The board was alerted after several residents issued complaints about the walkway lighting to the building department. The department investigated and subsequently required the hotel to bring an updated plan for approval from the board.

This new plan was discussed at length at the board’s most recent meeting on Wednesday and Lake Placid residents used the public comment period to air their complaints about the impact of the hotel’s lights and sound on the neighborhood.

The current light fixtures at the hotel are taller than the lights that were approved in the original plan, according to Darci Whitney, one of the town’s code enforcement officials. The lights also have a higher wattage (which measures the amount of power consumed by a light bulb) and a higher lumens (which is the measure of how much light is emitted). The current fixtures have a light temperature of 4000K, whereas the street lights in Lake Placid have a light temperature of 2700K, Whitney said.

Bhavik Jariwala, one of the owners of the hotel, said Thursday that the change in lighting on the outdoor pathway happened because of a supply chain issue. When they ordered the original fixtures, they were on backorder for several months and they were forced to order different fixtures in order to keep the project moving.

Georgia Jones, a long-time Lake Placid resident, addresses the joint Plannign Review Board with concerns about the lights and noise from Cambria Hotel during board meeting on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

“We didn’t have enough time to go to the planning board and hold it up,” Jariwala said. “When that situation comes up, you have to find the closest alternate.”

The Cambria Hotel is in the location of the former Quality Inn on Saranac Avenue. The project was originally proposed in 2019 as a Tru-Homewood Suites from Hilton, but switched chains to the Choice Hotels group in April 2021.

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Disgruntled neighbors

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Many of the public comments were made by long-time Lake Placid residents, most of whom live in the neighborhoods around Paradox Bay, the inlet of Lake Placid where Cambria Hotel is also situated. Several had photos taken at night from their property showing bright lights on the hillside across the bay, and some grew emotional as they expressed their frustrations.

As the second person to speak, Paul Collins read from a letter written to the board.

“Lake Placid is many things for us all. It is our home and a place for quiet enjoyment of the water and mountains. It is an environment where we are one with nature without the trappings of a Lake George, honkey-tonk, theme-park ambiance,” Collins said. “This is the time to say enough is enough, to limit the Cambria’s intrusion on this awe-inspiring place that we all cherish and respect.”

Georgia Jones, another long-time Lake Placid resident, does not live on Paradox Bay but said she often goes out on the water in that area. She said that a project like this should not even be considered by the board.

“We’re beautiful and quiet and a peaceful place to come, and this destroys it — absolutely destroys it,” Jones said. “So I hope you’ll take that into consideration, and put something in the code that stops this.”

Mary and Marty Shubert called into the meeting remotely. They wanted to acknowledge the help that the Cambria management provided in the effort to make Lake Placid a loon-friendly lake. The hotel helped by posting signs and informing the public about the loons on the lake. However, the music and lights on the lake are not helpful to these efforts, they said.

Petra Weber, owner of Wildwood Inn, expressed a sense of frustration that the hotel did not adhere to their original plans and said she feared what they might try to do in the future.

“I would like to say I can trust them and work with them, but my cynic’s heart has been proven correct,” Weber said, “that they are not interested in anything but their bottom line, and the rest of us matter not.”

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Environmental concerns

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Nina Schoch, executive director at the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, has heard some concerns about the situation at Paradox Pay. She is not very concerned about the sound, as long as it is “quiet, ambient music.” However, she is concerned about how bright lights on Paradox Bay might affect loons and other wildlife.

There is a nesting loon pair living in the bay, Schoch confirmed, and — like humans — the light can disrupt their sleep. It can also make them more visible and susceptible to predators. Similarly, Schoch is concerned about migratory birds, mainly songbird species, that can be affected by light.

“Bright lights are very disruptive,” she said.

Schoch said that lights that are compliant with the dark sky initiative would be the best course of action for the wildlife as well. Whitney said that whether the current lights at Cambria are dark sky compliant or not has not been officially determined.

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Moving forward

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Following an initial presentation at the last board meeting on Dec. 4, members of the board visited the site and reviewed the lighting and sound system. They visited after dark, at around 5 p.m, to get an accurate impression of the lighting.

After a public comment period and a discussion by the board at Wednesday’s meeting, the board did not approve or reject the new plan proposed by Cambria representatives. Instead, they asked for more information about how the current lighting arrangement could be modified. Chairman Rick Thompson expressed sympathy for the residents who find light and noise from the hotel disruptive. Board member Laura Yerkovich expressed frustration at the need for a second review.

“I find it profoundly disrespectful — of the time of the professionals that worked on this, to the volunteers, to the community members — that we have to be assessing this after the fact,” Yerkovich said.

Several alternatives have been suggested for the lighting, including modifying the existing fixtures. Jariwala said their engineer has recommended a tint or film that would be applied to the existing bollard lights on the outdoor walkway, which would soften the light significantly. He said they want to listen to feedback from neighbors to reduce the light, but they need to take into account guest safety on the walkway.

The outdoor noise, on the other hand, is a grey area for the board, because the land use code does not address speakers or noise ordinances directly, according to Whitney. The noise ordinances are instead determined by the town and village laws, and enforced by either the village or state police. During the site visit, the board measured the sound at 34 decibels, which is within the requirements for the relevant noise ordinance.

Jariwala said they didn’t feel they needed to have the sound system approved since it is not part of the land use code. This addition was a “field decision” meant to enhance the guest experience, Jariwala said.

“We have to do what we feel our guests want,” Jariwala said. “We have to do what makes business sense for our overall strategy, and that’s not always going to align with the neighbors.”

However, the board takes the position that the sound system should have been included in the original plan, since it does affect the property’s neighbors. All projects are require to consider the overall “impact to neighboring property” as a part of their project plan, Whitney said.