Strongest Town 2023, Round 1: Valemount, BC vs. Saranac Lake, NY
Welcome to this first round match-up in the eighth annual Strongest Town Contest! In this round, 16 towns are facing off, and eight will advance to the next segment of the contest, based on your votes. We invite you to read answers representatives of these cities provided to questions we posed, and then cast your vote for which place you think is the strongest.
Can’t decide? If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how we describe the Strong Towns approach.
You may vote once per match-up. Round 1 voting closes at noon CT on Thursday, March 23. For rules, and to follow along with the contest, visit the Strongest Town Contest page.
Note: All entries are lightly edited for clarity and readability.
VOTING FOR THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED. RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON FRIDAY, MARCH 24.
VALEMOUNT, BC
Entry submitted by: Mayor Owen Torgerson, Councilor Pete Pearson, Councilor Donalda MacLean, Councilor Hugo Mulyk, Councilor Hollie Blanchette, Eric Depenau, Silvio Gislemberti, Tracey Dennis, Marcie Down.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
We have adopted a long-term parking strategy that balances community needs with development goals. The village is considering employee-specific parking areas to free up space for commercial and tourism users with the intent being a wiser use of existing spaces, rather than the creation of more. For most commercial uses, the requirement is to have one stall per 323 to 430 square feet, and one stall per three or four seats for pubs and microbreweries, to encourage carpooling or alternate transport. Note this is based on seats rather than floor area, which is intended to give a more realistic number of stalls. We also have a competitive cash in lieu system ($1,500 per stall) for commercial areas, which allows developments to opt out of providing spaces in exchange for paying a fee, which is then used in enhancing active transport and wiser offsite options. Parking requirements have been tailored to reduce parking.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
We are focused on paving our existing roads (three streets remain dirt) and promote a limited use of the road system by heavy truck traffic. New development is encouraged to maintain the village’s block size and geometry where possible. Cul-de-sacs are strongly discouraged. All future road development needs to show alignment to the village’s Transportation & Mobility Plan. A Transportation Master Plan has been identified as a high priority in the Official Community Plan. This master plan will assess the current road inventory and inform growth. The village is also considering new street standards that include narrower lane widths to reduce costs, incorporation of cycling lanes on major roads, and stormwater filtration. The village is also working with the province to identify and establish large-vehicle parking areas around the main highway corridor to ensure safety and traffic flow.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
Our zoning bylaw has been updated to add flexible options around housing, such as allowing secondary residences (backyard cottages, carriage homes, etc.) in nearly all areas of town. A temporary use permit system allows RVs to be used in most areas in order to provide flexible housing options and reduce pressure on housing. In 2021, we amended our zoning bylaw to permit residential dwelling units (including employee housing) as an accessory use, in all commercial zones. Duplexes were added as a permitted use in all zones where single-family dwellings are permitted. A zone was established where an even higher density (three or more units per lot) is required. The new zoning bylaw reduced the minimum parcel area, minimum floor area, and permitted secondary suites in several zones to promote the better use of these spaces and increase infill and densification.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
We produce an annual budget to ensure transparency and accountability and go above legislated requirements with further quarterly public reporting. Here, we are accountable to the community and businesses for how we plan to provide necessary public services and projects, and are open about how we intend to raise the funds to pay for them. Our budgeting process allows the public to provide input for council consideration prior to council making their final decisions. We also publicly share reports on our accounts payable and use a five-year financial planning bylaw to help show how the village is incorporating current and planned expenses. We undergo an independent audit annually and are proud to show decades of clear audits and a practice of adopting recommendations and new, wise practices.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
Our goal is to have local parks and trails that can be easily accessed by walking and biking. Our new wayfinding signs are planned to measure space in minutes by foot rather than distance behind a steering wheel! Options to recreate and use active transportation help create a complete community for citizens of all ages, and reduce reliance on vehicles. We formally recognize that undeveloped parcels of land in the area currently provide informal trails and recreational opportunities. Future development on these lands will need to replace what will be lost by creating a formal network of parks and trails and all parks, trails, and open spaces shall be designed or upgraded over time to meet universal access standards. Our vision is for all residential lots within the village core to be within 100 meters of either an established trail or paved pathway to further reduce reliance on vehicles.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
Mayor Torgerson: “The people! Valemount is young, with Letters Patent dated 1962. Early investors saw a trend growing from the railway and toward the ‘new’ (1965) Highway 5. Wildlife sanctuaried marsh lands to the south and steep mountain sides to the east and north surround the village. Service stations now line Highway 5 to service cars, but the highway also serves a second key role: it acts as a fourth ‘natural’ barrier limiting western sprawl, and contains Valemount to a little over five square kilometers. Trucks were meant for forestry, so pavement was not even a thing until the 1980s. Didn’t need it. Shops line the downtown core to service people. When visitors in the village ask for directions and enquire about the distance to drive to their destination, a popular answer is, ‘Drive? You’re about four blocks from anywhere here.’ Valemount will continue to be about the people”.
