From the Sept. 25, 2007 issue of the Adirondack Express.

Are Adirondack communities in jeopardy?
Housing seminar addresses park-wide economic issues

    Lack of affordable housing, skyrocketing property assessments and economic viability are some of the issues facing our Adirondack communities, according to a panel discussion held Tuesday evening, Sept. 18, at the Woods Inn in Inlet. More than 30 people attended the event, which was hosted by CAP-21 and moderated by Brian Mann, Adirondack news bureau chief for North Country Public Radio.
     Deb Carhart, executive director of CAP-21, introduced the evening as one of "framing the issues."
     "It's not just about building, but keeping our children and seniors here," she said.
     Mann spoke about how housing prices are pushing residents out of the Park.
     "Often, the discussion in the Adirondacks is about how to protect more land. But we also have to consider how to protect our communities," he said.
     Tom Both, former town supervisor for the Town of Keene in Essex County, spoke about the negative impact of increased property taxes on middle class, year-round Park residents. Increasing property assessments puts an unfair, and often untenable, tax burden on middle class homeowners, he said. He also spoke about the importance of a Park-wide approach to economic development.
     "We have enough land. What can we do to help the communities?" he asked.
     Alan Hipps, executive director of the Adirondack Community Housing Trust, talked about the importance of keeping houses affordable.
     "Housing is a supply issue," he said. One way to keep a house affordable in the long term is to create a housing trust, he said, where the seller gets a percent of the appreciation, and the new buyer gets to reduce the price of the house by the remainder of the appreciation amount. Hipps has created a housing trust program for Essex County.
     Bill Osborne, director of tourism and economic development for Hamilton County, said that the issue, for him, is economic opportunity for residents.
     "Our land is healthy and protected, but our communities are not," he said. He also proposed creating a Park-wide economic agency, similar to the Adirondack Park Agency, to address the issues of housing and economic development.
     A discussion with members of the audience followed the panel presentations.
     One conclusion to be drawn from the meeting is that the future of our Adirondack communities may be in jeopardy if these issues can't be resolved.
    

Committee continues to work on fundamental housing issue

By M. Lisa Monroe

    After holding a panel discussion on Sept. 18, a group of about 20 interested people gathered again at Woods Inn on Sept. 19 to explore what concrete actions could be taken to address the problem of fundamental housing in the Adirondack Park. Central Adirondack Partnership for the 21st Century head Deborah Carhart summed up the problem.
     "We need to figure out what we need to do to build and maintain a vibrant, multi-generational community," she said.
     Toward that end, the group decided to send a letter to the Nature Conservancy to ask that it consider putting some land from recent purchases aside to help meet the housing needs of the communities that the land borders. John Collins from the Committee for the Protection of the Adirondacks will draft the letter. Lani Ulrich, an Old Forge resident with the Adirondack Park Agency, believes that a letter from such a diverse group will carry some weight.
     "I truly believe that a letter from such a group would have an impact," said Ulrich.
     Webb Supervisor Robert Moore said that he thinks one of the central issues is educating people about the challenges of what he calls "fundamental housing." Moore stated that there are a lot of misconceptions by the public about the matter.
     "Fundamental housing must garner public support through communication and education," he said.
     The housing problem in the Park is made up of many different parts. The economy, for the most part, is based on tourism, which creates jobs that are not well paid. In addition, the value of property in the Park continues to rise and in many places prices are driving people out of the area. Dick Lasher was involved in compiling a survey with the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation and the Central Adirondack Association that gave some interesting information.
     "We found about 300 people who work in the area who would like to live here. The average salary here is $40,000. To be able to afford a home in the Town of Webb you need to make at least $50,000," said Lasher.
     Long Lake Supervisor Gregg Wallace has been working on affordable housing in his area for almost two years.
     "We need to educate people, so that they realize that this affects their friends and neighbors. It's the plumbers and nurses. The guys who work at the fire department and teachers, this is a problem that concerns everybody."

Articles courtesy of The Adirondack Express