LAKE PLACID — Another affordable housing project is emerging in Lake Placid, this time with the development of a co-op housing community on a 103-acre parcel of land in the town of North Elba.
The Adirondack North Country Association on Wednesday announced that — alongside Massachusetts-based nonprofit the Cooperative Development Institute and with the support of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative — it’s in the beginning stages of forming a cooperative housing community that could create dozens of new affordable housing units for locals. ANCA has worked with CDI in the past to help Ward Lumber transition into its new capacity as an employee-owned business cooperative.
The Anantafo Foundation committed the 103-acre parcel of land, located in North Elba off of Averyville Lane, to ANCA’s co-op project after a private donor handed the parcel over to the foundation. The land is partially classified by the Adirondack Park Agency for rural intensity use and partially as hamlet, the least restrictive classification. There is a large amount of forest area on the land, and the Chubb River flows through the parcel. ANCA Executive Director Elizabeth Cooper said that the original land donor, who wants to remain anonymous, wants to preserve much of the forested area while contributing to the need for more affordable housing. She said that around 15 acres of the land could be developed for housing.
The amount and type of housing that will be developed on this land hasn’t been decided yet — that’s why ANCA held a learning session in the Lake Placid Middle-High School auditorium on Wednesday to inform people about the kinds of residential co-ops that could be formed and to begin recruiting a group of people who are interested in becoming resident-owners of the co-op. ANCA is planning to hold a virtual question and answer session about the co-op at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8, with more learning sessions coming down the pike.
Read the full article in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.