SARANAC LAKE, NY
Entry submitted by: Charli Lomino III, Jamie Konkoski, Jeremy Evans.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
Saranac Lake abolished parking minimums village-wide in 2016. The village also requires the consideration of other transportation modes (cycling, walking, etc.) when designing the site of a new development. The Saranac Lake Development Code states, “The design objective for the access, parking and circulation standards is to … [e]mphasize the importance of site accessibility from a variety of modes of transportation wherever appropriate, including pedestrians, bicycles, automobiles, and any current or potential future transit service.” The Village recently approved a mixed-use development downtown, which includes a 2,500-square-foot commercial space and 70 housing units, but will only provide 18 parking spaces. These considerations, plus the encouragement of mixed-use neighborhoods through the Development Code, ensure that Saranac Lake is not prioritizing parking over people.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
Saranac Lake lies within the Adirondack Park, the largest state park in the contiguous United states, making construction of new roads difficult. For this reason, it is not feasible for the community to expand outward; Saranac Lake must instead densify. In this century, the only new roads constructed in the village have been parts of subdivisions—less than 2 miles, total. Still, we consider some of our existing roads to be too wide. The village successfully petitioned the New York State Department of Transportation to do a road diet on the sole four-lane stroad in town back in the 1990s, with preliminary discussions to make further changes to this road in the future! More recent infrastructure projects have included new sidewalks near the school and a new path to connect a rail-trail to a busy shopping center on the edge of town. There is also a plethora of local volunteers which construct and maintain the recreational trails.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
The Saranac Lake Development Code expressly encourages housing flexibility. Exclusive single-family zoning does not exist in Saranac Lake; the Development Code allows accessory dwelling units by right in all zoning districts. In fact, there is a single-family home ban, a two-story minimum, and no maximum building height in the downtown in order to ensure that this area remains especially dense and walkable. The local housing crisis is closely related to an influx of short-term rentals and derelict "zombie" housing. To combat this, the Village Board of Trustees is developing a law limiting the quantity of short-term rentals, where exceptions may be granted in scenarios where an owner is looking to rehabilitate a “zombie” home. Further incentives to rehabilitate derelict housing are being considered, including increasing the maximum allowable size of an accessory dwelling unit.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
Saranac Lake recently approved the purchase of a new, cloud-based accounting software that will allow the village to share financial data in a more user-friendly format. The intent is to use this new software to increase transparency and post PDFs of accounting reports on the town’s website. The previous year’s budget cycle is the first year where the town budget was posted publicly in the form of a searchable PDF. Additionally, the village treasurer is currently working to create a capital improvement plan.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
The Saranac Lake Development Code, Comprehensive Plan, and Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan all emphasize the need for streets to be designed and maintained for multi-model use, which includes bicycle facilities and minimizing lane widths. The village also has a policy requiring the completion of a Complete Streets checklist before finalizing design for road reconstruction or maintenance projects. Many of Saranac Lake’s streets are already narrow, but the village continues to improve. Two projects slated for 2023 will further return Downtown Saranac Lake to the people. The first will convert excess intersection pavement into a large pedestrian plaza in the center of downtown. Another will reconstruct a street downtown to add new sidewalks and a separate bicycle path between two important corridors near where two significant, locally owned enterprises are expanding their facilities.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
Saranac Lake has successfully linked its residents with nature while retaining the benefits of a dense, urban environment. An old rail line, running the length of the town, is being converted into a paved, multi-use trail to further connect the different parts of town through more modes of transportation safely. This multi-use trail extends miles into the wilderness on both sides of town, allowing non-vehicle owners the opportunity to easily access nature. Three mountains within village boundaries all serve different uses for outdoor recreation: a down-hill ski/tubing facility, a cross-country ski facility, and a hiking trail. There are also two lakes for water recreation. All of these destinations are an easy walk or bike ride away for nearly all village residents. Nature is abundant and close by, yet the entire community is easily navigable by foot. It truly is a 15-minute village.