Adirondacks View (c) Carleton Montgomery
The Adirondack Park represents the East’s largest and oldest regional land use planning effort aimed at preserving one of the nation’s emblematic landscapes. The Park’s six million acres are a mix of about forty-eight percent public and fifty-two percent private lands, mostly forested, with small towns and settlements, as well as some working farms, scattered throughout.
While the overriding mission of the Adirondack Park Agency is to protect the region’s beloved natural heritage, it recognizes the need to foster local economies and provide for a healthy recreational culture. The Agency exercises its influence by zoning private lands and controlling permitted uses of the vast public lands within the Park. With a Park-wide Land Use and Development Plan map, the Agency specifies building densities for six zones governing private property, ranging from unlimited densities in Hamlets and Industrial Use zones to fifteen units on an average of 42.7 acre lots in Resource Management zones. Municipal governments are required to incorporate the regional map’s zones and standards into their local zoning and land use ordinances.
Vital Statistics:
Chapter of the Book: 5
State(s): NY
Year Established: 1971
Geographic Scale: 6 million acres
Mandatory or Voluntary over Local Government: Mandatory
Authorizing Laws: State
Agencies and Organizations:
New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Smart Growth in the Adirondack Park and Catskill Park
Resources:
Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan
Adirondack Park Agency Regulations
Adirondack Park Agency GIS Resources
