Vision 2040 - Part III  

by Colin Read, December 16, 2010

The opportunities available to Clinton County are almost unprecedented. As we approach the fifteen anniversary of the closing of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base, we have seen a dramatic growth in logistics and distribution companies, major new plants of Canadian corporations for passenger rail car and articulated bus manufacturing, and significant growth of our regional hospital and State University of New York college. Most recently, it has been announced that Laurentian Aerospace, another Canada-based company, will begin construction on a new, state of the art aircraft maintenance and repair facility.

If major shipbuilders and submarine manufacturers come to town, Clinton County will manage to span the entire range of transportation manufacturing. Such a presence is fitting, given our history as a transportation corridor and as a logistics pathway between Canada and the United States.

Sometimes, a community's destiny is preordained, as is our natural role in the movement of economic product. At other times, though, a community seizes the day, determines just what type of community it would like to be, and assembles a plan to make it happen. This county is one such community.

A group was assembled in 2009, and met again this spring and fall to discuss how to ensure Clinton County is a sustainable community. In the April 21, 2010 feature article of the IDEA monthly e-newsletter, we discussed some of the demographic and industry factors that have since motivated our discussion and our concern. At that time, we recognized that the population of this county, like many counties in rural areas and in New York State, is aging. In many such communities, the youth are attracted to urban areas, and the industrial base is insufficiently vibrant or dynamic to continue to attract the replacement population sustainability demands. This tendency is demonstrated in our projection of the population pyramid from 1990 and projected by 2035:

 

It is not uncommon in developed countries to have the reduced young population these diagrams show. While some communities have a more pronounced bulge at the higher age demographic, our community will yield a narrowing population with age - for now. The challenge of any sustainable community is to attract young professionals and young families with parents in the 25-40 year old bracket so the constrictions in this distribution can be filled. If a community can do so on an ongoing basis, the population that can even out any irregularities in the distribution and create a sustainable population base.

The Vision 2040 group contains more than fifty local stakeholders drawn from various professions, ages, and lengths of residency in Clinton County. They all share the desire to ensure this community remains vibrant and sustainable and the population pyramid does not become inverted. The group very quickly seized upon four important characteristics of a vibrant and sustainable community.

The first ingredient is engagement. Stakeholders must recognize that a sustainable community becomes so because it dictates its own economic fate. To do so, the community must create a vision of what is possible and must have the discipline and dedication to move steadily toward that vision. If stakeholders are not engaged, the economic development path may be a random walk rather than a straight and steady marathon run.

The second ingredient is infrastructure. Of course, a belief in the importance of providing an infrastructure for success requires more than a faith in the adage "build it and they will come." Rather, it is a wisdom to determine, and a willingness to invest in those aspects of a community that are attractive to future young professionals and entrepreneurs alike.

The third ingredient is competitiveness. A successful community must acknowledge that the best of those who may come here to enjoy its vision also have other choices. Young professionals and entrepreneurs alike are motivated by a nicely and seamlessly interwoven combination of lifestyle and opportunity. Communities like Eugene, Oregon, Fort Collins or Boulder, Colorado, Madison, Wisconsin, Amherst, Massachusetts, or Fairfax County, Virginia, compete for their attention and eventual loyalty. A successful and sustainable community must be attractive against a wider backdrop than merely those counties in the surrounding area.

Finally, success requires the understanding and acknowledgement of sustainability. The combination of amenities, attractions, and opportunities must satisfy the needs of those we hope to attract. They must also be affordable, attractive, and desirable for those already here. Successful communities have a certain timelessness to them, based perhaps on a shared and rich history, an environmental bounty, or some other strategic and geographical advantage. A community that can devote its resources into those aspects that cultivate and ensure its longevity rather than merely cater to the preferences of its current population can create that sense of timelessness.

Clinton County has the ingredients that make up these four pillars of community success. The hard work of the Vision 2040 all stakeholders, in our Vision 2040 group meetings, and in smaller committees that focus on various challenges and opportunities, is beginning to pay dividends.

Of course, ultimate success will require economic engines that create the sense of dynamism from which each of these four pillars can flourish. Fortunately for this county, our geographical location, our resiliency and determination, our beautiful natural environment, and our location at the crossroads between other robust economies has created some natural advantages. At this juncture, it is helpful to inventory some of the successes that shall pave the way for our success.

The Institute for Development and Economic Analysis is embarking on a series of studies that will explore just how enterprises like Nova Bus have augmented our economy, and how the prospect for Laurentian aerospace will do likewise. It is this level of analysis, complemented with careful planning, that provides us all with some assurance that Clinton County can determine a sustainable economic path.

[BACK TO HOMEPAGE]