Community Input Sessions Tuesday, Sept. 29, 6:00-8:00 pm || Friday, Oct. 2, 12:00-1:00 pm On-Ramp Clean Transportation Summit Synposis and Outputs Synposis and Outputs
Session Plan/Approach 2 ● Tuesday Night ○ Purpose: General Feedback on Transportation ○ Opening Stage Setter ○ Break-out Sessions ■ 3 Scenarios (Resident prepping for school year, Worker planning commute, Seasonal owner sharing with visitor) ■ Open Question to get personal feedback ○ Concluding Report-out ● Friday Lunch ○ Purpose: Response to Summit Discussions Source: New York Olympic Region, LEED for Communities ○ Synopsis of the Summit Working Sessions Certification Submission, February 2019 ○ 3 Questions (What will work, what won’t, what general impressions exist)
Opening Stage Setter 3
What (we think) we know: trans. & housing in NYOR 4 ● Transportation Facts and Figures ○ 29% of all workers drive more than 25 miles to get to work in the North Elba/Lake Placid Area with approximately 67% of North Elba’s workforce commutes from outside the community. 1 ○ More visitors = more strain on transportation infrastructure 2 and strain is felt by community members as well as tourists/visitors. 3 ○ Parking demand consistently exceeds capacity for extended periods; The Village of Lake Placid has 494 parking spaces (209 on street, 285 off-street). 3 ○ The transportation system needs to meet the mobility needs of all users (foot, bike, bus, car) and needs to enhance the visitor experience in the Lake Placid region. 4 1. Camoin Housing Study, January 2020 2. Town of North Elba/Village of Lake Placid Comprehensive Plan, August 2014 3. Creighton Manning, DRAFT Lake Placid Parking Update Study, October 2018 4. Creighton Manning, Mobility Plan for Greater Lake Placid, May 1999
What (we think) we know: trans. & housing in NYOR 5 ● Transportation Facts and Figures (cont’d) ○ The annual average vehicle miles traveled for NYOR, excluding the tourist population, was calculated to be 100.5 miles per person per day. 1 ● Housing ○ An additional 1534 workforce and affordable level housing units are needed in the Town (929 rental, 605 owner-occupant units) to reach a community workforce goal of 50% resident-workers. 2 ○ Current projects in planning: The Peaks at Lake Placid (former cell science center; 271 apartments, 92 condos) 3 and Wesvalley Apartments (along west side of Wesvalley road; 40 one bedroom and 20 two bedroom units). 4 ○ The NYOR has 783 short term rentals and 1,250 Seasonal Homes (accounting for 23.3% of all homes). 5 1. USGBC LEED for Communities Certification of the NYOR, Clarkson University Adirondack Semester, December 2018 2. Camoin Housing Study, January 2020 3. “Council to decide on exemption for Cell Science Center Housing”, July 2020 4. “Preliminary Market Study: Proposed Workforce Housing – Wesvalley Site”, June 2020 5. HP201 –Spring 2020NYOR Community Metrics, April 2020
What is LEED for Communities? How is it pertinent? 6
What (we think) we know … 7 ? ● Are we right? ● What do you think? ● What do you know that we don’t? ● Tell us, challenge us, question us.
Session 1 Summary 8
Introduction 9 ❖ The first community input session revealed a wide variety of challenges & visions relating to mobility within and connecting with the Lake Placid community ➢ Tensions - Values & Goals ➢ Variety of needs ➢ Changes over time ➢ Seasonal variations/considerations ➢ Capacity constraints ➢ Unpredictable challenges
Tensions - Values & Goals 10 ❖ Winter vs. Summer ❖ Large scale events vs. Business as usual ➢ World University Games (WUG ‘23), Ironman, Hockey, Lacrosse Tournaments ➢ Commuting workers vs. Tourists ❖ Nostalgia vs. futurism ➢ Rail vs. Trail ❖ Rustic vs. New technology Can Synergies be developed Can Synergies be developed ?? ?? (Appearance/Aesthetics/Culture) ❖ Development vs. Preservation ⇒ Unique place build on without destroying its special essence ❖ WUG ‘23 development vs. post WUG
Variety of Needs 11 ❖ Trailhead Access – Parking or other options? ❖ Regional Perspective – E-Town/Keene to Lake Placid to Tupper Lake ❖ More modes, more often, more predictable Walking/biking → from, to, and around town Creative options: gondolas, Improved taxi service, shuttle services, non-road solutions Schedule uncertainty – XPRSS trolley Photo: https://opalunpacked.com/street-smart-lake- ❖ Car AND foot/bike transport, not either/or. placids-main-street-2/ ❖ Hub and spoke – what are the right spots? Mt. VanHoevenberg? Price Chopper Parking Lot?
