I spent this past weekend in Fayette County with Pitt’s ACRI cohort. Spending time in Fayette after talking about it for so long was really amazing – especially in beautiful fall weather. My urban studies team got to conduct three interviews. We spoke with Lindsay Kettering, head of Touchstone Center of the Arts, which is also where we were staying. Later on, we interviewed three staff at Fallingwater: Jenny Wagner, director of visitor services, Ashley Andrykovitch, curator of education, and Max Adzema, public programs manager. We also got to go on a tour of Laurel Caverns and speak with owner David Cale.
Our work in Fayette County takes an asset-based approach, focusing on the county’s strengths rather than its weaknesses. This weekend revealed many places and people that set Fayette apart and can be leveraged for its development. Unique destinations like Fallingwater and Ohiopyle bring thousands of people into Fayette. A strong sense of community ties Fayette residents to each other. Many of the people we spoke with are aware of Fayette’s shortcomings, but say they wouldn’t live anywhere else. Local leaders, especially, work so hard to help Fayette thrive. I was so impressed by the county commissioners we met. They are constantly fighting to improve the county. With people like that in Fayette’s corner, it’s easy to get excited about Fayette’s future.
This trip came with lots of surprises. First off, I was surprised at how beautiful the county is. The mountain views are breathtaking, and Connellsville, Uniontown, and Brownsville all have beautiful old architecture. I was also surprised to hear the commissioners say that thousands of people commute into Fayette every day. As our time went on, this statement did match with our interviews. The artist working at Touchstone’s retail gallery comes in from Morgantown every day; Max from Fallingwater commuted from Pittsburgh for years before moving to Connellsville.
But the biggest surprise of the trip was that housing, rather than transportation, turned out to be the hot-button issue. My team started off the weekend thinking that the main challenge we would investigate would be transportation, connecting tourists to local assets and facilitating trips from Fayette to the Pittsburgh airport. The people we interviewed at Fallingwater and Touchstone agreed that it would be nice if there was an easier way for visitors to reach them from the airport. But improving transportation would have strong downsides. I was surprised to hear this—what could be bad about bringing in more people and more money, or raising Fayette’s national and regional profile? Lindsay from Touchstone articulated the problem to me: bringing in more people meant more crowds. Ohiopyle has been experiencing capacity problems since the pandemic—locals never go there on the weekends, she said. An increase in visitors since the pandemic had also led to housing problems: namely, residents turning their homes into Airbnbs. Housing is already a challenge in Fayette, making it difficult for Touchstone and Fallingwater employees to relocate to the county. Fayette has few rental properties and little new housing is being built. Most properties are passed down through generations and rarely go on sale. When rental companies snatch up homes and turn them into Airbnbs, the housing crunch becomes even more acute. Improving transportation might bring more money into the county, but it would only exacerbate the housing problem.
After spending the weekend in Fayette, I had the chance to read “Jockeying for Position: What It Means and Why It Matters to Regional Development Policy When Places Compete”, a paper on regional competition. Although it was written twenty years ago, this paper has some strong connections to Fayette County’s opportunities and challenges. Author Edward Malecki explains that all places are in constant competition with each other. This competition can drive some places towards “low road” development. This type of development involves constantly trying to one-up other places by trying to attract investment through subsidies and other corporate incentives. In some areas, low road development makes cities into marketable objects, packaging them into entertainment zones in order to attract tourists. Malecki argues that low road development is a race to the bottom, operating on a scarcity mindset where limited resources must be snatched out of the hands of one’s neighbors. In Fayette County, flipping homes into Airbnbs is an example of low road development. Although the people we interviewed emphasized how lucrative running an Airbnb can be, they recognized that doing so came with a host of long-term negatives for the county. Besides limiting the supply of available housing, increasing the number of short-term vacation rentals degrades the close-knit community that is one of Fayette’s greatest assets. Airbnbs market Fayette as a place for a short-term stay—somewhere to briefly experience nature. They don’t encourage people to make Fayette their long-term home or invest in improving it.
However, there is also plenty of “high road” development happening in Fayette County. Malecki defines high road development as being innovative and entrepreneurial. High road development is rooted in “territorially rooted immobile assets”—things that are unique to that place and cannot be found anywhere else. High road development requires infrastructural as well as superstructural investments. Malecki encourages small communities to lean into the latter category, which includes institutions, leadership, culture, and community. I think Fayette County’s commissioners are focused on high road development. They are focused on improving human capital through education, and have built strong partnerships with local and state partners. A lot of their work involves infrastructure projects like the Sheepskin Trail, a bike path that will connect the GAP trail with a bikeway coming up from West Virginia. But as Malecki explains, pricey infrastructure projects are an even bigger burden for small towns than cities. The commissioners explained that each stage of each project takes years and millions of dollars to complete. High road development is worth it in the long run, but takes a lot of work in the short term—these commissioners should be commended for continuing to focus their efforts in this direction.
After our time in Fayette, I have a few ideas to spur the county’s development. The commissioners mentioned new housing projects, but my team agrees that the county should investigate Airbnb restrictions. Many major cities have some kind of regulation covering short-term vacation rentals. Fayette would need to tailor these policies into something more appropriate for a rural setting. If demand for places to stay on vacation is high, perhaps the development of more hotels and traditional bed and breakfasts should be encouraged.
The second idea I have is based on a conversation I had before this weekend with Bryan Perry, head of the Great Allegheny Passage. GAP is a bike trail that runs from Pittsburgh to D.C. and passes through Fayette County. Bryan advocated more events and businesses to attract young people to the county. He pointed to music and arts festivals that other GAP towns have used to bring in more visitors. I already discussed the challenges of adding visitors, but I think focusing events on Uniontown and Connellsville over already-stretched Ohiopyle could breathe life into some lesser-trafficked parts of the county. I also think that playing to a younger audience will have an impact beyond tourism. Fayette County’s population is aging, with many families and young people moving away. My guess is that many young people leave Fayette County not only because of employment but because it feels like there’s nothing to do. A younger woman in Brownsville told me that there was little to do on a weekend night. Bars in Uniontown were an option, or the casino—or you could drive to Charleroi in Washington County. Limited activities and amenities push younger people out of the county. Fewer young people mean that most of Fayette’s leaders are pushing sixty years old. The work they do is amazing—but what happens when they’re gone?
My team has some next steps for this project already lined up. This week, we’re speaking with Patrick Meyers from Ohiopyle State Park. I’m excited to hear this perspective on the crowding problem and ask about the yearly festivals the park runs. Next week, we have an interview lined up with Ann Nemanic, head of GO Laurel Highlands (the visitor’s bureau that covers Fayette County). I hope to get a more zoomed-out picture of tourism in Fayette County through that interview and put some of the pieces together from our different conversations. I would also love to speak with a small business that caters to tourists and learn about how big tourism destinations boost entrepreneurship. Finally, my team hopes to speak with Fayette County’s bus service, FACT, and learn more about public transportation in the county. As with many rural areas, public transit is very limited in Fayette County. We’re curious to hear about their routes and whether they see any opportunities for change or expansion.