RAY BROOK — Adirondack Park Agency commissioners are learning about hamlet-development options in the Adirondack Park.

Independent consultant Roger Trancik, professor emeritus at Cornell University, spent six weeks walking village centers and drawing maps in three Adirondack regions: Elizabethtown-Keene, Old Forge and Star Lake.

GROWTH AREAS
Trancik offered early insights from the study, called the Smart Expansion Report. He uncovered diverse opportunities for growth, naming 50 expansion sites in the three regions studied, more than half of which involve rehabilitation of existing vacant or unused property.

The research highlights 17 potential areas for growth in Keene and Elizabethtown, for example.

Elements that define Smart Expansion, Trancik said, are: community centers; jobs and housing; transportation options; accessible nature; energy efficiency; well-defined boundaries; compact, walkable spaces; cooperative decision-making; and comprehensive planning.

He told APA commissioners that towns in the park have "way too much diversity" to take a one-size-fits-all zoning approach, since each town often has multiple hamlets bounded by different sizes and types of state land.

PROJECT GOALS
The Smart Expansion study, paid for by a Department of Environmental Conservation Smart Growth grant, is being done with three objectives in mind, Trancik said: to protect natural resources, prevent sprawl and stimulate economic growth.

It is Phase 3 of two existing hamlet studies produced since the APA Act was written in 1973.

Trancik has identified two types of hamlet: a big "H" Hamlet, zoned in the APA Act, and a small "h" hamlet, where areas of potential development are zoned otherwise.

Local Government Review Board Chairman Fred Monroe asked Trancik if APA land-use classification aligns properly with town infrastructure and resources.

"We ran into a lot of different situations where things didn't seem to work," Trancik told commissioners.

"That's a whole other project to do — a thorough critique of the APA map."

Trancik recommended new overlays to establish Smart Growth Priority Zones.

TOWNS SHOULD LEAD
Helping coordinate the study, former Essex County Planner Bill Johnston suggested APA commissioners let towns take the lead in hamlet revision.

"It would make more sense for communities to redo the APA map for their own community."

The independent study found clearly that infrastructure is critical to hamlet growth.

"If you're going to have Smart Growth in Adirondack hamlets, you're going to have to have a mechanism to fund infrastructure upgrades and implementation," said James Connolly, APA staff planner.

ZONING PLANS
Comprehensive planning is also critical, but only 19 towns have town-written zoning regulations.

Comprehensive planning is expensive, often cost-prohibitive in small towns, Monroe said. And in many Adirondack communities there is no development pressure forcing planning boards to do the work.

"The more APA can do to align its plan to 'fit' the community (the more that) would save costs," he said.

But Trancik explained that comprehensive planning is exactly what stimulates growth, saying he was struck by the "richness of opportunity" in Adirondack towns.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Smart Expansion study is about halfway done.

The next step is for Trancik's team to map four potential growth opportunities in each hamlet under review.

The researchers encouraged residents and town officials to offer comments on the project.

"The more feedback you can provide, the better," Johnston said.

APA Commissioner Bill Thomas, former supervisor of the Town of Johnsburg, said the work being done could provide a useful template for towns.

"We need you to say, here's what you do in a step-by-step process."

Once completed, researchers will produce a Smart Expansion Hamlet handbook.

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com