Tupper Lake Crossroads Hotel project gets green light from planners

by Dan McClelland

Planning board members Jan Yaworski and Jim Merrihew review elements of the new hotel plan at last week's planning board meeting where the project was approved with two conditions. The developers' point man Jacob Wright is shown at left. (McClelland photo)

The town and village planning board approved a permit for the Tupper Lake Crossroads Hotel project at its July meeting Wednesday at the Emergency Services Building’s community room.

Social distancing and face coverings were the norm. This is the second meeting in a row the planners met there. Planning board clerk Samantha Davies took temperatures at the door.

Jacob Wright, whose firm is developing the project at the corner of Park and Mill, again represented developers Betsy Lowe and Nancy Howard.

To a person the board members spoke enthusiastically of the project, its coming importance to the uptown business district and the community in general and the preparation done by Mr. Wright and his clients.

In the public hearing that started the meeting Chairman Shawn Stuart said he and his fellow board members had read the 15 letters received by Town Planner Paul O’Leary from the many supporters here in the past month since the project was sent to public hearing. “They contained glowing endorsements and many positive comments” from supporters about the project and what it will mean to the community. “There was no negative commentary,” he said of the contents of those letters.

At that evening’s hearing Free Press publisher Dan McClelland, whose business is across from the site of the proposed hotel, said as a neighbor he welcomed the project. “A modern hotel in the center of our community will help make Tupper Lake a four-season tourist destination and serve as a badly needed anchor to our uptown business district to help it grow and flourish.”

The only other person to offer kudos to the project was Village Code Enforcement Officer Pete Edwards.

“As a citizen in the community I’ve always wanted to see something to go in there,” he said of the former 330 Lodge and before that Bob’s Steakhouse site.

“I was around when that corner was at full build out. -And then of course the buildings became dilapidated, ignored and torn down and then the tragic fire. To see all that vacant space in our downtown community is very negative so I’m very excited you are doing this project in the community,” he told Mr. Wright that evening.

The developers’ representative thanked both the speakers for their positive comments.

Mr. Edwards said that evening’s meeting comes on the eve of the bids being opened by the state on the work developing the rail trail between Tupper and Lake Placid and the reconstruction of the rail line from Big Moose to this community.

“There will be a big influx of tourists here soon which should help your business,” he told Mr. Wright.

Mr. Edwards and Mr. McClelland were the only guests from Tupper that evening.

Chairman Stuart called the hotel project “a very important one for Tupper Lake.” He expressed disappointment that there were not any town or village leaders present to celebrate the permitting milestone in the unfolding process.

“I think it’s a fabulous project,” he began after the public hearing closed and the agenda item came up in the regular portion of the meeting.

“Jacob has worked very well with us to make the couple of tweaks we wanted. The new hotel will certainly be a cornerstone of our community and hopefully it comes to fruition.”

Jim Merrihew was next to speak. “I agree with you Shawn that this will be a fantastic addition to our downtown area for a lot of different reasons- employment, business development, hospitality...every thing!”

He asked Mr. Wright about a question he gave him earlier on the ground floor railings and the various access points into the building at the street level.

His question concerned specific access to the different parts of the building- the restaurant, the bar, the lobby or will the restaurant and bar be accessed from the main entrance area.

Mr. Wright said he would e-mail him more specifics of those arrangements.

Mr. Merrihew said he was comfortable with the overall design and layout of the new 44-room hotel from the preliminary drawings the management and development company had furnished to the planners.

He asked if the final designs, which will cost the developers $400,000 to have prepared by their architectural and engineering firms, would give the planners better detail of the hotel and Mr. Wright said they wouldn’t from an exterior viewpoint.

It was noted the interior design of the new accommodation place was not something the planners needed to review.

Mr. Merrihew wondered how Mr. Wright and his team were doing garnering the various permits needed.

Mr. Wright said the zoning board of appeals permit is just awaiting the shared parking agreement for use of nearby properties for the parking of 12 vehicles that won’t fit on site. The village ZBA volunteers looked at height, building set backs, the amount of space the building will occupy on the combined lots and parking and approved variances for all four with a condition that an off-site parking plan be developed.

That plan is in the hands of their attorneys and the village attorney right now, he told the planners.

“We received a letter from the Adirondack Park Agency a day or so ago” and the agency staff was concerned about the flow of traffic past the site on the two streets.

“They have required us to do a traffic study, which is pretty much par for the course.” He’s hoping to avoid doing it, however, if he can.

“I’ve put in a call to the DOT to get its stats on the number of cars that pass there on the state highway every year.

He said when his firm undertook the large hotel under construction in Saranac Lake there were a lot of people concerned about the amount of traffic that would be going around that big corner nearby. The DOT studies, he said, showed that the amount of traffic going around that corner was only 14% of the maximum amount of usage that corner could handle.

“If the APA requires us to do a traffic study, we’ll just pay for it and move forward.”

He also said the APA staff requested the agreement on the off-site parking arrangement required by the village ZBA, which they intend to furnish to the agency.

“Other than those two things, they were all minor, normal things” they are asking of us, he told the planners.

Mr. Merrihew wondered if the board had received letters from the village electric department and the village waste water and water departments indicating those respective systems could adequately provide services for the new hotel. Mr. O’Leary said there was a letter on file from the water and sewer department indicating that, but not yet from the electric department, although Superintendent Mike Dominie had walked the site and reviewed the plans with the developers.

Mr. Merrihew said he didn’t feel having the letters on file was an impeding issue but he thought having those assurances that services could be provided was important for the planning board’s files on the project.

Mr. Wright said he would contact Mr. Dominie for the letter.

“It’s a great project, Jacob, and I can’t wait to see the first shovels in the ground,” Mr. Merrihew told the designer.

Board member Jan Yaworski asked about several lighting issues she had raised at an earlier meeting and he answered them to her satisfaction that evening.

He also identified several plant species they are proposing for the green space below the hotel that she had asked about.

“Needless to say, it’s a great project...wonderful for the community,” she told Mr. Wright when he finished answering her questions.

Mr. Wright in turn thanked Jan for her “feedback” and questions, particularly on the landscaping. She had been assigned by Chairman Stuart to work with the designers on the landscaping and had several meetings with them in the past six weeks or so.

Asked to comment Doug Bencze said that after the considerable back and forth between the board and Mr. Wright, “the end result is going to look very good,” and certainly a lot better than what exists there now.

He thinks it will be a big asset to the community.

Chairman Stuart read the conditions that were attached to the permit approval.

“The planning board shall retain continuing jurisdiction over the exterior lighting plan and the wattage and shielding of lights until one year after the improvements have been completed. During this one-year period the planning board may prescribe reasonable modifications if it sees fit to mitigate adverse impacts by the project’s lighting.

The second condition was: “The planning board shall retain continuing jurisdiction over the landscape and planting plan aspects of the project until one year after the improvements have been completed. During this one-year period the planning board may prescribe additional plantings and sees fit to mitigate visual impacts. Plantings which do not survive will be replaced in kind before or after the one-year period.

Doug Bencze made the motion to permit the project, subject to those two conditions. Jan Yaworski seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Several planning board members were absent that evening.

Mr. Wright thanked the board for its support and noted that the search for more financing continues to be a challenge, given the business climate during the pandemic.

Helping the proposed hotel's financing package is a $10 million grant the project was awarded about five years ago by the North Country Economic Development Council as part of the state’s annual economic development awards.