New Junction Connectivity Study aimed at improving economy of downtown area

by Dan McClelland

The opportunities for a second village Downtown Revitalization Initiative- this time targeted at the Junction, or other grant programs currently or possibly on the horizon- were the subject of several information-gathering meetings Wednesday. They were conducted by the village's community developer, Melissa McManus and a consulting team from Elan, the firm that helped the village win the Park Street and Boulevard- targeted DRI.

The Zoom meetings were set up by Elan's Susan Caruvana, senior planner at the Saratoga Springs-based agency.

The focus of the discussions is to provide fodder and good ideas for what is now called The Junction Connectivity Study that Elan will complete in preparation for grant opportunities ahead.

Among the questions the participants Wednesday were asked to ponder and those who will weigh in at upcoming meetings were: What's your vision for the Junction in 2030? What places in your travels would be a good model for what the Junction can be? What was it about that place that you thought would be right for the Junction? What types of projects and investments are important in achieving this vision? What barriers currently exist to sustainable job growth and investment in the Junction?

At the afternoon session Melissa McManus explained the purpose of the sessions that day.

Also attending from Elan were Jere Tatich, Mark Westa and Sue Caruvana. Town Councilman John Gillis tuned in as did Matt Ellis, a steering committee member of the Tupper Lake Business Group, Hope Frenette of Schoolhouse Renovations and one of the promoters of the rail/trail project and Main Street Restaurant owner Shawn LaBarge.

Mrs. McManus noted that “the village has been very successful in recent years in using a couple of funding streams (most notably the state department of state's waterfront revitalization program) to do improvements in the park, make trail connections, do street-scape enhancements on Park Street, business assistance programs, etc.”

“However, we have not focused our planning on the Junction.” She said the downtown section of the village has been broadly included in some large planning documents completed by and adopted by the village over the years. “But we've never focussed on what the Junction wants to be and what it can be!”

She said a few years ago when she and community volunteers were looking to upgrade the village's waterfront revitalization grant program “we made sure we brought the Junction into it.”

“We all know of the possibility of the rail/trail and what it can bring” to the community, and the Junction in particular. “But we didn't have that same kind of focused vision there...we don't have the narrative together or the project list” to develop future grant programs there.

She said those things are imperative for future funding sources for the Junction and its businesses.

“That's why we're here today...to gather that information to start building that (planning) document to line us up for future funding!”

She said many people, particularly downtown residents, have spoken to her in recent years about their area getting ready for the opening of the new trail and the return of the train.

“We heard that from downtown business owners at a meeting this morning.”

She recommended as a first step in preparing a long-range planning document, the development of “an urgent” or short-term plan.

“When you look at the Junction you have Next Stop! Tupper Lake owning the train station, the town owning the land, the state involved in both the rail/trail and train arrival preparations and then the private sector with their businesses.”

“We want to be the most ready we can be...weaving together all the various pieces” of that neighborhood, she told the meeting participants.

She left time at the end of the meeting to hear from the attendees so “the Elan team can begin weaving this blanket of readiness” for the new things coming to the Junction this year and next.

Shawn LaBarge said “it sounds like great things are happening in Tupper Lake right now. We waited a long time for this,” pointing to his 18-year tenure as a main street business owner.

“It's time to shine and we must be quick about it! -And we have to take advantage of everything we can to make sure we are ready for this influx coming” on the train and the trail.

“They are going to want to eat, to shop and go to places” like Raquette River Brewery. “It's going to be good for everyone in this town!”

“We've needed this for a long time when we had this blanket over Tupper Lake. It's time to shake it off and get our community back to what it used to be” in the forties and fifties, when the community was thriving.

“It's very easy to make a list of all that we had here when my parents were young and most of that is all gone now!”

“I'm excited about it,” he said of all the plans developing for Tupper's future.

Hope Frenette said it was important for everyone to “know what the schedules are” of the state departments of transportation and environmental conservation with respect to the improvements on the rail/trail and railroad corridors coming into Tupper Lake.

