PARC has done everything the North Country has asked of it. And it has done it, relatively, at the speed of light.
The Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corp. has been trying to turn Plattsburgh Air Force Base into a 3,500-acre center of civilian activity since the base closed in 1995. (To be perfectly accurate, the Plattsburgh Intermunicipal Development Council preceded PARC and got the effort off the ground.) It has been wildly successful by installation-redevelopment standards, having put all but about 50 acres onto local tax rolls.
And this flurry of marketing took only 15 years. Such a mission is generally thought to take closer to 25 years than 15.
Only nine parcels remain to be sold.
The sales have been so brisk that PARC is putting itself out of business. As of July 1, the corporation will be all but retired. Down to four full-time and two part-time employees now, after June, there will be perhaps two or three part-timers, if current plans hold. And they will hold unless some seriously unexpected marketing anomalies occur, for better or worse. The actual end date might be before July 1 or after, but, in either case, probably not by much.
PARC doesn't expect to sell all nine parcels by July 1. Somebody will have to be available in some part-time capacity to wrap up sales that take place after the unofficial retirement. (No blockbusters are currently on the fire, though the space is being advertised and calls of inquiry and interest continue to come in daily.) And it takes some time to clear all Air Force and accounting red tape, the latter owing to PARC's status as a nonprofit corporation. But all of that can happen without a full-time staff.
The most important statistic to PARC President and CEO Bruce Steadman is that in the 15 years since the base closed, $130 million worth of property has been put onto the tax rolls. (Less than $5 million remains.) Steadman sees that as an even more revealing figure than the number of jobs that have been created. That number is probably in the 1,000-2,000 range, although it's so fluid that it's difficult to pinpoint. Businesses and industries have come and a few have gone, and some of the jobs have been part-time.
Nevertheless, more people are working at PARC now than were working as civilians for the base, so the community is better off than when the base was thriving.
The city and Town of Plattsburgh have been the beneficiaries of a lot of infrastructure PARC has created or improved — roads, water and sewer lines and electrical systems, for example. Public-benefit groups, such as the Battle of Plattsburgh Association, have gained valuable resources thanks to PARC. Taxing jurisdictions have received payments in lieu of taxes.
So PARC has all but completed its mission, and well under its target time. Now it is headed for retirement.
The decision in the early 1990s to form a redevelopment group and try to market the base rather than have the Air Force tear it down and let natural forces determine the fate of those 3,500 acres was about the wisest one we can recall and gave the North Country more value, more quickly, than even the optimists imagined.
Opinion
February 6, 2010
EDITORIAL: PARC heads into the sunset
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