORKING TO RESTORE POWER IN REGION

Utility crews have been working around the clock to restore power in the North Country towns affected by Wednesday’s windstorm, two of which were still under a state of emergency this morning.

About 100 homes in the Town of Jay remained without power today while another 470 residents were still in the dark in the neighboring Town of Black Brook.  National Grid said their power should be restored by this evening.

Other communities around the area were still dealing with outages today.

National Grid reported nearly 1000 customers without power in Franklin County as of late this morning.

That includes about 200 Town of Franklin residents and another 100 Town of Brighton residents, all of whom should have their power back on by 6 p.m. tonight, the utility company said.

Another 150 homes in the Town of Harrietstown and 320 homes in the Town of Santa Clara were still without power today, although National Grid said their power should be restored by 8:30 p.m. tonight.

There were other scattered outages reported in the Town of St. Armand and portions of the Village of Saranac Lake.

Meanwhile, New York State Electric and Gas says its crews have been responding to new power interruptions caused by rain, snow and windy conditions today that affected about 2000 customers.

By 11 a.m. this morning, the utility reported 1700 customers without power.  The company expects to have electric service restored tonight to all but several hundred customers scattered throughout Clinton and Essex Counties.

NYSEG was distributing dry ice and bottled water at the Ausable Forks, Lewis, Keene and Keene Valley Fire Departments.

Mark Leta, NYSEG’s manager of regional operations, thanked their customers for their patience.  “Without the support we receive from our customers and from many organizations in the communities we serve, our job would be much more difficult,” he said.

Dozens of utility crews and their contractors have been working to remove fallen trees and tree limbs from power lines since the Wednesday storm. More crews were expected to arrive today to help get the power back on.

-Chris Knight

APA APPROVES ADK MUSEUM’S LAKE PLACID BRANCH

A committee of the Adirondack Park Agency has given the green light for approval of the Lake Placid branch of the Adirondack Museum.

The move came Thursday morning from the Regulatory Programs Committee whose recommendation is expected to be endorsed by the full board today.

Commissioners said they liked the design, which calls for a two-story 8,200-square-foot museum constructed on the site of the Church of the Nazarene on Main Street in the heart of the village. The final design is the product of more than eight months of scrutiny by the Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board which voted last month 5-2 to approve the project.

Of particular concern was the museum's lack of off-street parking, a zoning condition that was waived by the community's Zoning Board of Appeals and partially offset by the village's agreement to build a bus stop and loading zone in front of the museum for tour buses.

Opposition on the joint review board softened after the museum agreed to dedicate the project’s 64-foot tower to Verplanck Colvin, a 19th century surveyor who was arguably one of the chief architects of the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

Still, the tower – originally planned to reach 70-feet tall – was the only reason the APA had jurisdiction of the project. By law, any new structure greater than 40-feet requires an APA permit.

During discussion, Commissioner Richard Booth questioned whether the 40-foot threshold is relevant within built-up hamlets that have their own zoning and planning authority.

“This is marvelous project, the people of Lake Placid have wrestled with a number of issues and it seems to me there is a legitimate question that we need to at some point address whether we need to have authority on this kind of question,” Booth said.

Committee Chairwoman Lani Ulrich noted that hamlets only make up a tiny fraction of the Adirondack Park. “Especially in light of the fact that less than 1 percent of the entire park is hamlet – less than 1 percent,” she said.

Booth continued: “A building of this size in an incorporated village, it seems to me, is not going to have an impact. Now if this were 200 feet high or 150 feet high, then there's a different question.”

Museum officials have said they hope to break ground as soon as possible.

In other agency business, the committee approved the renovation of a former laundry building on the now defunct Lake Placid Club property to be used for hospitality workers at a Lake Placid resort.

Plans call for adding another floor to the existing two-story brick building with a 7,500-square-foot footprint. The structure, at least 70 years old, will be transformed into a three-story complex with 12-units of rental space for employees of the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid.

While the project was presented as a workforce housing project, there is nothing in the permit that constrains the owner to use it solely for its employees. In response to questions from commissioners, economic affairs specialist Steve Erman noted that individual apartments could be rented at normal market rates if the owner desires.

The building lies on about 900 acres southeast of Mirror Lake and is part of the former Lake Placid Club.

Because Crowne Plaza is owned by the Lussi family, APA Commissioner Arthur Lussi recused himself from the discussion and vote.

