Tupper Lake, NY – The on-again, off-again saga of Big Tupper ski area in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains is off once more as those operating the resort have scrapped plans to open this winter in the face of a pending lawsuit and associated financial challenges.

Following a decade of closure the community group Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving Their Economy (ARISE) reopened Big Tupper for affordable skiing and snowboarding in the winter of 2009-10, and by the following season had three of the shuttered ski lifts back up and running as an amenity associated with the proposed 6,000-acre Adirondack Club & Resort (ACR) project. The ski resort was to be rebuilt with replacements for the ski area’s existing lifts as well as new lifts and trails and a replacement base lodge. The project also calls for construction a new marina on Tupper Lake and housing at the resort that would consist of up to 206 single-family and 125 multiple-family residences as well as a 40-unit inn and 15 new single-family Great Camps. Over 4,000 acres were to be preserved as open space.

The ACR proposal was approved by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) in January. In March, PROTECT and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against the APA, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Preserve Associates, the group led by Michael Foxman as developer of the resort, challenging the APA’s approval of the project by alleging that illegal negotiation took place between counsel to the developer and APA Counsel and Senior Staff, working out the final language of the APA’s decision and permits to the satisfaction of the developer and in violation of numerous other APA regulations.

ARISE Chairman Jim LaValley was joined by members of the Board, as well as managers and volunteers of the Big Tupper Ski Area, at P-2′s Pub in Tupper Lake on Tuesday evening to announce the closure. LaValley said that the community of Tupper Lake and Big Tupper supporters should hold the Board and members of environmental groups including PROTECT the Adirondacks, the Sierra Club, Phyllis Thompson, and Bob and Leslie Harrison responsible for the closure.

“Following the issuance of the permit for the Adirondack Club by the Adirondack Park Agency, Big Tupper was in a position to receive substantial financial assistance.  With the filing of the Article 78 lawsuit, that opportunity dissolved, and we are forced to close,”  he said.

“Tthe Board and membership of PROTECT and the Sierra Club should be ashamed at the way they have chosen to attack a community by using Artice 78 lawsuits in a frivolous manner, and as a weapon against a project that was approved by the Adirondack Park Agency Commissioners with a 10-to-one vote after eight years of review,” LaValley continued.

“”It’s unfortunate that PROTECT is turning into a convenient scapegoat for all problems and challenges facing the Tupper Lake community, both real and imagined,” responded Peter Bauer, PROTECT’s Executive Director. “PROTECT sympathizes with the disappointment of many in Tupper Lake and surrounding communities over the apparent failure of the Big Tupper Ski Area to open and be revived this winter.

“We also acknowledged that some are blaming us, though we believe this is wrong,” Bauer continued. “PROTECT has brought a lawsuit against the Adirondack Park Agency to challenge its order for approval of various permits for the 6,000-acre Adirondack Club & Resort project that includes the Big Tupper Ski Area. The APA’s approval was deeply flawed. We believe that our lawsuit is vital and important for the future of hundreds of thousands of acres in the Adirondack Park that will be saved from ruinous precedent.”

LaValley showed on Tuesday evening that over the past three seasons the ski operation’s expenses have outweighed the income, with the $27,000 deficit from last year’s warm, snowless winter being the biggest.

“Donations and gifts have dropped off since the first year, and we will be looking at a difficult pre-season of ticket sales following the poor year we have just come out of,” he said. “Even with the volunteer effort, it takes approximately $160,000 to run the entire season.”

LaValley blamed the ongoing environmental litigation for drying up income and extending the volunteer period to keep the ski area up and running. He indicated that Foxman and another investor were withholding financial support for the ski area in the face of the pending litigation. After indicating that the volunteer group’s coffers currently contain only $37,000, he told them, “I hope you see the challenges.

“Even if ARISE were financially able to continue the operation this season, given the ongoing threat of lawsuits from Bauer, Glennon and Caffry, and the time frames of the legal process, it is my opinion that the volunteers would have to continue operating for another three to six years.  We cannot expect the volunteers to continue for that long, nor can we afford to.”

The ARISE Board will be reviewing ways to utilize the money they hold, along with money to be raised at the upcoming OkTupperfest on Oct. 6.

“The operational effort has been challenging for a number of people, who have given at a great personal cost,” LaValley concluded. “Your efforts will never be forgotten, and I’m sorry that the time has come for this very difficult decision.”