Changes Over Time 12 ❖ Increased main street development ⇒ increased demand on main street infrastructure (water, storm water, sidewalks, vehicular traffic) ❖ Decrease in resident-workers ❖ Tourist/seasonal homes distort real estate market & parking demand ❖ Tech advancement (Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) → electrification → autonomy)?
Seasonal Variations/Considerations 13 ❖ Seasonality ➢ NOT steady state ⇒ ebb and flow over the year ➢ Weather and climate changes (over the year, over time) ➢ Demand for a public transportation solution ❖ Demand for parking/parking alternatives ➢ Seasonal: distorted by influx of visitors/annual fluctuation ➢ Major events ❖ Ensuring the safety of active transportation options ➢ Icy/snowy sidewalks → lack of space/streetscape Route 73 near Cascade Trailhead; Enterprise photo — ➢ Pedestrians/Cyclists; abled and disabled Justin A. Levine ➢ Inexperienced drivers/ill-equipped travellers
Capacity Constraints 14 ❖ Park regulations (APA, DEC) ❖ ADA access ❖ Challenge of sustainable transport for locals ❖ Context - rustic, hills ❖ Existing infrastructure ❖ Capital (human and monetary) Creighton Manning, DRAFT Lake Placid Parking Update Study, October 2018
Unpredictable Challenges 15 ❖ COVID-19 (pandemic) ❖ Not discussed … but relevant ➢ Unpredictable weather events ■ Sudden heat ■ Non-standard precipitation ■ Flooding ■ Fires (forest/homes) ■ Lack of snow NY.Gov
Community Assets 16 ❖ Increase of downtown-adjacent housing options to reduce need to commute ➢ “Live where we work” ❖ Employer initiatives for vanpooling (ORDA active for J 1) → increase options? ❖ Efficient use of assets ➢ Using school buses during non-school hours/vacations ❖ Transportation Modes - multi-modality/inter- modality ➢ Opportunities to improve
Key Takeaways 17 ❖ Many needs, but not a uniform set of visions or solution sets ➢ Discussions need to be continued to find consensus points and prioritization ➢ Complicated - that’s an understatement - multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder, and multi- modal ➢ Passion for the process & passion for the place ➢ Solutions must recognize strengths and weaknesses, recognize we are on a journey to make things better with no silver bullet answer ❖ Need to hear from broader group of stakeholders to enable better criteria development for the above ➢ More residents, wage workers, service employees, seasonal residents/renters, school age children & parents thereof, disabled, diverse and indigenous (people, ecology, geography), and older population
Friday Response 18
Clean Transportation and the future 19 ● Interesting ideas but … ○ Timeline is very aggressive, concerning. ○ If EV/LDV are in lieu of ICE → OK, but more vehicles = more traffic = NOT OK ○ “Need an overall transportation plan to contextualize on the electrification questions and proposals - we’re missing the big picture / need a comprehensive solution and it’s not apparent here.” Diane Fox, Superintendent Saranac Lake CSD ○ “Need a plan for big events and comprehensive regional transportation for day to day.” Lori Fitzgerald, Lake Placid Resident ○ Need for western access as well as eastern access ○ Hub & Spoke, need for charging in Keene, local benefits are critical to success
What’s Next 20
What’s Next? CIVIC Innovation Challenge Grant 21 ● Joint planning grant application Submitted in early August ● Addressing the mobility spatial mismatch between housing and jobs ● Should hear by end of October ● If awarded planning grant, can compete for up to $1 pilot project implementation ● Part of the larger NYOR transportation, housing and economic picture
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