TWO MORE NORTHWAY CELL TOWER PROJECTS APPROVED

An Adirondack Park Agency committee has signed off on two more Verizon Wireless cell tower projects designed to provide coverage on the Adirondack Northway.

The agency’s Regulatory Programs Committee on Thursday unanimously approved plans for an 89 foot tower in the Towns of Warrensburg and Lake George and a 79 foot tower in the Town of Lewis.

Commissioners spent most of their time on the Warrensburg tower, which APA staff member Skip Outcalt said will be among trees on a hillside and will be substantially invisible, as agency policy requires.  “We believe its going to blend in very well,” he said.

The plans also include a 2650 foot access road to the tower site.  Outcalt said there would be a 50 foot clearing limit that he said should reduce the potential visibility of the road.

But Chairman Curt Stiles asked how they will insure the clearing limit isn’t exceeded.  “I am very concerned about the road,” he said.  “How do we restrict that sufficiently?”

Outcalt said the clearing limit will have to be identified in the plans and in the field, and reviewed by agency staff prior to construction.

The Lewis tower proposal was approved with much less discussion.

Both projects, which are expected to get approval from the full APA board at its meeting today, are part of a network of eighteen new and existing towers Verizon will use to cover the I-87 corridor.

The company is also planning other cell projects over the next year to cover different population centers and highway corridors in the Adirondack Park.

APA commissioner Dick Booth asked why the agency is approaching the projects on a tower-by-tower basis.  “This is a business that is growing,” he said.  “It seems to me we have to press them in terms of where they’re going conceptually.  Where they’re going in a year isn’t enough.  We need to start looking at this on a much broader basis.”

Chairman Curt Stiles agreed.  “We should have a better understanding of this technology and its potential impact on the park,” he said. 

Verizon real estate manager Sarah Mayberry Stevens told commissioners that their plan for the rest of the Adirondacks is an ongoing process that they can only predict in the short-term. “We’re actively pursuing and we have a lot of contacts from municipalities.  As those contacts come in we are looking at the future of providing comprehensive coverage to the park.  We can only show the phased approach as we progress.”

Additional Northway cell tower projects from Verizon are expected to come before the APA for approval next month.

-Chris Knight

GRANNIS: STATE WILL ENSURE TAXES ON STATE LAND ARE PAID

DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said Thursday the state will take necessary steps to ensure local property and school taxes are paid on the Forest Preserve in the Adirondacks and Catskills despite a recent court ruling against those payments.

In a letter to Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, Grannis said the state paid $80 million last year in the Adirondack and Catskill parks, and the Nov. 14 ruling by Acting State Supreme Court Justice Timothy J. Walker is being appealed.

Walker found the mix of payments and exemptions on various state-owned land unfair, ordered payments to municipalities stopped, but stayed his decision pending review by higher courts.

In a letter to Grannis and Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Sayward had said the ruling, if upheld, would devastate year-round residents of her Adirondack district, where some municipalities contain 90 percent state land. The Republican from Willsboro urged the state to stop buying land until the case is resolved.

In reply, Grannis wrote: “Pending the appeal, the state will continue to meet its obligation to pay local taxes on state-owned land, as required by law. I assure you that the state will take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that property tax payments will continue to be made.”

The Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner indicated he wasn't backing off from buying more state land. “The state will continue to serve the public interest by pursuing appropriate acquisition opportunities,” he wrote.

Sayward said she is not reassured and the state should take her suggestion for a moratorium on adding more land. “Why make the situation worse?” she said.

In his ruling, the judge in Chautauqua County noted that the first statute to permit taxation of state-owned land was in 1886 for the Forest Preserve, which “bore a rational relationship to legitimate state purpose.” But later measures did not, he wrote, and now some municipalities get payments while others don't, despite similar situations.

Sayward said there appears to be a good argument for continuing tax payments on the Forest Preserve and then reconsidering “the hodgepodge" on other state land. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo agreed to a meeting with Sayward, concerned municipal officials and others. “We need to know if this is going to take years to resolve,” she said.

-AP wire reports

H-TOWN COUNCILMAN PURSUING AIRPORT MANAGER JOB

The Town of Harrietstown Board plans to turn over the interview process for the next manager of the Adirondack Regional Airport to a group of community residents, now that one member of the board is among those seeking the job.

Councilman Barry Defuria, who’s been involved extensively with the airport’s operations during the last ten years, is asking to be considered for the airport manager vacancy.

Following last night’s town board meeting Defuria said he’s interested in the position because he wants to keep the airport moving forward.  “I want to make sure things we’ve started out there get finished,” he said.

