Housing Said To Be

Town's Big Challenge

A want of sufficient housing is the key problem that Randolph will face over the next decade, according to the man who has overseen development efforts, including housing, for the last four years.

Jeremy Ingpen, who is leaving his post as executive director for the Randolph Area Community Development Corp. (RACDC) at the end of this year, made that assessment in a wide-ranging interview with The Herald last week.

Ingpen is a British native who lived in North Randolph in the 1970s and then took a variety of development jobs in the U. S., England, and Russia before being lured back to the RACDC job four years ago.

He made the comments against the backdrop of long residence here, as well as wide international experience in economic development.

The Randolph he discovered upon moving back to town four years ago was a much different place than the one he left 30 years ago, Ingpen said. He's very upbeat about those changes, which include "clusters" of economic activity built around the environment, the arts, professional people, and the newly retired.

"You see the whole community changing very significantly," he remarked. There is really good diversity in the economy, which leads to resilience. We're not a one-legged stool."

At the same time Randolph has done a remarkable job at keeping its farms and keeping manufacturing jobs, he noted.

"But—where are the supervisors, workers, and managers going to live?" he asked. The supply of housing simply hasn't kept up with the need, which drives prices up. It's not just a Randolph problem; the problem is statewide, and Ingpen has some ideas why that is.

"I left here the last time in 1998, and when I came back in 2002, housing prices had doubled. There was lots of good housing for $70,000 then; now $150,000 buys next to nothing." (He noted, however, that recently housing prices have dropped a bit.)

Part of the problem, Ingpen said, is that "there has been almost no new building in Orange County for 10 years.

Statewide, the provision of new housing has been 4% per year, but in Orange County, it's been 2%, he said.

"And some of these houses are on family land, and some are at the top of the market. That leaves almost nothing available for people with incomes of $45,000 to $85,000."

Part of the problem, he thinks, is the "stickiness" of the permit problem, something that struck him as "just horrendous" when he returned from 10 years overseas.

"In 1987-88, I helped with a project for Anichini, renovating an old barn on Route 110, getting permits, financing and all in less than 12 months. It's almost inconceivable you could do that now.

"The problem is that the world is moving at a global speed," Ingpen added. "You don't have the 24 months it takes to push a project through."

In building housing, a long start-time affects the affordability of the project, he noted. "Losing a year, you can't afford a 10-unit project, so you have to do a 50-unit project."

That means, he said, that developers are drawn to build in a more urban center like Chittenden County, where they can sell 50 houses. And THAT means, he continued that "we can't build 10-20 houses in the Randolphs of the world."

Attitude Adjustment

Besides the permitting system, Ingpen believes some attitudes must change. The "suburbanization" in Chittenden county and some other places has led to a perception that more housing would mean dangerous sprawl. Not true, he said.

He prefers the concept of Vermont's commissioner of Housing & Community Affairs, John Hall, who refers to the "right-sizing" of communities.

According to "right-sizing" theory, a town's optimum size depends upon its infrastructure. Towns with substantial infrastructure can experience more efficient operation and lower taxes if they grow a bit.

Randolph is a prime example, according to Ingpen.

"When a community has a police department, a sewer system, and a school that is under-utilized, you can in fact add significant number of people without increasing the service expenditures much."

But that's not what the public believes, he admits.

"There's always a perception that if you add more people, the cost of services will go up. It's a very strong perception, and work needs to be done to show that this is not so."

Commissioner Hall actually included Randolph among a group of towns to study with "right-sizing" in mind, Ingpen said, but the study was never done.

Job Creation

Meanwhile, he stressed that Randolph "has done extremely well in creating new jobs," despite losing much of its old industrial base when Ethan Allen, Waterbury Co., Merrimaids, and Branchwood closed.

"We still have 400-plus manufacturing jobs in town, which is extraordinary on a global scale," he commented. He noted the success of ClearSource, Applied Research, Vermont Castings, and New England Precision, which he termed "a heck of an operation—they're doing stuff in Randolph you'd think they'd do in China."

Other bright spots in the economy include Gifford Medical Center—"a tremendous success story"—and VTC—"under new energetic leadership."

The presence of VTC is important to the manufacturing firms and those in the "professional services cluster" in town, such as DuBois & King and Sanborn Head Associates, Ingpen said.

He also sees a great potential for economic growth based on appreciation of the environment of the White River watershed.

"We've never been a tourist area, but we have the potential of low-key forms of it now," he said, mentiong bed and breakfast establishments, mountian biking, hunting and fishing, cross country skiing and just plain natural beauty.

Brits are Coming

"The Brits are coming," he quipped. Always attuned to the lilt of a familial English accent, he noted that the British are experienced world travelers, and their occasional appearance here is a promising development.

So is the surprising increase in retirees, spurred by the new cultural activities and the assurance of a safe, healthy, and lively community. Such people bring retirement incomes and a lot of volunteer time; and they place little burden on services, he noted.

Still, Ingpen returned to his first topic. The housing supply must grow at a similar rate to the job market, he said.

"If not, two things happen: The cost of services will be pushed on the existing homeowner and tax rates go up and up; and the cost of commuting goes up."

He doesn't think that new competition from wealthy out-of-staters is a big part of the housing problem.

"Out of staters aren't looking for a starter home for Vermont families," he commented.

The problem, he thinks is supply—Orange County is just not building enough houses and apartments, he believes.

The RACDC, during Ingpen's period of leadership, built 12 housing units on Randolph Avenue and Pearl Street and launched an ambitious project to build 20-25 unts in the proposed "Salisbury Square."

That's just a start, though. Ingpen would like to see Randolph become "right-sized," and provide new homes for those who are discovering what a nice place it is to live.