A large 30-lot subdivision conservationists are calling “environmentally threatening” in the Town of Bolton above Lake George called Indian Brook Preserve is now before the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) for approval under their Large-Scale Subdivision application.
The subdivision’s proposed house lots and roads appear squeezed between numerous wetlands on the project site off County Route 11 in Warren County. The 95-acre project area proposed for the subdivision is currently forested and undeveloped.
The APA’s stated permit criteria for large subdivisions “include protection of open space, wildlife, and habitat resources, and in accordance with the objectives of conservation design.”
“Unfortunately, none of these environmental criteria appear to be met by this development proposal,” says Adirondack Wild’s David Gibson. “The application appears to contain no wildlife or habitat information, and there are no observable blocks of preserved, forested open space other than the wetlands themselves.”
“Rather than minimize disturbance, the layout of the new housing and roads appear to spread negative impacts including loss of forest cover, possible loss of wetland functions, and loss of sensitive wildlife,” Gibson said.
“This is the protected Adirondack Park, not ‘anyplace USA’,” says former APA Board member and current Adirondack Wild Board director Rick Hoffman. “APA should stop approving residential subdivisions which needlessly fragment forested open space and contribute to sprawl. APA should reject this proposal as inconsistent with APA’s own development guidelines and criteria,” he added.
“We hope this applicant will be encouraged by the APA staff to seek the advice of scientific, resource, planning, and smart design professionals who abound in the Lake George area, and seriously consider alternative conservation designs less wasteful of land and less impactful of natural resources,” Gibson added.
Adirondack Wild has written the APA this week, noting that instead of leaving contiguous wetlands, wetland buffers, and steep slopes alone and not broken into individual ownerships, many of the proposed lots appear to bisect these significant landscape features into multiple ownerships.
This arrangement threatens future wetland disturbance, potential degradation of wetland function, loss of any forest management opportunities, and erosion in areas of steeper slopes, they said, arguing that the lots should be made smaller, clustered, and kept out of the wetland buffers and steep slopes.
Adirondack Wild’s letter also criticizes the application’s failure to consider alternative, less harmful subdivision designs they say both the APA Act and other state environmental laws require.
“The lack of alternative designs that would avoid big project impacts on sensitive resources and open space and meet the Agency’s stated goal of being in accordance with the principles of conservation design is a glaring omission,” said the letter.
“It seems clear to us that the developer needs to reduce the intensity and scale of development on such a sensitive environment above Lake George,” Gibson said. A previous development application at the same location, never undertaken, proposed just half the number of lots (15) compared with this application.
APA’s comment period for this proposed 30-lot subdivision runs through October 9, 2025. You can comment on the “Indian Brook Preserve” subdivision (APA Project 2025-0195) here.
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