Should he be hired as airport manager, Defuria said he would have to resign his position as a town councilman.

Supervisor Larry Miller said he contacted the town’s human resource consultants for advice on how to handle the interview process, considering a board member is among the applicants.  “I felt we had to take a hands-off approach on this,” he said.

The consultants suggested a group of local residents be brought in to conduct the interviews. 

Miller said he’s asked Keith Wells, Webster Parker, Lutz Gosser and former airport manager Chris Kreig, whose currently manager of the Plattsburgh International Airport, to handle the interviews and report back to the board with a recommendation.

Just when the interviews will take place is uncertain.  Miller said applications for both the airport manager and assistant manager vacancies have been sent to Franklin County Civil Service.  The county will then send back a list of the candidates that are qualified for the positions and can be interviewed.

Miller said they don’t know yet if Defuria will be qualified.  But even if he can’t be considered, the committee of local residents will still be involved in picking the next airport manager.

In other business Thursday night, the town received approval from Franklin County Civil Service to hire a temporary supervisor to run the day to day operations of the airport and supervise airport employees. 

The board agreed to hire William Gutersloh, who will hold the title of administrative assistant and will be paid $1850 every two weeks.  The position will last up to six months.

Thursday’s meeting was also the first for Bob Bevilacqua and Dean Naegele, who won a four way race for two available town board seats in November.

They were welcomed to the board by Supervisor Larry Miller.  “We look forward to working with you,” he said.

-Chris Knight

DEC BACKS AWAY FROM PLAN TO EXPAND SNOWMOBILING

Officials with the Department of Environmental Conservation are backing away from a plan to boost the number and length of snowmobile trail miles in the Adirondacks.

DEC commissioner Pete Grannis had called for scrapping a hard cap on snowmobile trail miles in the park.

In an interview in October, Grannis described the cap, which was established in the 1980s, as inaccurate and outdated, given the expansion of the Adirondack forest preserve. “We’ve gone back and actually looked at these maps again and told that number was not correct in the beginning and should have been a bigger number,” he said.  “Either way I think they’ll be more snowmobile trails.”

Although the commissioner’s remarks were praised by snowmobilers, environmental groups and other state officials -- including staff at the Adirondack Park Agency – were surprised.

The DEC has now issued a letter formally backing away from Grannis's position.

Christopher Amato, a DEC assistant commissioner, acknowledges that the original estimate of trail miles was inaccurate but said Grannis's comments “were not intended to create the impression that the Department is considering recommending a new approach to the ‘no material increase’ standard.”

Amato added, “Please be advised that the Department remains fully committed to implementing the ‘no material increase’ standard.

Jim Jennings, head of the New York state snowmobile association, says he was disappointed by DEC’s backtracking, but he says his group is still working with the state on a comprehensive snowmobile plan.

The snowmobile plan has been in limbo for years, but the Spitzer administration says a final deal is still possible.

Meanwhile, Jennings reacted to a rash of injuries and fatalities that followed this winter's early snowfall.  At least a dozen riders have died so far in the state – nine of those deaths came in December alone. 

“I’m mortified that we have nine fatalities so early in the season,” Jennings said. “We try to educate our members to ride safely and at a reasonable speed, to slow down for the hills and the curves and just be careful.”

Jennings was optimistic that despite the recent thaw, the early snowfall will help to revive a sport that has flagged in recent years due to thin snow and poor trail conditions.

POLICE AND FIRE REPORT

Saranac Lake Police charged a Bloomingdale man with felony second-degree criminal mischief at 6:45 p.m. last night.  Police say 31 year-old Cory Skiff was arrested following a lengthy investigation into a pick-up truck that was damaged on New Year’s Eve.  Police say Skiff allegedly punched and kicked a pick-up truck on Bloomingdale Avenue causing more than $4400 in damage to the vehicle.  He was processed and arraigned in Town of St. Armand Court to reappear in Saranac Lake Village Court at a later date.

Saranac Lake firefighters were called to three more reports of wind-related power problems last night and early this morning.  Volunteers responded to a report of a transformer fire in front of the Lake Clear School at 5:30 a.m. this morning.  They were also called to 6831 State Route 30 for a report of wires in the roadway at 10 p.m. last night.  And Saranac Lake firefighters were sent out again at 8:30 a.m. this morning for a power pole fire on McKenzie Pond Road.  Volunteers stood by for utility crews to arrive at each scene.