DESPITE QUESTIONS, TRAIL WILL BE DEVELOPED
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
02-11-10 - 3:40 p.m. - A trail with scenic vistas overlooking the Hudson River that would connect Hudson and Stockport could open as early as this summer.
Despite questions over what development will take place in Hudson and a dual ownership claim to land near the Stockport end of the proposed trail, plans are forging ahead for the trail, officials told ccSCOOP.
“The goal is to have conserved open land and woodlands running all the way from the Hudson city line to Harrier Hill Park. We are working on creating trail linkages and all of that, hopefully for completion this summer,” said Scenic Hudson’s Seth McKee.
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The beginning of the trail in Hudson |
Ellen Jouret-Epstein of the Columbia Land Conservancy said that her organization will work with Scenic Hudson on development of the trail system, but Scenic Hudson is the lead agency and creator of the trail which will primarily cross Scenic Hudson land.“It’s going to be a really great trail with a lot of beautiful views,” she said.
The trail would eventually link to the City of Hudson’s North Bay with the 3.5 miles of trails in the Greenport Conservation Area and the 1.6-mile trail connecting the Greenport Conservation Area to Harrier Hill Park in Stockport, allowing hikers to walk along the river, enjoying remarkable river views, from Hudson to Stockport. Issues on both ends of the proposed trail will have no effect on the plan, officials said.
In Hudson, development of the North Bay conservation area has been delayed temporarily while CLC shores up its plans and works with city government on determining what the approval process will be for any aspects of the plan. “The site is open already, but no improvements that . . . will be done this year. So many things are going on at once in relationship to the waterfront in the City that we need to get all of our information together,” said Jouret-Epstein. “We will sit down with the mayor and other parties and talk about our plans and decide on what the City’s approval process will be. The county needs to be in discussion because of the ownership of the [former landfill],” she said.
Jouret-Epstein had expressed a desire last year to have some improvements made to the North Bay by the end of 2009.
At the north end, Scenic Hudson officials are investigating claims of ownership of an estimated 5 to 10 acres of waterfront land. Scenic Hudson believed it had acquired ownership of all land from the Saurasitis Farm when it bought the land, but members of the Stottville Rod and Gun Club claim they own 5 to 10 acres of the property on the waterfront and beneath the river. Some of the farmland was developed into the now-open Harrier Hill Park, but the rest remains undeveloped.
No title search for the property was conducted during the purchase of the land because transfer was done through a process known as "quitclaim," McKee explained. “We are not taking a position [on ownership] at this point until we know all of the facts,” he said.
Regardless of whether Scenic Hudson or the Rod and Gun Club owns the land, the trail connecting Hudson and Stockport will still be developed, McKee said.
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