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• EDITION •
County steps in to help ‘New Beginnings’
Not so bad for business
New wastewater system to be installed at mobile home park By Elizabeth Izzo STA FF W RITER
BEEKMANTOWN | The Clinton County Legislature authorized a contract with a local housing cooperative recently that local officials hope will facilitate the overhaul of a failing wastewater treatment system. For residents of New Beginnings, a mobile home park in Beekmantown now owned by the tenants, this contract means a shot at a new start for the more than 50 families that live there. With the contract now in place, the county will direct $420,000 in state grant funding to the cooperative. Paired with grant funding from Enterprise Community Partners, work to address the park’s deteriorating wastewater system — an $800,000 fix that nearly caused the displacement of these families — will move forward. According to David Winchell, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the park must replace its current wastewater treatment system by Aug. 1. The DEC has already reviewed and approved the plans to replace the system. “I think everyone was looking forward to improvements in this neighborhood,” Legislator Simon Conroy (Area 4) said. “It’s a big deal. Now you have a neighborhood that will be improved rather than a neighborhood that’s totally abandoned. “Everyone is very happy.”
NEW BEGINNINGS
Two years ago, the more than 50 families living in the former Country Sky Mobile Home Park woke up to a letter from the property owner at the time, Scott Tetreault, announcing that he intended to close the park. Tetreault told residents that he had no choice, according to a report from North Country Public Radio, and wasn’t able to shoulder the cost of making the necessary upgrades to the wastewater system. He was also facing fines from the DEC. The Town of Beekmantown had initially agreed to act as a conduit for state funding to help repair the park’s wastewater system, but later backed out after frustrations mounted over a lack of progress, according to Conroy. And the state funding wouldn’t have covered the total cost of repairing the system, roughly $800,000. » New Beginnings Cont. on pg. 7
Regulations that have protected the Adirondack forests have not simultaneously harmed the economy, a new report suggests. Photo by Tim Rowland
Study: Adirondack economy has not been harmed by environmental regulations By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER
NORTH CREEK | The Adirondack Park has performed better economically than the rest of rural America since the inception of the Adirondack Park Agency, according to a new study, a finding that is at odds with the conventional wisdom that environmental regulations are bad for business. Overall, the report points to a park population that has become older and wealthier through the years, but appears
to lack corresponding opportunity for younger people, many of whom have left for college and/or careers. “From 1970 to 2010, compared to rural communities elsewhere, many Adirondack communities experienced improvement in median household income, per capita income, and poverty rate,” the report states. “Far from showing a wasteland of economic distress, longterm trends over 40 years show Adirondack communities that consistently out-performed other areas in Upstate New York and across Rural America.”
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME
The study, backed by a trove of census data, was prepared by the conservation group Protect the Adirondacks. Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, said the region has its challenges — but these challenges are no worse, and in some areas less onerous, than those facing just about
every nook and cranny of rural America. A key finding is that median household income during the time studied rose 7.5 percent in the park, at a time when household income in the rest of the nation and New York state was flat. Per-capita income gains were even more impressive, up 80 percent since 1970, well above the national average of 58 percent. As of the 2010 census, per capita income in the park was higher than almost 90 percent of rural America. The poverty rate in the Adirondacks, while creeping upward, is lower than it is in 83 percent of rural America. But while the news is generally good in terms of economics, it is correspondingly ominous in terms of population. Young people are fleeing the park, and student populations in a number of school systems have plummeted, some by as much as 70 percent. » Adk study Cont. on pg. 2
Clinton County tax auction set
Thirty-six foreclosed properties to be auctioned off June 5 By Elizabeth Izzo STA FF W RITER
Morrisonville students find their spark Annual celebration encourages kids to follow their passion By Elizabeth Izzo STA FF W RITER
MORRISONVILLE | It wasn’t long ago that 11-year-old Kennady Duval studied here. Now a sixth-grade student at Saranac Middle School, Duval returned to her former stomping grounds at Morrisonville Elementary recently to take part in the annual Tropics Day festivities. “I love coming back,” Duval told The Sun.
This time, instead of participating, she was helping younger kids find their spark. “I like asking the kids what their spark is. They have some funny answers,” she said. That’s part of this year’s theme: Encouraging kids to find their “spark” — what they’re passionate about — and following it through. » Tropics Day Cont. on pg. 3
PLATTSBURGH | Clinton County will put up 36 properties for sale at the next tax auction. April 24 was the final date for property owners to pay back taxes for 2017-18. From the 84 properties that faced foreclosure in February, 36 have been foreclosed on and will be listed in the auction June 5, Clinton County Treasurer Kimberly Davis told legislators recently. In Clinton County, if a landowner doesn’t pay their taxes for two years, multiple notices in a variety of forms — including a bright yellow sign placed on the property — are given to the landowner that the property may be foreclosed upon. If the taxes remain unpaid, the county will foreclose on the property and attempt to sell it at auction. By reselling the property, the goal is to return the parcel to the tax roll. Of the 36 to be auctioned off this year, 14 are vacant lots and 22 are residential properties. None are commercial. “That’s the lowest number of parcels that we’ve foreclosed on in recent years,” Davis said. Last year, the county auctioned off 45 properties, she said. The bulk of the parcels this year are located in Mooers, Dannemora and Altona. More information about the parcels will be available online at nysauctions.com. The total outstanding taxes owed on all of the properties combined is $102,677, according to Davis. The tax auction has been set for Wednesday, June 5, at 10 a.m. in the West Side Ballroom in Plattsburgh. ■
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