Tupper Lake moves toward paying for trails

Village board also votes to demolish Hotel Northland, support rescinding reassessment

By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise Staff Writer
TUPPER LAKE — If the village and town get the $800,000 grant they are applying for from the state Department of Transportation, an existing informal network of dirt footpaths throughout the village will be connected, marked by signs and paved in stone.

The village Board of Trustees voted to apply for the money from the state Transportation Enhancement Program at a special meeting this morning. The engineering firm Barton & Loguidice will submit the application. The application will cost $3,500, which will be paid for out of a $100,000 Small Cities grant given to the town and village jointly in March. The application deadline is June 27.

The village and town will be expected to match 20 percent of the grant, or $160,000. Village Clerk Mary Casagrain said the division of who pays for what part of the trail system would be decided later, when and if Tupper Lake gets the grant. Casagrain said the village would be looking into different sources for the $160,000, including private donations and other state grants.

Village Mayor Mickey Desmarais said the village and town may have to refuse the grant if enough sources of funding outside of the general budget can’t be found.

“I don’t want to spend $160,000 on trails through the woods,” he said.

Casagrain also said the money would also be used to make improvements to the grounds of the train station on Depot Street, including building a parking lot and a kiosk, putting up signs and beautifying the landscape. She said she was optimistic that including the train station would help to encourage private donations toward the project, as many people have donated money to the station in the past.

“(Grant writer Melissa McManus) feels the train station alone could get all the additional funding,” Casagrain said.

The trail system, which has already been mapped out, would connect the train station to the Municipal Waterfront Park, the former Jarden Plastics plant and the plaza next to it, the Civic Center, the Wild Center nature museum, the Rod and Gun Club and the business district, and would loop back around, following Stetson and Hosley avenues and Old Wawbeek Road. Casagrain said the trails would be open to bicyclists, snowmobilers, horses and skiiers as well as pedestrians.

The village has already received a $875,000 grant toward this project. It was able to match its share of this grant by providing in-kind services to maintain the trails, such as cutting trees and laying stone and gravel.



Hotel Northland

The board voted to issue a bond in an amount not to exceed $200,000 to pay for the demolition of the old Hotel Northland at 2 Broad St. The hotel was condemned last year, and it is going to be torn down soon.

Reassessment

The board also approved a letter to support the town’s request that the revaluation prepared by former town Assessor Larry Cole and made public in April be thrown out. Village Mayor Mickey Desmarais said town officials wanted a show of support because they fear they could be sued by property owners unhappy with their reassessments. Cole resigned last week, citing the town board’s vote earlier this month recommending the assessment be thrown out as a show of a lack of confidence in him. Desmarais said the town board is unsure how it will defend against the lawsuits since no one else is knowledgeable enough about the reasons behind the valuations of individual properties to defend them.

Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com'>.