Controversial RV Park Approved on The Great Sacandaga Lake
With nothing but fresh air, gorgeous lakes, and beautiful green mountains as far as the eye can see, it's no wonder the Department of Environmental Conservation saw 1.1 million Adirondack campers in 2021 (Lauren Yates, Adirondack Daily Enterprise). Whether you're roughing it and using a tent or living it up in a luxurious cabin, the experience tends to be a positive one full of recreation and relaxation. For you RV campers, a new $4 million RV Park was just approved by the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) Board of Commissioners at their meeting last month, and it's coming to Mayfield on the Great Sacandaga Lake. Not everyone is happy about it, though.
During the meeting, APA’s Environmental Program Specialist Ariel Lynch made it clear that of the proposed 277 campsites, only 123 of them are located within the jurisdiction of the Adirondack Park. Therefore, these are the only areas of the project that the agency reviewed and approved. Of the 123 sites, 90 of them will be for RV's and 20 will be "glamping" sites (a step up from primitive camping, just with more amenities); the rest are to be primitive campsites (Jason Subik, The Recorder).
Jason Subik at the The Recorder reports that during the public comment period in early December, the agency received a total of 59 public comments. 36 of them were against the project while 23 were in support of it. In a Facebook post by the Amsterdam Recorder, you can see the disdain some people have for this proposal. One comment says “There goes our beautiful lake”, while another one says “This is the start of downfall”. The project is supposed to utilize Woods Hollow Road near Route 30 in Mayfield, but many locals are concerned it will create too much traffic. Lynch explains how they’ve adjusted the project to mitigate any such issues.
They did move the main and secondary entrances from where they were initially proposed, along Woods Hollow Road, over to Route 30, so now they’re located outside of the park. So, the only entrance remaining on Woods Hollow Road is that gated access for emergency vehicles only. -Ariel Lynch, APA (Jason Subik, The Recorder)
Check out her presentation:
Woods Hollow RV Campground Plans
You can watch the full presentation here:
No specific date has been revealed yet for the park's completion, but work should begin shortly pending approvals.