For Immediate Release: February 20, 2002
Contact:
Victoria Hristovski | Director Public Information | Adirondack Park Agency
contact@apa.ny.gov | (518) 891-4050
RAY BROOK- Newly appointed Commissioner Deanne Rehm sat at her first Adirondack Park Agency meeting on Thursday and was welcomed by APA Chairman Richard Lefebvre on behalf on the Commissioners, Designees and APA staff.
"We welcome Commissioner Rehm to the Board with much enthusiasm," Chairman Lefebvre said Thursday. "She brings to the table a love for the Adirondacks, knowledge of the Park and her expertise in government."
Commissioner Rehm said she is looking forward to working with the Board and is grateful for the Governor’s nomination.
"I’m honored that Governor Pataki and the Senate saw fit to appoint me to this Board," Rehm said. "I hope to serve this Board with the professional and compassionate manners with which this Board has served."
Along with welcoming the newest addition to the Board, Chairman Lefebvre also noted Governor Pataki’s recent re-appointments of Commissioners Frank Mezzano, William Kissel and James Townsend making the APA a fully constituted Board.
In addition, the Board also welcomed former Planning Director John Banta to the position of Counsel for the Agency. Banta is a 1972 graduate of Harvard Law School and has been with the APA since 1979. Banta was unanimously supported to the appointment of Counsel and sat at his new position at the February meeting.
"I am approaching this new role with a profound respect for this Board, this staff and this state," Banta said. "I look forward to working with you all in this new capacity."
Also new at this month’s Agency meeting, the Board voted unanimously to approve the final revised draft policy for new Telecommunication Towers and Other Tall Structures in the Adirondack Park. The new policy, developed over the past eighteen months following significant public input, replaces the Agency’s existing policy from 1978. The new policy is intended to provide guidance to the Agency, applicants and others regarding the Agency’s powers and duties in light of the provisions and requirements of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The policy identifies important criteria and issues the Agency will consider as it reviews applications for new towers and related telecommunication facilities. The policy supports and explains a comprehensive Agency regulatory review and application process. The new policy does not change the Agency’s review standards or its underlying authority to issue, modify, or deny permits in accordance with existing Agency rules and regulations.
Four new project applications were approved at this month’s meeting. One of the four projects involves an aquatic invasive control project in Harrietstown (Saranac Lake Central School). This is the first project of this kind involving wetlands and the introduction of 500 herbivorous beetles to reduce the non-native invasive plant purple loosestrife in Glen Pond, an area classified as Hamlet. The three other projects are as follows: A commercial sand and gravel extraction in the Town of Hadley (Saratoga County) in an area classified as Resource Management; An expansion of an existing nine-hole golf course to an 18-hole golf course in the Town of Queensbury in Warren County in an area classified as Rural Use, and a single family dwelling above the shoreline elevation of Lake George, in the Town of Fort Ann in Washington County in an area classified as Resource Management.
Senior Public Information Specialist for the Adirondack Park Visitors Interpretive Centers, Andy Flynn, made a brief presentation on the Tourism Partner Program at the VIC’s, a new initiative that invites organizations to become part of the VIC family by educating them about VIC programs. Participants in this new program receive Tourism Partner Certificates along with VIC and Adirondack Park Institute materials to educate the organizations respective public.
Newcomb VIC program highlights were given by Newcomb Facility Manager Rynda McCray on Thursday morning. She presented a slide-show that featured all the annual events the Newcomb VIC administers. Some of the programs highlighted were: "Birds of Prey", "Nature for the Very Young", a Quilters Workshop, the "Bear" Necessities , Natural Ornaments Workshop, Adult Pack Basket Workshop, and the 8th Annual Family Snowshoe Event, to name a few. For more information on VIC programs and their availability, please call (518) 327-3000 or (518) 582-2000, or visit the Web site at http://www.northnet.org/adirondackvic/.
Resolutions were read and moments of silence were held for two friends whom recently passed away; Lake Placid Olympian Jack Shea, and the first-ever APA Chairman Richard Lawrence. Both men will be remembered, cherished and missed by all who knew them, but their legacies will live on.
The next Adirondack Park Agency meeting will be held on March 14 and 15 at the headquarters in Ray Brook. For more information, please call (518) 891-4050 ext. 173.