Reporter Tom Salitsky report that on June 12 the developers of the Adirondack Club and Resort received a letter from the state attorney general stating that the permit for the first phase of the resort had been approved, letting its developers, Pennsylvania-based Preserve Associates, begin signing contracts and taking deposits to sell lots.

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TUPPER LAKE – The developers of the Adirondack Club and Resort recently received some good news.

On June 12, Bob Sweeney, the attorney for the 6,200-acre project, received a letter from the state attorney general’s office stating a Cooperative Policy Statement 7 permit had been approved for the first phase of the resort. This lets its developers, Pennsylvania-based Preserve Associates, begin signing contracts and taking deposits to sell lots.

"The first phase of houses to be sold includes a private road called Pond Road," Sweeney told the Enterprise. "It’s a homeowner’s association. Every house on the road will pay a little money towards its maintenance, and you have to have a filing with the attorney general.

"This clears the way for the sale (of lots)."

Sweeney explained at a planning board meeting in March that Pond Road will pick up at the Lake Simond Road extension and will run out to the last lot of Planned Development District 1, the 1,200-acre Moody Pond lot.

The project is still awaiting approval of other permits, however.

"There are applications pending for some permits for the construction of the road," he said. "(The Department of Environmental Conservation) and the (Army) Corps of Engineers, they have to sign off on stormwater and stream crossings. There is work being done on them. The applications are pending. We’re optimistic that we can get prompt attention and final permits."

He said DEC and the Army Corps of Engineers "each have been very cooperative, and it’s not an impediment."

Sweeney said the project may have to apply for other CPS-7 permits for other sections of the project.

"We would have to repeat this process if we have another section that has shared expenses," he said.

Calls placed to ACR developers Michael Foxman and Tom Lawson were not immediately returned.

Preserve Associates publicly proposed the ACR 11 years ago. The project, if fully realized, would feature a renovated Big Tupper Ski Area as its centerpiece and would develop the land around it with up to 650 high-end housing units, a 60-room hotel, a spa, a marina and an equestrian center. Golf legend Greg Norman and his Great White Shark Enterprises recently entered into an agreement with the developers, who want his design firm, Greg Norman Golf Course Design, to renovate town-owned Tupper Lake Golf Club next to the resort.

The project recently proposed partnering with the village and town of Tupper Lake and the Development Authority of the North Country to seek state grants to help pay for its infrastructure.

The project had been tied up with a lawsuit by Protect the Adirondacks and the Sierra Club, two environmental organizations that challenged the state Adirondack Park Agency’s approval of the resort, but on Dec. 16, 2014, the Court of Appeals officially dismissed the environmentalists’ final motion to appeal, clearing the way for the project to move forward.