“Fulton County’s long-envisioned Great Sacandaga Lake Discovery Center project is facing mounting financial pressures and uncertain political support after a presentation at a July Board of Supervisors meeting revealed that construction bids have come in millions over budget.”
That’s the message Gloversville 5th Ward Supervisor Greg Young recently posted to his Facebook page.
Taking a lead from the wildly successful Wild Center in Tupper Lake, the Great Sacandaga Lake Discovery Center was pitched by county officials as “Fulton County’s investment and commitment to its local history, tourism and recreation.”
The 12,000-square-foot interactive museum and visitor center is planned to serve as a regional attraction for Fulton and Saratoga counties, and the Route 30 corridor through the Adirondacks.
The facility is expected to feature the history of the Great Sacandaga Lake and its role as a river regulating reservoir and recreation destination.
Created in 1930, the Great Sacandaga Lake was created to mitigate flooding that occurred along Hudson River communities, but in the process entire communities were removed from the valley where the reservoir was established.
“The extraordinary story of how the Sacandaga was created, the reasoning for it and the remarkable sacrifices made must be told,” Fulton County Administrative Officer Jon R. Stead said in announcing the project. “It is an important part of our history, an Adirondack history that needs to be conveyed so the story is never lost.”
Exhibits are expected to include a rotunda featuring a to-scale replica of the Sacandaga Valley prior to flooding.
Interactive exhibit kiosks using a “Then and Now” theme are also in the plans, including “Ghosts of the Hamlets,” “Coney Island of the North” (highlighting former Sport Island and Sacandaga Park) and “Conkingville Dam” – an engineering marvel can be expected to be with information and video.
“The Discovery Center will host art and historic artifact displays, and will feature ever-changing, visiting displays keeping the information fresh for returning visitors,” the county had previously announced, adding:
“The complete Great Sacandaga Lake Discovery Center promises to be a premier destination, attracting visitors with its location and accessibility to the Northville Placid Trail, a natural resources habitat and outdoor recreation.”
“The building concept includes the Harnessing Nature Theater, educational classroom space for student research, Trout in the Classroom, and much more. Space will be available for the GSLAC and Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation to use and local historians will have a designated research area.”
Ballooning Costs
At the mid-July meeting Jon Stead, Fulton County Administrative Officer offered a revised plan to finance $8.41 million. The project was originally expected to cost $1.2 million. Plans hitting another snag after a July 21st Fulton County Finance Committee vote to reject the construction bids.
“The lowest general construction bid came from Bunkoff General Contractors at $4,052,000. Mechanical, plumbing, and electrical bids — submitted by RMB Mechanical, Mazone Plumbing and Heating, and Koval Contracting — added another $1.36 million,” Young noted.
“To date, $2.347 million has already been spent, including $524,326 for property acquisition — a transaction that was the subject of a 2022 investigation by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office,” he said.
He said another $862,696 from the county’s Tobacco Settlement Reserves would also be part of the funding plan. “These funds, derived from the 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies, are typically used for capital improvements such as highway paving, sewer expansion, and infrastructure planning,” he said. “Diverting them to the Discovery Center could delay or defund those projects.”
Other supervisors questioned whether the project would draw visitors, especially younger tourist families. Young said an alternative might be to build a parking lot at the county’s owned site for the municipal beach and the Northville-Placid Trail trailhead. He also questioned regular operating costs, estimated at about $150,000.
“Using a third of the annual occupancy tax revenue to fund Discovery Center operations could limit the county’s ability to support other tourism initiatives, unless the new facility significantly boosts sales tax revenue,” Young said about a proposal to use annual occupancy tax revenue to fund annual operating expenses.
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