from chapter 1
About Hamlets 3
Many hamlets in the Adirondack Park
have expressed a need for residential and
commercial expansion. Using the principles
of smart growth, Hamlets 3 responds to
this need by helping local communities and
regional decision-makers plan for sustainable
development. Smart growth, which balances economic development and preservation of the environment, has two important benefits:
1. it enables communities to integrate
land suitable for development into the fabric of the existing hamlet, thus concentrating rather than dissipating resources, and
2. it complements the protection of
forests, farmland and other forms of open
space by avoiding visually unappealing, and resource-inefficient sprawl and strip development.
This guide develops a planning and
design model for smart growth that builds on
existing community centers and bridges state
and local planning processes.
SMART GROWTH IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE IN HAMLETS.
Hamlets 1 & 2 background
Hamlets 3 is the third installment of
a series that builds on two previous
studies from the 1980s: Hamlets of
the Adirondacks 1and 2. Hamlets
1 educated persons and agencies
(especially those outside of the park)
about the existence of the hamlets,
addressing any perception that the
Adirondacks is entirely a wilderness,
without any communities or resident
population. It made the case that the
hamlets had pressing needs for new
investment and revitalization, and that
appropriate policies and programs were
required to meet the needs of hamlets.
Problems identified in Hamlets 1 included struggling local economies,
workforce housing shortages, inadequate
infrastructure, deteriorating public
realms, and perceived administrative
obstacles to development.
Hamlets 2 provided local
governments, planning boards,
community organizations, and
concerned individuals with ideas and
strategies on hamlet revitalization.Hamlets 1 received a National Merit
Award from the American Society of
Landscape Architects, and Hamlets
1 & 2 won the American Planning
Association’s National Best Planning
Project Award in 1987. Roger Trancik,
professor emeritus, Cornell University,
was lead consultant in the development
and production of Hamlets 1 & 2.
Hamlets 3 project
Hamlets 3 finds ways to create
opportunities for sustainable smart
expansion of Adirondack hamlets by
improving their physical and economic
environment. This can be achieved in
part through affordable housing, jobs,
open spaces, community facilities, and
the expansion of infrastructure.
Hamlets 3 recognizes the
uniqueness of the Adirondacks as a significant nature preserve that also
contains a diverse collection of hamlets – "a park of people and nature." It
recognizes the special problems of
the Adirondack hamlet as small,
isolated, and having a seasonallyfluctuating
population and economy.
It also recognizes the requirements of
the regional environmental planning
regulations administered by the
Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and
the need to provide local communities
and their constituent agencies with
tools, procedures, and guidelines
to plan for appropriate kinds of
development. Hamlets 3 respects the
positive attributes of the Adirondacks to
improve quality of life in the hamlets.
Client groups and sponsors
Hamlets 3 is funded by the New York
State Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC), in partnership
with the APA and Department of
State, under its current and ongoing
Adirondack Park Community Smart
Growth Grant Program. The overall
purpose of this initiative is to link
environmental protection, economic
development and community livability
within the special conditions of the
Adirondack Park.
The firm of Roger Trancik,
FASLA, Urban Design Consultants,
Ithaca, New York is lead consultant
for Hamlets 3. The Adirondack
Community Housing Trust is principal
client with Essex County, acting
through its planning department, as
the municipal sponsor. A broad-based
Advisory Committee representing
many different public, semi-public and
private organizations and stakeholders
throughout the park provided project
direction and feedback during the
development of Hamlets 3. For a
complete listing of contributors see
credits on Page 2.
Hamlets 3