For over one hundred years, residents of Raquette Lake have been involved in a land dispute with the State of New York that involves 216 parcels of land that encompass one thousand acres.
And finally, it seems, a tentative agreement has been reached.
During a special meeting for owners of the contested Township 40 properties on Saturday, June 2 at the Raquette Lake School, a statewide referendum to amend the NYS constitution was agreed upon which will authorize legislation designed to help solve the dispute and will be introduced to the State Assembly this session.
“Everyone thought that it was a good idea and a good way to settle it,” said Dick Bird, owner of Raquette Lake based businesses Bird’s Adirondack Real Estate said Bird’s Marina.
According to Bird, legislation for this agreement has been spearheaded for the last six years by Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward and State Senator Betty Little, and will be introduced to the Assembly this month by Assemblyman Robert Sweeny.
“We are pretty confident that they will approve it,” Bird said, “We have a lot of support.”This dispute first began when New York State and environmental advocates claimed that the state owned land that residents had been living and working on for as long as anyone could remember.
The argument, from the state’s perspective, is that the one thousand acres of land in question should become forest preserve that NYS will then maintain.
However, from the perspective of Raquette Lake residents, this is land that people have been working and residing on, as well as paying taxes on.
The dispute in ownership has often caused problems for Raquette Lake residents in regards to securing mortgages and title insurance.
The details of the settlement allow people to either opt in or out of the settlement agreement.
If one decides to opt out, the Attorney General will be required to, within two years, commence action against them to determine ownership.
However, if one decides to opt into the agreement, they will be required to pay the state’s administrative costs as well as a flat rate of $2,000 per parcel plus an amount equal to the total assessed value of the parcel, based on the 2012 assessment.
This number would then be divided by the total assessed value of all 200 plus disputed parcels (equaling $70 million), and then multiplied by $200,000—resulting in an average payment of $2,900 for each disputed parcel.
The money that is collected will then be put into a fund that is controlled by the Town of Long Lake, not the state.
The Town of Long Lake must then take the collected money and put it towards the acquisition of land to be added to the NYS Forest Preserve as part of the land swap.
Residents will also have the option of decreasing the money owed by donating land to the state.
The bill for a proposed change to the NYS Constitution must first be voted on and approved twice by the state legislature, and then must be passed by a statewide referendum before it is placed on the ballot for the 2013 general election.
