Eco-feudalism in the Adirondacks: the ability of Adirondack residents to use their own property is at the whim of an appointed commission entirely unaccountable to the people.

Extract

---

Eco-feudalism in the Adirondacks: the ability of Adirondack residents to use their own property is at the whim of an appointed commission entirely unaccountable to the people.

In August 1978, 19-year-old Tim Jones bought an acre of land near the Raquette River in New York's Adirondack Park. Four previous generations of Tim's family had owned property along River Road in Altamont, and in August 1991 Tim obtained a permit from the town to begin building a small single-family dwelling.

Tim was working on his cabin on April 21 of the following year when he was visited by Ed Talbot, a representative of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Claiming that Tim's property was part of a "jurisdictional wetland," Talbot ordered him to cease construction and remove the building. Tim pointed out that the lot he had purchased in 1978 was part of a pre-existing subdivision and was thus exempt from the APA's jurisdiction under the 1973 act creating the agency.

Talbot returned later that day with a ...

See the full content of this document

---