Central Lake Champlain Destination Master Plan

Are you familiar with the Central Lake Champlain Destination Master Plan? At an Adirondack Destination Summit in Lake Placid last October ROOST (the Regional Office Of Sustainable Tourism) launched a collaboration between multiple towns to encourage the development of regional tourism. Thirty three Adirondack towns were represented and grouped into thirteen distinct destination regions including the Central Lake Champlain (CLC) region which includes Essex, Willsboro, Westport, and Chesterfield.

Following the ROOST summit representatives from all four towns have continued to meet in order to inventory our region’s strengths, identify what makes our area unique, and to clarify what’s missing from the equation. This is the first stage in creating a Destination Master Plan (DMP), a blueprint for how to achieve short and long term regional objectives. The process involves three main tasks:

inventory our natural and man-made assets,
identify existing gasps, and
explore possible paths forward.

Tourism is being proposed as a stepping stone to build and expand other important aspects of our economy in a sustainable manner, but it is only one facet of a comprehensive local needs assessment and strategic planning initiative. This is an exciting opportunity for everyone who lives or works in the Central Lake Champlain region, and its success depends in large part on the enthusiastic participation of as many individuals as possible. Read on to learn how you can help.

Public Meeting at Grange

ROOST is facilitating the process of developing a CLC destination plan and destination marketing strategy while exploring and catalyzing advantageous regional synergies. On November 19 a public meeting was held at the Whallonsburg Grange to update our community about the process and progress. Attendees heard what has been done so far and learned about plans for the future. Everyone was encouraged to offer feedback and ask questions. Jim McKenna, the CEO of ROOST, moderated the discussion.

The first steps in the DMP are to identify the goals and priorities for the CLC region and to appropriately scale initiatives to ensure that they do not radically alter the character of any community.

McKenna cautioned against changing neighborhood character with out-of-scale or unreasonable projects. It’s best to start with establishing goals, then work on how to implement them, he said. Here in the Champlain Valley, tourism might be the catalyst to get more diversified types of economy running through new investment, which in turn, which lead to those boutique services to which newcomers are accustomed. “If population cannot sustain them, visitors need to sustain demand,” he said. (“Central Lake Champlain destination master planning process comes to life“)

Jim McKenna (CEO of ROOST) discussed sustainable tourism with Central Lake Champlain TDA members at the Whallonsburg Grange on Wed, Nov. 19. (Photo by Pete DeMola.)

Several challenges were identified across the region:

the need for more lodging;
curb appeal, including filling empty storefronts/buildings;
infrastructure, including reliable wifi and cell phone service;
lack of public transportation and parking; and
a need for increased off-season attractors including retail and dining operations.

Many strengths were also identified:

Lake Champlain and outdoor recreation (on and off the lake);
popular long-distance cycling routes;
abundant arts;
wellness centers/practitioners that could make for a “wellness corridor”;
CATS trails;
local farms (encouraging gastrotourism/agritourism); and
the possibility of marketing as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks.”

In short, there are obvious gaps that currently limit potential tourism growth, but our abundant resources and opportunities can be leveraged to benefit the entire CLC region.

The best plans, said McKenna and Joe Lathrop, a consultant ROOST brought into a workshop last month in Lake Placid, contain the same core elements, a focus on product development and infrastructure and ensuring a positive experience for visitors while preserving community relationships. And, of course, a solid marketing plan. (“Central Lake Champlain destination master planning process comes to life“)

According to Jim McKenna, “It’s really the experience that drives marketing.” He cited three existing strengths that we can capitalize on with more focused marketing:

Outdoor experience
Community (shops, restaurants, etc)
Sight seeing

Although much of the conversation at the November 19 meeting addressed early, anecdotal strengths, gaps and trends, the DMP process will gather and produce useful data, metrics, analysis, and strategic priorities.

Determining Priorities

[pullquote]Dusty jewels include the Essex ferry connection and Westport’s Main Street, practical assets that also lend themselves to event planning…[/pullquote]

McKenna says the Champlain Valley Region hasn’t reached its full potential. Dusty jewels include the Essex ferry connection and Westport’s Main Street, practical assets that also lend themselves to event planning. The key is finding the right type of event, preferably one with a built-in audience. […]
ROOST arrived at a list of two-dozen priorities that need to be whittled down: They include continuing to develop a wellness corridor, encouraging more contemporary medium-priced lodging and offering more lake access. Existing resources, like Champlain Area Trails, Lakes to Locks, the Essex County Fairgrounds, the Crown Point Bridge landing, Westport’s Amtrak Station and local farms also need to be better utilized. (“Central Lake Champlain destination master planning process comes to life“)

A significant priority for the initiative will be determining how to incentivize community buy-in to ensure maximum participation. Attendance at the November 19 meeting was slim despite being well publicized and open to the general public. Participants acknowledged and briefly brainstormed strategies for involving a more diverse and inclusive core of regional representatives.

While most agreed that it is essential, even critical, for the success of the CLC Destination Master Plan, there was little consensus over how to achieve this lofty goal. Continued efforts to publicize the DMP and to maintain transparency throughout the process will help, but investing community members, businesses, local government and other established and de facto organizations in the process will require more.

Perhaps a direct appeal to potential constituents coupled with a clear, strong value proposition would be useful. This might be facilitated by:

creating/empowering a corp of “ambassadors” for the CLC Destination Master Plan
identifying key influencers in Essex, Willsboro, Westport, and Chesterfield
setting a short-term timeline for ambassadors to meet with influencers
following up one-on-one meetings with personal invitations to the next community meeting

Of course the most important piece of the puzzle remains. What is the clear, strong value proposition? To some degree this will evolve and emerge during the DMP process. Pie-in-the-sky wish lists are an exciting early stage necessity, but wide scale participation and buy-in will depend on viable, meaningful benefits.

Benefits

[pullquote]Tourism is not a silver bullet, but it can help propel improvements in services and infrastructure that will benefit other economic verticals.[/pullquote]

So what is the value of undertaking such an ambitious project? There are potentially many benefits for CLC regional municipalities, businesses, and organizations, but two meta objectives that were voiced repeatedly are:

to incubate a year-round local economy and
to improve residents’ quality of life.

Tourism is not a silver bullet, but it can help propel improvements in services and infrastructure that will benefit other economic verticals.

At the Grange, ROOST CEO Jim McKenna said if executed properly, DMPs can be used as economic development tools. While residents are struggling to maintain services, visitors can supply the demand to keep them available for residents. That, he said, is the definition of sustainable tourism. “Good economic policies that are good for the environment,” he said. […]
The next phase of the project is to create a list of specific ideas that are obtainable. Work on those could begin immediately. “We want to make this as open to as many ideas we can,” [McKenna] said. “It’s an open process.” (“Central Lake Champlain destination master planning process comes to life“)

This an extraordinary opportunity to actively influence the future of our communities. If you would like to participate in the Central Lake Champlain destination planning, contact centrallakechamplain@gmail.com.

To read Pete DeMola’s full article on the Grange meeting go here: “Central Lake Champlain destination master planning process comes to life.”