Is joining a lab that publishes infrequently, but in high impact factor venues, bad for academic career? I am accepted into the PhD program at my local university. My interests match the interests of many labs there. The lab that I am interested in has hard working people but do not publish often because they are focused on high impact articles only. 

Will my career ambitions be better served by declining this offer to try to matriculate at a more prestigious program with more productive labs? Even if that risks me not matriculating into any program?
You can evaluate the likely impact of the lab on your career prospects by looking at where the alumni of the lab have gone in their careers, and comparing it with where the alumni of other labs have gone.

Really, though, you should choose the lab which best combines people that you will enjoy working with and a subject that you will enjoy working on, in the ratio of those two that most fits your social preferences. No matter what else, your career will be best promoted in an environment where it will be cultivated by good peers, good supervision, and work that you are actually interested in.