This approval followed an extensive presentation by state Olympic Regional Development Authority President and CEO Ashley Walden and Mount Van Hoevenberg General Manager Rebecca Dayton on modernizations and improvements planned for the sports complex. The UMP amendment would guide the project to ensure it meets state laws based on the categorization of the land that the facility sits on. UMPs are developed in collaboration with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and in consultation with the APA, which is tasked with ensuring that plans align with the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan.

The amendment document also lists two private consultants who helped: The LA Group, Landscape Architecture and Engineering, P.C. of Saratoga Springs; and LaBella Associates on Latham.

The original UMP was developed in 1986, and the most recent UMP amendment was in 2018, when ORDA built, among other improvements, new cross-country ski trails, ski bridges, a new sliding sports start building and welcome center lodge.

On Sept. 20, the ORDA board approved $96 million in funding for improvements at the sliding track. Many of the changes are aimed at modernizing the facility to keep it in line with international competition standards.

ORDA President and CEO Ashley Walden and Mount Van Hoevenberg General Manager Rebecca Dayton present plans for Mount Van Hoevenberg improvements at an APA board meeting in Ray Brook on Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

“As we look toward the future in the master plan, we’re trying to upgrade all of our infrastructure to get it to a place where we can just maintain,” Walden said, referring to the Mount Van Hoevenberg master plan during ORDA’s September board meeting.

Other changes are meant to make the facility more efficient for staff and more accessible for spectators.

“There’s a theme here. The track that’s built has been an excellent resource for athletes to train and compete, we have a really good reputation,” Dayton said. “We’ve never really taken care of the spectators and the other users who want to see the facility and that is a large focus of what we’re doing here.”

The Mount Van Hoevenberg facility outside of Lake Placid is located on land that is classified as an intensive use area since it is a facility that hosts a large number of visitors for day use only. Within the intensive use area, there are two types of land. Some of the Mount Van Hoevenberg property — designated as intensive use in the State Land Master Plan — is part of the Forest Preserve, which means it can be used for certain recreational uses. The rest of the land is on permanent easement land, which the state purchased from the town of North Elba for the specific purpose of creating the sporting facility and recreational area.

The majority of the developed facilities at Mount Van Hoevenberg are limited to easement land, and the majority of the proposed improvements are also on easement land.

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Proposed management actions

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ORDA is proposing the following components as a part of this overarching effort to modernize and repair the Mount Van Hoevenberg facilities.

– Repair track surfaces, including curves six, seven and eight

– Expand elevated walkways for track maintenance and spectator access

– Extend and upgrade water and sewer services

– Alpine coaster spectator improvements

– Upgrade existing track shade and roof systems

– Start 1 building improvements

– Replace start 3 building

– Replace refrigeration building and infrastructure

– New consolidated timing and operations building

– Site improvements in The Heart

– Site improvements at curve 10

– Install people mover, design is yet to be determined

– Wax cabin installation

– World Cup mountain biking trail on easement lands

The public comment period will be open from Oct. 23 through Nov. 25.

To read the revised public draft of the Mount Van Hoevenberg UMP Amendment, dated Oct. 15, visit https://tinyurl.com/4jhwca72.

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Staying consistent with guidelines

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The Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, first adopted in 1971, gives guidelines for the management and use of state Forest Preserve lands. The entirety of the land at Mount Van Hoevenberg is considered state land because the state has extensive control over the permanent easement area.

The guidelines for intensive use areas include providing recreational opportunities “in a setting and on a scale that are in harmony with the relatively wild and undeveloped character of the Adirondack Park.” ORDA says that the new UMP amendment adheres to this guideline because the vast majority of the changes are happening within the currently developed area on easement lands, not Forest Preserve lands.

One of the proposed changes includes a new refrigeration building that will replace the current building that has been in use since 1978. A small portion of the current building crosses the line into the Forest Preserve lands, so the relocation will put the new facility entirely within easement lands.

“The refrigeration plant is going to be pulled back off the Forest Preserve and onto the easement, which clears up a long-standing issue from the 1970s,” Dayton said.

The amendment outlines the project’s adherence to other guidelines, such as environmental impact. The amendment states that the plan will avoid alteration of wetlands, will not involve extensive topographic alterations or vegetative clearing and will preserve the scenic nature of the area.