Ti downtown to get energy jolt from New Urbanism

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July 8, 2007

By LOHR McKINSTRY The Press Republican Sun Jul 08, 2007, 01:00 AM EDT

TICONDEROGA -- A walled city in Italy and Ticonderoga's beleaguered downtown don't seem to have much in common, but it's possible one could refresh the other.

A charge of new energy is what the Ticonderoga business district needs most, said Robert Pell-deChame of the Ticonderoga Main Street Project.

New urbanism

Newly returned from a planning conference in the ancient walled city of Pienza, Italy, he spent his time there discussing New Urbanism planning and Ticonderoga's needs.

"These people are all at the top of their game. They're New Urbanists. That's the philosophy from which they all emerge."

New Urbanism is traditional neighborhood design. The movement began in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform all aspects of real-estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban in-fill. New Urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs and to be "walkable."

"I was an invited speaker on the subject of stewardship of historic properties and their inter-relationship with local economies, before a think-tank of leading New Urbanist architects, planners and developers," Pell-deChame said.

He's part of the Pell family that began restoring and rebuilding Fort Ticonderoga in 1909. The think-tank is the Seaside Pienza Institute.

Pell-deChame said the conference included consultations with the Marchesa Frescobaldi and Lady Caroline Percy, the sister of the Duke of Northumberland, about their historic properties, as well as Hank Ditmarr, the director of the Prince of Wales' building/development foundation, all members of the institute.

revitalizing downtown

Some of the people he met with are coming to Ticonderoga in the near future to take a look around, Pell-deChame said.

"They're interested in helping us here. I believe that many of the contacts I made there will result in significant impact for the future of Ticonderoga, not to mention raising consciousness of Ti to new levels with an international group."

Ticonderoga Town Supervisor Robert C. Dedrick said he supports goals Pell-deChame and the Main Street Project have expressed.

"He (Pell-deChame) has some great ideas. If we can translate some of this into what we're doing, we can succeed."

One local group is doing its best to rehabilitate Ticonderoga's downtown: the preservation company PRIDE of Ticonderoga.

PRIDE Executive Director Sharon Reynolds said when representatives of the National Main Street Trust studied Ticonderoga this year, they had some sobering advice for the community.

"They told us we're not ready. That's where PRIDE fits in."

PRIDE has received a $350,000 grant to do historic exterior and interior renovations on downtown businesses, and the work is under way now on 12 buildings.

"The credit goes to the owners of the buildings who are making the investments," Reynolds said. "The interior changes they've made, it's incredible. They're the heroes. They're saving us."

More such grants will be available in March 2008, she said.

"We'll continue as long as it takes. With this grant, we get a chance to teach. Doing renovations to historic standards, historic colors is a win-win. You're going to get more people coming to your building."

CHANGES

One good example is the Old Mill Restaurant at Montcalm and Tower, she said, which is getting a new facade, windows and stained glass.

"The idea was to bring it back. We're using a historic color."

The café will be restored to an early 20th-century, pale yellow when it's completed. PRIDE used consultants at Ticonderoga Paint and Decorating and the Adirondack Architectural Heritage group in Keeseville.

The first group of buildings will be done by fall, Reynolds said.

"The owners have been a delight to work with. They want to improve their buildings."

Roxies' Hair Salon will be done with black granite panels.

The Charbonneau Building owned by PRIDE on Montcalm Street has been vacant since North Country Community College moved its Ticonderoga campus into a new building, but Reynolds said St. Joseph's Rehabilitation Center will move its alcohol Ticonderoga treatment facility there.

A parking lot and trailhead will also be created at Montcalm Street and Lake George Avenue for the LaChute Trail, a community-owned walking path behind the downtown.

"Our participation is to do what we do best," Reynolds said. "Historic preservation, rehabilitation and getting money to administer the grants. It's restoring the core. I love that term. That's what we'll be focusing on."

Preserving sites

A historic treasure like Fort Ticonderoga could be at the center of the community's revitalization, Pell-deChame said.

"The theme was legacy properties.' They all have a family component. It's a whole new way of developing large tracts of land."

Although Fort Ticonderoga sits along the lake, there is no lake access to the site.

"The fort needs a Lake Champlain aspect. The fort has to take a more active role."

Attendance at Fort Ti has gone from a high of 130,000 annual visitors in the 1990s to about 74,000 now, he said.

Places like the Biltmore Estate, Robert Redford Ranch and the Billings Farm Museum know what they're doing, he said.

"They all have a public-private interface. The message that came out of all this was diversification. Breaking it into corporate segments. I'm trying hard to put Ticonderoga in that rank."

LOOKING AHEAD

One thing that might help the fort would be to offer the use of the pavilion at the King's Garden to the Institute of Classical Architecture as a summer home, he said.

"My whole point is to boost Ticonderoga. Ticonderoga has unreformed potential. The goal is to weave together the disparate pieces that are Ticonderoga into a comprehensive plan."

Modernism made things like shopping malls and urban sprawl possible, he said, and has largely failed. Pell-deChame believes that's why it's time to get back to the basics of communities.

"We need to get principles that made places livable. They (New Urbanists) take a holistic approach to development, a humanistic approach."

He pointed to new businesses in Ticonderoga, like the Gourmet Gal, along with revamped stores, such as Rathbun Jewelers and Roxies' Hair Salon.

"That's the future of Ticonderoga. Those people have figured it out."

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com