A snowshoer competes at the Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center in February 2022 during the Adirondack Snowshoe Fest. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

PAUL SMITHS — Franklin County is asking the state to invest in the Visitor Interpretive Center at Paul Smith’s College. The county tourism department sees potential in turning what they describe as an “underutilized” wilderness recreation and Nordic ski center into a major draw to the region.

This request would set the VIC up for a transformative multi-year project to upgrade its Nordic cross-country ski trails, rebrand, upgrade the lodge and prepare the 3,000-acre tract to host larger sporting competitions in the future.

“There’s a lot of potential that we’re not at yet,” VIC Director and Franklin County Tourism Advisory Committee member Scott Van Laer said.

The Franklin County Legislature authorized its Economic Development Committee to apply for around $100,000 in state grant funding last week. The legislature pledged up to $50,000 from its tourism budget to match the grant. This grant is just for the engineering studies for the upgrades.

“It’s the first step in what we hope to be a much larger project,” county Tourism Director Phil Hans said.

He said if this one is approved, it would set the VIC and the county up to go after more grants in the future.

The grant, a Consolidated Funding Application from the New York Empire State Development program, is a competitive one. Hans admits he’s biased, but feels they have a good chance based on the quality of the project.

“The VIC, I think, shows the greatest potential in all of Franklin County for driving tourism,” Hans said.

While the county has established ski, golf and museum assets, he said the VIC is “underutilized.” An annual VIC report estimated that more than 35,000 people visited the center from July 2022 to June 2023.

Businessman and PSC benefactor Phil Saunders donated a lot of money to the college to build up its Nordic ski center and team. Van Laer said he’s been driven by Saunders’ vision.

“I want to get it to the finish line,” he said.

The ski center already has trails designed by John Morton.

“That’s a name-drop,” Van Laer said.

Morton has attended seven Winter Olympics as a biathlon athlete, coach and team leader, and the trails he designs are prestigious all over the world.

The center also has a biathlon range and a 100-car parking lot. But Van Laer said they need more parking, permanent structures and trail infrastructure to get to that next level of hosting bigger events.

Van Laer said the VIC can “coexist” with the Nordic center at the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid.

“This is not a competition. This is cooperation,” he said.

As the state Olympic Regional Development Authority-run Mount Van Hoevenberg has become more prestigious, netting World Cup competitions, he said it creates a great opportunity for the VIC to pick up the regional college and high school races — maybe even some national ones.

“They can’t have every race,” Van Laer said. “This is something that fills hotels, fills beds, and they come basically for a week.”

While the college has built up a lot of the center, he said, they don’t quite have enough infrastructure to host these sorts of events yet.

“I may need snowmaking to some capacity,” Van Laer said. “I hate to say that. Because if Paul Smiths doesn’t have natural snow, who does?”

But he said he sees the future climate change is bringing.

This past winter was the warmest on record for the area since tracking started in 1905.

In January, Van Laer said recent winters have been “lean” for snow — there was no skiable terrain at the VIC during the holiday vacation between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The main building at the VIC, Hutchins Lodge, was built in 1989. Its shake shingle roof and the museum exhibits it houses are still original — and dated, Van Laer said. He said he’d like to see the museum share more information on the VIC lands themselves.

The boardwalks over the marshes are also made of 40-year-old pressure-treated wood that is in need of an upgrade.

Van Laer has been holding concerts in the theater, where he said the acoustics are amazing. But, he said it was built with guest speakers in mind. It’s a narrow stage for a band.

Van Laer said he’s glad Franklin County has the same vision for the VIC that he does.

He added that the VIC will be putting in money itself.

“I’m not looking for a free pass,” he said.

The center has been successful in recent years and has “a reasonable surplus for a nonprofit.”

The VIC’s most recent annual report shows the center brought in $548,610 in revenue from July 2022 to June 2023, and had $506,152 in expenses. Most of its revenue, 57%, comes from grants and sponsorships.

The state supports the VIC with funding from its Environmental Protection Fund. This covers salaries, not infrastructure. Van Laer said he’s biting off what he can chew — for example, they redid the lodge’s siding last year — but need help on some of the larger projects.

Hans said he and the county Tourism Advisory Committee believe the VIC’s location, size and its range of experience levels make it an attractive tourism opportunity. And he said the upgrades could bolster enrollment for the college which owns and runs the center.

Hans said the county will submit the application soon and he expects to find out if it is granted by the end of this year.

The county legislature also approved the payment of a Destination Development and Marketing Program award of up to $10,000 for the VIC last week. Hans said this is “indirectly related” to the state grant application.