(Credit: Town of Lake George/Kathleen Suozzo, 2022)
The Town of Lake George and Lake George Village are looking to conduct an analysis of their current workforce housing situation, and they have issued a request for proposals to find a consultancy to do the work.
The results of the analysis will guide the joint “Workforce Housing Steering Committee,” made up of town and village representatives, Dan Barusch said during the town’s board meeting, Dec. 12. Barusch is a planner with both the town and Lake George Village.
He said in a subsequent email that the committee has been looking at a particular project on the former Harbor Motel site on Canada Street near Sewell Street.
“There really isn't a plan, but we did come up with a few very general concepts a few months back,” he wrote.
The draft concept plan shows 39,500 square feet of “J-1 Visa” living space in two buildings, 34 parking spaces and a driveway that runs from Canada Street at the front of the property to Sewell Street at the back.
College students from other countries come to the area on J-1 Visas, which allow them to work and travel.
Architect Kathleen Suozzo designed the plan which is listed very much as a draft.
Before they move forward, planners want to better understand the needs of the workforce, Barusch said at the meeting.
The RFP asks the potential analysts to “inventory, analyze and make practical recommendations regarding the need for seasonal workforce housing in the Lake George area and…develop a practical ‘market study’ focused on workforce housing and the demand for that type of housing in the Lake George economy and area.”
The RFP lists a proposal deadline at the end of the month in order to get the work moving and completed in time for the state and other grants that become available in May. The RFP lists an expected completion date of May 9, 2023.
The town budget has about $15,000 set aside for the study, which is expected to cost about $25,000. Barusch said the village government and the Warren County Economic Development Corporation have agreed to help fund the study.
Town board member Vinnie Crocitto, the owner of the Holiday Inn Resort in Lake George Village, wondered whether the domestic workforce and J-1 Visa students would be able to use the housing.
Crocitto said homeless people in the village might absorb much of the housing using Section 8 vouchers to pay rent. He wondered aloud how any housing project could deny people a place to live.
“How do we stop it? Do we want to stop it?” Crocitto asked. He added in an interview after the meeting that the town had to think through how any project like this would come about and be used for its intended purpose.
Barusch said that the town can consult lawyers to figure out rules that would limit who has access without being discriminatory, adding that the expectation of any project would be to house people for short periods of time. The Section 8 housing vouchers are aimed at helping people reach permanent housing.
They agreed that the consultant would have to look at Section 8 and J-1 Visa use as a possibilities and offer recommendations.
Barusch still believed that the local demand will be great enough to keep any project full of workers.
“We’ll have enough partners that this place is going to be full, full all the time,” he said.
The expectation is that the housing would be used year-round. Glens Falls Hospital, Gore Mountain, Ice Castles, and other enterprises that need wintertime help might take advantage, Barusch said.
Lake George Village Mayor Bob Blais in March called for the area to develop housing for the J-1 Visa workforce.
[New York Almanac had a story on this at the time. Read more here.]
“Students are not issued visas now unless they have a job and housing,” a press release said at the time.
“We must develop housing if we are to continue to be a first-class resort. We need the students to offer a level of services that encourages people to return to Lake George,” the Mayor said in the statement.