A controversial project proposed in the eastern Adirondacks could be headed to a special hearing. A man from Virginia wants to test military-grade weapons in the town of Lewis. At its meeting on Thursday, Adirondack Park Agency staff will urge the board to send the project to an adjudicatory hearing.
Michael Hopmeier is an engineer who does contract work for the US military. For the last four years, Hopmeier has been applying for an APA permit to build a weapons range in Lewis to study the internal ballistics of a 155mm Howitzer, a modern-day cannon.
He owns about 380 acres in Lewis, in Essex County. Over those years, the agency has issued six notices of an incomplete application.
Hopmeier's application was finally deemed complete this year and is coming up for consideration at the APA’s monthly board meeting this week.
About 1,400 people submitted public comments on the project. According to the APA, only 19 of them supported the proposed weapons range.
Instead of sending the project to a vote, the APA wants to do something it hasn’t done in more than a decade. Staff is recommending the APA board send the project to an adjudicatory hearing.
"The referral to a hearing will seek, through an independent, fair, and impartial process, to fully address the substantive and significant questions surrounding this project," an APA spokesperson said in an emailed statement, "and ensure a complete record upon which the Agency will ultimately render its final determination."
The hearing, which would be open to the public, would be overseen by a judge and would allow both parties to present evidence and arguments for and against the project.
Emma Jean Okusky, who lives in Lewis, opposes the project and supports the recommendation to send it to an adjudicatory hearing.
"I would want to make sure the APA has all the pertinent information to move forward with this, considering it’s going to be an impact on the whole community," said Okusky.
The hearing would cover key issues raised by the APA, including the impacts the weapons range could have on the area, from noise pollution to impacts on the environment, wildlife, and recreation.
Hosting an adjudicatory hearing is important because the APA can’t deny a permit without one. There hasn’t been a hearing since the agency reviewed the Adirondack Club and Resort in 2011.
At a planning forum last year, a lawyer for the APA at the time said hearings take an enormous amount of time and energy and that the agency had “hearings trauma.”
The APA board will review the project at its meeting on Thursday afternoon.