Christine Saturno via Behan Communications (2021, used with permission).
Kayakers ply Great Sacandaga Lake.
Four towns, all in northwest Saratoga County and all inside the Adirondack Park are attempting the improbable: modest growth that does not change the towns but brings in new, younger families.
The four towns, Corinth, Day, Edinburg and Hadley have seen a drop in population for at least 10 years and an increase in the average age of those remaining.
It is hard to keep a small town afloat with that demographic. Critical volunteer positions such as board seats and positions on emergency crews are left unfilled. Enrollment in schools drops, officials said.
So the towns used Saratoga County economic development funds, hired Behan Communications and are working with the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership. Together they produced a report: “Building Communities: Attracting Residents to Saratoga’s Adirondacks.” It was released earlier this week, and is the baseline for a marketing campaign to draw a working family’s attention to the charms of small town, Adirondack living.
The hope also is that it will list an inventory of what the areas have to offer and what they need, and give town officials a roadmap to set goals, officials said. This new collaboration will give the towns a stronger, unified voice.
“Nobody wants to change the character of the towns,” said Mo Wright, the Hadley town supervisor. With the report, “We wanted to highlight what we have and what we need.”
One need is more and better broadband internet along with better cell tower coverage. Another is people who will use them to work remotely or go to school.
[This is a story playing out elsewhere in the Adirondacks. Read our coverage here, here and here.]
The report highlighted seasonal visitors as a group that might be willing to move permanently, if the amenities like great internet services were available.
What a community needs is not just second home owners, the tourists who scoop up lakeside property, but people who will stay and invest, Shelby Schneider said. She’s the president of the prosperity partnership.
Schneider and Wright said the towns have space to grow. Hadley has some empty storefronts and a few absentee landlords who had let their properties decay and then moved on, he said, adding that this can be improved with investment.
Schneider said the Adirondack Park’s heavy regulations are "going to cap explosive growth, let’s face it,” but towns can look to expand to population levels of a decade or two ago.
That should not overburden a town’s infrastructure, she said. “It’s growing with intention.”
Wright said he is looking to the town’s young people, too. He said that children leave for college and often do not come back until they retire. Schneider calls them “boomerangers.” They are another target audience who know the area and might be convinced to come back while still working.
What the towns have to offer is “living in paradise” on large wooded lots near year-round outdoor activities, the report says. The newly-coined name of the region--Saratoga’s Adirondacks--aims to capitalize simultaneously on the reputation of the state's only growing county along with the beauty of the mountains.
With just a half-hour trip to jobs, culture, shopping and dining in Saratoga Springs or Glens Falls, the towns offer a commute not much different than someone driving from Clifton Park to Albany, the report says.
Development without change, though, that may be tough.
“That was one of the difficult things [to deal with] when we started talking about this,” Supervisor Wright said. But he and Schneider look at the report as the beginning of more discussion and planning.
This new collaboration between towns gives them the opportunity to speak with one voice to make sure they get the necessary infrastructure upgrades, Wright said. Schneider concurred.
“If you’re not planning, you’re simply reacting, and in the end you’re just mitigating a crisis.” she said. “They’ve chosen to plan.”