Unofficial results show New York voters passed by 46% a state constitutional amendment allowing an Olympic sports complex to remain and expand on Adirondack Forest Preserve lands in Essex County in exchange for 2,500 acres.
About 42% of voters, mostly in New York City, voted against the proposition and 12% of voters did not vote on it, according to the state Board of Election’s website Wednesday morning.
The amendment retroactively allows the existence of parts of the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex on 1,039 acres of forest preserve lands, while also allowing the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) to build more trails and additions. The complex, which is on a mix of town- and state-owned lands features ski trails, a bobsled-luge track, hiking and more in the town of North Elba just outside the village of Lake Placid.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation last week that would implement the amendment should voters pass it. The state will have to purchase at least 2,500 acres in the Adirondack Park to be added to the forest preserve. State lawmakers will have to sign off on the purchase as being of equal or greater value to the forest preserve lands New Yorkers are losing to development in this amendment.
The New York Times provided a breakdown of counties’ results showing Adirondack Park municipalities greatly in favor of the amendment, but New York City counties largely against it. Staten Island was the most against it with 64%.
In Essex County where the complex is located, and one of two counties wholly within the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, 7% of voters left the proposition blank, according to the state Board of Elections.
Here are some unofficial results from Adirondack Park counties, according to The New York Times, on Wednesday morning:
St. Lawrence County: 68% yes, 32% no
Franklin County: 67% yes, 33% no
Clinton County: 69% yes, 31% no
Essex County: 68% yes, 32% no
Warren County: 67% yes, 33% no
Washington County: 57% yes, 43% no
Saratoga County: 67% yes, 33% no
Fulton County: 60% yes, 40% no
Herkimer County: 54% yes, 46% no
Oneida County: 63% yes, 37% no
Hamilton: 62% yes, 38% no
Lewis: 56% yes, 44% no
The amendment will be the 17th time voters have authorized changes to Article 14, which contains the “forever wild” clause, since 1941. Article 14 offers constitutional protections for the state’s forest preserve in both the Adirondack and Catskill parks.
It states, “The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.”
Amendments have generally been made for public uses and include other ski complexes including Whiteface Mountain in the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks and Belleayre Mountain Ski Center in the Catskills.
The last Article 14 amendment voters passed was in 2017. That amendment created a 250-acre land bank for specific projects involving health and safety projects.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with Board of Election’s statewide percentages, which included a percentage of voters that left the Proposal 1 question blank.