Fish Creek Ponds marina application complete
An application to upgrade and expand the old Hickok’s Boat Livery on Fish Creek Ponds is complete with the Adirondack Park Agency and open for public comment until Thursday.
USL Marina, the same development team that expanded Saranac Lake Marina on Lower Saranac Lake, is looking to install a new floating deck with 92 boat slips to rent.
The site is just around the corner from the state-owned Fish Creek Pond Campground and has close access to Upper Saranac Lake through a channel.
Nearby property owners, longtime visitors to the campground and environmental have opposed the plan, arguing it is too big for the area and should not be undertaken before the state completes a broader study of what types and amounts of use the Saranac Lakes Chain can sustain.
The marina’s proponents have said it will improve safety and conditions at the old site and provide an economic asset to the community. Read about the plan here.
Winter launches on Lake George
For the first 75 years of the last century, Lake George froze over every year but one. Now, whether the lake freezes or not is “roll of the dice,” as Lake George Park Commission described it recently.
Some locals are concerned that an expanding boating season could threaten the lake’s 10-year run of no new invasive species, as since the pandemic they have sought to document boat launches when no inspectors are on duty.
They have recorded boats launching on Lake George in nearly every month of the year.
But officials are less concerned about the winter launches, noting that invasive species are less likely to spread in the winter and that maintaining public access to the water is critical.
Photo at top: The marina site on Fish Creek Ponds photographed June 7, 2022. Photo by Zachary Matson.
This first appeared in Zach’s weekly “Water Line” newsletter. Click here to sign up.
“arguing it is too big for the area and should not be undertaken”
or
“proponents have said it will improve safety and conditions at the old site”
Is this all the “news” is now telling us who said what? Reporters used to help us understand what the facts were? Is this a good idea overall or a bad one?
The proposal is way too large. Our family has been going here for over 35 years. This proposal has already outgrown the infrastructure. This are will be crazy busy by car and by boat traffic. Only a few will benefit including the realtor, sales reps but certainly not the general public!! Please take this marina down to half of what you are proposing! The area is very busy with vehicles and we definitely do not need another Lake Placid here!
This ferry has left the pier ! The Saranac Lake Marina on Fish Creek Pond will soon be a reality – one we will adjust to over time. I hate to wish ill on any budding business but with current events signaling anything but an age if prosperity, I don’t see any of those 92 boat slips being over utilized.