An out-of-state developer is proposing a 257-site campground development for the Town of Dannemora’s Chazy Lake and residents say it could have lasting negative impacts if built.
According to an application filed with the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) recently, the Chazy Lake RV Park and Campground would consist of 231 recreational vehicle (RV) sites and 26 tent sites all accessed through Route 374 and would be open 24/7 from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The project proposes the development of amenities such as a check-in area, clubhouse with a camp store, bathrooms, laundry, covered seating, dog park, mini golf, outdoor game area, playground, communal areas with fire pits including an area on the lakeshore and walking trails for use by guests and the public.
The campground itself would be located directly behind Dubrey Road off Route 374 with a section of lakefront accessible to campers; however, property owners, named as Jutta Vogt and Richard Hurst of Pennsylvania, or “Chazy Lake LLC,” also own the land up to Eagle Point for a total of 144 acres.
Hurst, who did not respond to a request seeking comment, posted on the Chazy Lake, New York Facebook group that the project will encompass just 33 acres of the north side of the property’s open fields.
“The application is a 1st draft, working document to give the agency as much information as it needs to its many questions and considerations of environmental impact,” he wrote.
“We look forward to the agency’s initial feedback in the next few weeks.”
Hurst said the plan is to implement the campground project in a phased approach over a number of years.
“Our plan is for the campground to be a somewhat upmarket destination, attracting people from Canada, NY state and further afield to come a bit further north from the Lake Placid Region to discover the forgotten Lyon Mountain (highest peak in Clinton County, but did not make the list of 46ers),” he continued.
“If this phase 1 proves successful, then we can consider using its profits to fund the nature and extent of subsequent phases. In a nutshell, this is an organic project based for its success on keeping Lake Chazy great.”
The original plans showed the proposal of a motorboat launch and floating dock but Hurst said those ideas were removed.
Because Chazy Lake falls within the Adirondack Park boundary lines, the APA has jurisdiction over the proposed project and will make the final decision on if it receives a permit.
Projects like this can be subject to federal, state and local permits as well, but as far as local goes, the Town of Dannemora does not have any current zoning laws on the books. However, Supervisor Deborah Coryer wrote in the APA’s local government notice form that the town is in the process of creating zoning on the lake.
“I trust they will be held to the strict guidelines of setbacks,” Coryer wrote.
Mark Denicore, co-founder and director of Chazy Lake Watershed Initiative, Inc. and opponent of the campground project, is concerned about Dannemora’s lack of zoning right now.
“Anyone can do just about anything unless the APA steps in and tries to restrict what you’re doing on your property,” he said.
“The APA is only looking at certain things too.”
Denicore said the APA will likely only focus on the project’s impact on the surrounding environment. This includes impacts on the exterior lighting, habitat protection, lake carrying capacity, lake water quality, septic system, visuals and wetlands protection.
While those factors are especially concerning to Denicore and his organization as well, he said other potential impacts on domestic water supply, electrical power, road improvements, state boat launch capacity, town beach capacity, traffic safety and congestion, and crime and drugs would not be on the APA’s radar.
“And there’s just a ton of things that probably have not been fully considered yet or even acknowledged. I kind of always worry about the things that we don’t know, and the unintended consequences of something like this that we’re not even thinking about.”
The APA informed nearby residents about the campground project in a letter dated Aug. 6.
Denicore, who is from Virginia but has spent his summers on Chazy Lake since he was a child, said he and many others are in the dark about how quick the APA processes projects. He said they only found out about the project last week and are trying to get up to speed on what the project will entail.
Benjamin Brosseau, assistant public information officer at the APA, said the agency received the application (Project P2024-0203) on July 30 and is still in the process of reviewing the submission.
“The applicant has agreed to extend the Agency’s response deadline until 15 days after a site visit, which has not yet occurred,” Brosseau said in an email about the status of the project.
“If and when a complete application is received by the Agency, a formal public comment period would be held and project materials made available for review on the Agency’s website.”
There are several lakefront properties, owned by long-time residents, along Dubrey Road that would likely see the most impact if the large-scale project is pushed through.
Many Chazy Lake residents have already taken it upon themselves to send emails and letters to the APA objecting to the proposed project, which would nearly double the population of a lake that has roughly 270 dwellings.
In the summer, the total number of visitors projected for the RV park was estimated at 35,980 in the APA application.
Denicore is especially concerned that the drastic increase in population at the lake — if it comes to fruition — will affect his organization’s efforts to curb troubling water trends.
He said for the past five years, the Chazy Lake Watershed Initiative, Inc. has been working to eradicate an invasive aquatic plant called Eurasian Watermilfoil.
The plant, which creates dense mats for recreational activity and decreases the oxygen in the water when it degrades, is not native to Chazy Lake and the native plants and fish are negatively affected by it, Denicore said.
Their efforts, which consists of physically removing the Eurasian Watermilfoil by hand or their “Eradicator” boat and educating residents to stay away from areas of the water where the plant is more prevalent so it does not spread, have gone a long way in making positive progress, he said.
Additional invasives in the water are northern pike fish and road salt, which gets applied to Route 374 in the winter.
“The 257 sites that are being suggested … we suspect, with them, will come boats and things that may come into our lake and cause further problems and overwhelm our ability to deal with them,” Denicore said.
“We only have one boat steward, we only have one decontamination station for cleaning boats. We just have limited resources to deal with that kind of volume and I’m concerned that she’ll (steward) be overwhelmed with boats to the point where she’s got to wave them into the lake without proper inspections, without proper cleaning … it could just totally transform our lake if that happened.”
Though not a part of the proposed plans now, Denicore is also concerned about potential future development in the Eagle Point area. He said Chazy Lake is home to several common loons and many of them nest in Surveyor’s Bay adjacent to Eagle Point.
Denicore said his grandfather did similar work to protect the lake when he was a child and he just wants to continue that.
“That’s when I fell in love with this lake,” he said. “Coming here every summer and seeing how my grandfather cared for the lake and other people and I just kind of got the bug to try and do the same thing and protect it.”
It’s uncertain how the APA will feel about the project. The agency has a history of being strict in who and what it grants permits to, but a similar campground project in the Town of Mayfield on the Great Sacandaga Lake in Fulton County was unanimously approved by the agency in 2022, according to an Adirondack Explorer article.
That campground was slightly bigger, coming in at 277 sites, though the APA only had a say in about half of that project. According to the Adirondack Explorer, a majority of locals did not want that project either and expressed that to the APA with 36 against and 24 in support of it.
Asked about the APA’s approval of that project, Denicore said they’re “worried about that.”
“I think there are some differences though, the Great Sacandaga Lake is huge compared to this lake,” he said.
“And there is already significant development in and around that lake. So perhaps (they viewed it as) it won’t be as significant as an impact.”
