Protect the Adirondacks hosts meeting on howitzer test range

LEWIS | Protect the Adirondacks has organized a meeting to gather local input about the proposed Howitzer Barrel Testing Range in the Town of Lewis. The meeting date was announced via email to area residents, saying "Protect the Adirondacks, (a non-profit organization dedicated to the sustainability of the Adirondack Park) will hold a public meeting to discuss the proposed howitzer-test [Adirondack Park Agency] project No. 2021-1076." The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 2 at the Lewis Fire Station, 18 Firehouse Lane in Lewis. In their email announcement, Protect said the meeting presents "an opportunity to obtain information, ask questions, and voice concerns. All are welcome." The meeting comes shortly after an informational meeting held in the nearby Town of Jay where the Town Council issued a resolution opposing howitzer testing in Lewis. Hearings are set to determine whether a 155 mm howitzer barrel testing range is conforming use of Rural Use zoned lands in the Adirondack Park. The hearing start date has been reset twice and is now scheduled for Feb. 25. Protect and three additional Adirondack Park preservation and conservation groups, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter; Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve; and the Adirondack Council, Inc. were granted party status in Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Adjudicatory Hearings. Status allows parties to produce expert witness testimony, direct and cross-examine witnesses and produce summary findings. The range proposed by Unconventional Concepts Inc. owner Michael Hopmeier would be located off of Hale Lane on property owned by his neighbor, James Pulsifer. Hale Lane is a rural road that encompasses over 30 homes and neighboring landowners within a two-mile radius. Public response has weighed in heavily against the proposed cannon testing site. Pulsifer's property adjoins a decommissioned Atlas F missile silo purchased by Hopmeier in 2015 for research and military equipment testing. The missile silo site has been used as a base for military operations and is promoted on the UCI website for "testing limited only by imagination." The silo is billed as opportune for "rapid RF testing in a large enclosed facility ... without the need for lengthy approvals." The proposed howitzer range would be built outdoors on Pulsifer's land within 2.5 miles of Adirondack Forest public recreational lands in the Jay Mountain Wilderness.

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Protect the Adirondacks hosts meeting on howitzer test range

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