Town planning to bid on Cranberry Pond parcel at county auction
by Dan McClelland
The Town of Tupper Lake is expected be one of the bidders on the Cranberry Pond parcel at the November 7 county auction- one of four parcels owned by Preserve Associates LLC and Big Tupper LLC associated with the failed development of the Adirondack Club and Resort project on Mt. Morris.
In a special board meeting Thursday afternoon after the board’s first budget workshop session, the town leaders approved a resolution to permit Councilman Tim Larkin to bid on behalf of the town for the 50-acre parcel which is mostly made up of Cranberry Pond and which aligns the top side of the town-owned golf course, between its border and the pond.
The county taxes owed on that property are $9,739 and after county-charged interest and penalties are added, the minimum bid that will be accepted would be $15,621.
The board entered executive briefly to agree on a maximum bid the town would make. That number was not revealed so not to compromise Mr. Larkin in the bidding.
The main event at the auction at the county court house at 10a.m. that morning will be for the now closed ski center parcel, where back taxes, plus penalties and interest of $468,873 is owed the county by its owner, Big Tupper LLC- one of the limited liability corporations created by Philadelphia Real Estate Attorney Michael Foxman, when he and his partners began acquiring the Mt. Morris parcels for his proposed development in the early 2000s.
The taxes owed will be the minimum bid on that several hundred acre parcel where the ski center buildings and towers sit.
In the town board discussion Thursday, it was revealed that there are no allowable building lots on the Cranberry Pond tract, given the proximity of the strip to the marsh and wetlands of the pond.
In the conversation that afternoon, it was noted there were apparently several other parties interested in the pond property, who stopped by the town assessor’s office to inquire about the auction. When they were informed there were no building lots on it, they indicated they were no longer interested in bidding at the auction next month.
The dirt road on the parcel off the Big Tupper access road is owned by three different parties- the former Oval Wood Dish Corp. liquidating trust, the town as part of its golf course parcel and the owners of the Cranberry Pond parcel going to auction by the county, according to Councilman John Gillis.
He said the village also has a permanent easement in the vicinity of the road to access the transmission line there. The town has rights to Cranberry Pond in the summer months only, he said, in order to draw water through its pump house to water fairways, tees and greens on the town-owned course.
The motion to permit Councilman Larkin to try to buy the parcel for the town passed unanimously.