“One of the big issues we are going to have to address for everyone using the rail/trail or the train is parking” in the vicinity of the depot, she warned. “It's not an issue there now but it's going to soon be a huge problem” without proper preparation here for all the corridor users.

Especially with Tupper becoming the hub for train riders and hikers and bikers coming to use the rail/trail, Mrs. McManus agreed.

“Here's what I know” about the timing and schedules of two projects, Mrs. McManus told the participants.

She said from the DOT they have received plans for most of the track restoration work- including a new crossing on Main Street and property improvements at the station.

She said the DOT contractor has possession of the rail corridor until the end of 2022 to finish its work. “Although no one will speak on the record, but informally, I was led to believe for us not to expect a train until 2023” because construction will be ongoing through the end of this year.

“On the improvements and preparation on the rail/trail side we do not have much information” from the DEC. “We have sketches of the large parking areas in Tupper Lake that the DOT staff recommended to the DEC.”

“I've hear reports it could be 2025 before the trail is finished but that's all hearsay!”

There have been some estimates this past year the trail could be open between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake by 2023.

“On the positive side, this information gives us more time to get our acts together,” she conceded.

Dan McClelland, a member of the Tupper Lake Business Group and chairman of the train station organization, said the business group has had several meetings with representatives of the Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society over the winter months. ARPS, which currently leases the line every summer to run trains from Utica to Thendara and on to Big Moose, has won the DOT contract to operate trains from there north to Tupper Lake and to run excursion trains out of here.

“Their contacts with the DOT as to when the corridor is ready for their trains are sketchy at best,” he told the group.

“They are getting mixed signals from the DOT and as the train provider they should be getting better information.”

He said Rick Dattola of the Tupper Lake Business Group recently reached out to the Watertown office of the DOT and the fellow he spoke with said he is very eager to come up and speak with the TLBG and the community in general.

“What I've been pushing is a community meeting when all the players are there: the town and village boards, the planning board, school board and the local businesses.”

“That way everyone will know what's planned at the depot site in preparation for the arrival of the rail/trail visitors and the train passengers,” he stressed.

“A few months ago we were told the first trains would arrive this August and then we were told later it would be in the fall. I think you are bang on correct, Melissa, that we won't see trains until 2023.”

“There is a lack of information for whatever reason between the DOT and the DEC!”

He said he received a call from a trail staff member at the DEC who was trying to set up a meeting between the two agencies in Tupper Lake and wondered if the train station was free.

“I'm thinking to myself” why aren't these guys talking? What are you coming to Tupper Lake for...aren't you talking with each other every day?”

“They are apparently not!”

He said the business group would like a huge community meeting conducted by those two agencies soon “to really dissect all that's going to happen.”

Mr. McClelland said he anticipates some major logistical problems with the train's arrival. “I envision 250 people getting off a train here, and there won't be a taxi, a shuttle service, a bike rental business, a car rental business to move those people into our community where we can benefit from their economic impact!”

“We're hoping the ARPS people will have a plan in place to provide secondary transportation for these train riders to move about the community.”

He said when a cruise ship in the Caribbean pulls into port on some island there are a fleet of buses to greet them to take them into the island to explore it.

He said while he knew the ARPS volunteers were working on trying to find buses to transport riders to places in Tupper Lake and around the tri-lakes, those plans remain to be finalized.

“And Hope makes a good point about the need for abundant parking places near the depot.”

Matt Ellis said what was recently discussed by the business group was inviting DOT representatives to come to town to meet with them and community leaders and to make plans for a big community meeting shortly thereafter.

“Our idea was to have a DOT representative come from Watertown and meet with community leaders so that they get a real understanding of what their plan is for Tupper Lake. A short time later we'd like them to come back and do a complete briefing to the entire community!”

“They told Rick Dattola they were open to coming here a couple of times” to detail all the plans, he explained.

“That sounds good,” Mrs. McManus told the two business group leaders. “I sense that among everyone I have spoken with, there's a receptiveness” of the two ventures starting here, “but we're all in a big information vacuum right now!”

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