BLOOMINGDALE — St. Armand residents who responded to a survey organized by two SUNY Plattsburgh students gave their vision of what they want the town to become: a place with small businesses, affordable housing, plenty of sidewalks, more community events and no Confederate flags.

Jillian Kara and Jennifer Stanton both graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh on Saturday, but in their last semester there they took part in an internship with the Essex County Planning Board. They developed the survey themselves, basing questions on previous surveys and input from local leaders.

Kara and Stanton presented the results of their survey to the St. Armand town board at a meeting last week. They received 72 responses over the course of a month, about 5% of St. Armand’s population.

They found those residents view economic development and housing as the most important issues for the town, recreation as a neutral issue and infrastructure and parking as the least important, or in best shape currently.

St. Armand Supervisor Davina Winemiller said Bloomingdale used to be “booming” with business. Of the 30-or-so businesses the town hosted here in 1975, only a handful still remain.

Kara and Stanton’s SUNY Plattsburgh environmental planning professor Kimberly Coleman has used this list in classes before to show the decline of small businesses.

Some businesses have opened in town in the last few years, and Winemiller would like to keep that growth going. She wants Bloomingdale and St. Armand to become a place were people stay, move to or return to after getting a college degree.

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Demographics

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The vast majority of respondents live within the town and over half have lived in the area for more than 20 years.

Of the respondents, 67% identified as female, 29% as male, 1.6% as non-binary and the rest did not answer or see a category that fit them.

A little under half of the respondents were between the ages of 26 and 60, with around a third between the ages of 51 and 64 and most of the rest 65 years old or older.

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Housing

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While the majority of respondents — 88% — said they own their home, a majority — 87% — also said increased housing is important in the town.

The most requested housing was affordable housing.

“Affordable housing. There is NOTHING in the tri lakes,” one comment said. “Everything has turned into air b&bs there is not housing for local families and a price we can afford.”

Winemiller said she’s working with Essex County and local landlords to turn abandoned homes into apartments.

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Business

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Respondents were asked how important it is to have new businesses in St. Armand. Stanton said the response was a “overwhelming.” They think its “very important.”

On a five-tiered scale from “not important” to “very important,” no respondents even touched the lowest two answers. Sixty-four percent ranked this as “very important.”

The most common types of businesses suggested for the town were gas stations and convenience stores where residents could buy affordable essentials. Others suggested restaurants, a food co-op and child care centers.

Comments from some survey-takers were adamant they wanted “small businesses” and “no chain businesses.”

Some suggested the town can make itself more business-friendly by lowering taxes, giving incentives and restricting large chain stores.

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Recreation

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The response to the question of how important it is to increase recreation opportunities was again “overwhelming,” according to Stanton.

Only two respondents said this was not important. Around 75% voted in the top two tiers, saying this is very important.

Respondents said they want to see more events and venues for children and families. They suggested a block party — St. Armand is planning a block party in September — a car show and a dog park.

“Bring back fields day!” one comment said.

Others suggested a new recreation building. The town is planning to build a new building for hockey, basketball and rollerblading in the next few years.

Stanton said the idea of hosting a farmers market with food trucks had an “enormous amount of support” and was the most requested event.

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Comments and flags

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Some comments were not directly related to the topics Kara and Stanton were polling about, but were included because they had quite a bit of emotion behind them.

“Ban confederate and other racist flags,” one said. “No political flags.”

Stanton said this was a “recurring comment.”

“We see this in Vermont and especially other smaller communities,” Kara said. “This isn’t just St. Armand. It’s following that national trend.”

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Infrastructure

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Many residents said they think the town has a good appearance already. One person rated the town’s appearance as “poor.”

Suggested improvements included code compliance; increased trails and sidewalks for better accessibility and more parking at ball fields, Moose Pond, the Bloomingdale Bog Trail and the Bloomingdale Elementary School.

Others also suggested public WiFi hotspots which could be accessed from parking spots and sidewalks.

Thirty-four percent of respondents rated internet access as a 4, which Stanton and Kara said is one step down from being wholly adequate. Others rated access higher.

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Data use

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Winemiller said St. Armand is currently working on a comprehensive plan with Essex County for the future of the town.

Essex County Community Resources Director Anna Reynolds said Kara and Stanton did an “amazing job” and that the data they collected will be used in a wide variety of projects.

“I think the process of coming up with the internship, researching survey methods and outreach methods, putting together the survey, getting responses and analyzing them, and then presenting the results was a lot of fun and really enriching and helpful,” Stanton said.

“We really appreciate you welcoming us into your town. We really enjoyed creating this survey and interacting with the people in the town of St. Armand,” Kara said.