Cashing the Chips

Abstract

This chapter looks at how the Land Use and Development Plan affect Tony D'Elia, the developer of Loon Lake Estates in the Adirondacks, the vacation-home development where he had invested his life's savings. It examines the draft version of the Land Use and Development Plan and recounts the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) public hearings. The chapter also emphasizes the agency's mission to enhance the quality of life for local people. The plan had three parts: the first part divided the park's private land into six categories, each allowing progressively less development, the second part described how the regulations on these six categories would be implemented, and the third was a grab-bag of topics like billboard regulations and tax policies. The chapter argues that parts two and three of the draft Land Use and Development Plan proposed a way for the APA to assist town planning boards as they drafted local zoning laws that met these standards. The basic idea was that once the localities had met the APA's standards, the agency would relinquish jurisdiction over all but the biggest projects. Ultimately, the chapter details the arguments of the opposition to the land use plan before it was signed by Nelson Rockefeller at a formal ceremony in the State Capitol building.