For Immediate Release: May 15, 2009
Contact:
Keith P. McKeever | Public Relations | Adirondack Park Agency
contact@apa.ny.gov | (518) 891-4050
RAY BROOK, NY – Town of Webb Supervisor Robert Moore visited the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Board of Commissioners May 14 and delivered the message of “working together” during the monthly Community Spotlight presentation.
“We’re here for the same reason that the Park Agency is here,” Mr. Moore said,” to represent the people and the well-being of a place that we love that’s located within a geographic area known as the Adirondacks.”
When New York State, counties, towns and villages work together, “We can make a difference,” he said, with education, communication, interaction, mutual support, cooperation, and public awareness.
Chairman Curtis F. Stiles said, “We greatly appreciate Supervisor Moore taking the time to inform the Agency about the Town of Webb’s challenges and opportunities. This agency believes strongly that increased communication will result in mutually beneficial solutions to the diverse issues that we face.”
The Town of Webb is the largest town, by area, in New York State with 482 square miles, and it is located in the northernmost section of Herkimer County. The county seat, the Village of Herkimer, is located outside the Adirondack Park boundary, about 60 miles from Old Forge. The Town of Webb is home to 1,700 year-round and 40,000 seasonal residents in hamlets such as Old Forge, Thendara, Big Moose, McKeever, Okara Lakes, Eagle Bay, Stillwater and Beaver River. Formed in 1896, the Town was named in honor of Dr. William Seward Webb, who built the Mohawk & Malone Railway in 1891-92.
More than half of the Town of Webb’s 309,000 acres is owned by the State of New York, including about 117,000 acres of Wilderness in the Pepperbox, Five Ponds, Pigeon Lake and Ha-De-Ron-Dah Wilderness areas; and about 78,000 acres of Wild Forest in the Watson’s East Triangle, Fulton Chain, Moose River Plains, Black River and Independence River Wild Forest areas.
One of the greatest assets in the Town of Webb is its nearly 200 lakes, rivers and ponds, according to Mr. Moore. There are about 21,000 acres of open water in the town, including the Fulton Chain of Lakes, Stillwater Reservoir, Big Moose Lake, Little Moose Lake, Woodhull Lake, Nick’s Lake and the Moose River.
“People come to Webb to use the water, so we take our water very seriously,” Mr. Moore said.
Issues facing the Town of Webb include affordable workforce housing, the increasing tax burden, jobs (limited by the tourism-based economy), flat/declining school enrollment, an aging population, poor access to health care, infrastructure (limited and aging), and environmental concerns (upland development, invasive species and water and air quality).
Employing between 75 and 105 people, including seasonal jobs, the town of Webb government consists of a five-member Town Board, seven-member Planning Board, five-member Zoning Board of Appeals and 12 departments. The Town operates a police department, the McCauley Mountain Ski Area, snowmobile trails and the North Street Recreation Center.
Mr. Moore used the Town Highway Department’s shared use of the new state-of-the-art sand/salt facility with the New York State Department of Transportation as one example of how government agencies can work together to improve their communities.
The APA has been engaging communities throughout the Park with a “Community Spotlight” segment during its monthly Agency meeting. This series is an opportunity for local elected officials to directly inform the Agency about the strengths, weaknesses and very fabric that makes their community special. Each month, APA Chairman Stiles invites an Adirondack Park chief elected official to give a presentation to the Board about their community. Important community issues, challenges and assets are the key topics discussed and shared with the Agency Board and general public.
Community Spotlight programs are available from the Agency’s web site at www.apa.state.ny.us – Press Room – Live and Archived Media Page.
The New York State Adirondack Park Agency was created in 1971 by the State Legislature to develop long-range land use plans for both public and private lands within the boundary of the Adirondack Park. With its headquarters located in Ray Brook, the Agency also operates two Visitor Interpretive Centers, in Newcomb and Paul Smiths. For more information, call the APA at (518) 891-4050 or visit www.apa.state.ny.us.