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State works with owners on rail trail parcels in question

Trail planning group shows some progress

An Adirondack Scenic Railroad train makes one of its last runs of the year — and possibly ever — through North Country Community College’s Saranac Lake campus en route to Lake Placid Oct. 22. The state is working on securing legal use or ownership of railroad corridor land parcels at NCCC. (Enterprise photo — Morgan Ryan)

RAY BROOK — The state has reached agreement with the owners of several land parcels in a railroad corridor, mostly resolving an ownership issue, according to a group charged with planning a 34-mile trail to replace the railroad between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake.

Notes from the “stakeholder” group meeting on Nov. 8 say the state has now received written commitments from Franklin and Essex counties, as well as North Country Community College. The nature of the commitments is still being worked out, but all of the entities have agreed to work on it, state Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Dave Winchell and Saranac Lake village Trustee Rich Shapiro said this morning.

The notes also say the state met with the North Elba/Lake Placid Historical Society “to discuss ways to ensure those lands are the northern terminus of the trail.” The historical society owns the Lake Placid train station and 7.5 acres of land around it.

The Adirondack Rail Preservation Society, which operates tourist trains under the Adirondack Scenic Railroad name, has sued the state over the plan to remove the tracks, but a hearing on the suit has been delayed until the end of January as the state tries to sort out ownership of the parcels. The state plan had been pitched as a compromise since it would also upgrade 45 miles of tracks in conditions between Big Moose and Tupper Lake.

In the discovery phase of the lawsuit, the state found that it did not have fee title to four parcels of land in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid: three parcels in Saranac Lake around the NCCC campus, and the Lake Placid train station, which would serve as the northern terminus of the trail.

The stakeholder group has now met several times, and although the meetings are closed to the public and press, the DEC has agreed to supply the meeting minutes after the fact to the press. Shapiro has also posted the documents on the village website.

Construction

In previous stakeholder meetings, representatives of local governments along the corridor were charged with creating a list of points of interest and concern in their respective jurisdictions. The DEC now says that most of those points have been entered into a GIS database and a map will be created and distributed at a future meeting.

The Nov. 8 notes show the state’s Office of General Services signed a contract with Bergman Associates to develop a project report and draft conceptual plan for the trail. Nine consultants have submitted qualifications to OGS in an effort to win the contract to build the trail. The state has set aside $8 million for construction of the trail, and $15 million to rehabilitate the train tracks from near Old Forge to Tupper Lake. OGS has also mostly completed a timeline for the project.

So far, the group has been focusing on signage, access points and points of interest. Shapiro is the only group member to hold public input sessions, hosting three over the last two months.

Snowmobiles

Snowmobile use has been one of the main concerns voiced by the public at Shapiro’s meetings, and the meeting notes go on to say that “The corridor has been a snowmobile trail for decades, the type of activity is not changing though the amount of activity will increase.”

The DEC says in the notes that it “will develop the trail system for year round use and access to the recreational trail through the” Saranac Lakes Wild Forest and Fish Creek/Rollins Pond campground unit management plans. The notes also say municipalities along the corridor will need to develop legal means to connect snowmobilers with gas, food and other amenities.

Snowmobile enforcement has also been a hot-button issue, but the meeting notes say that village, county and state police, along with DEC forest rangers and environmental conservation officers, would all have jurisdiction along the corridor, although in different capacities.

“Enforcement agencies can work checkpoints and other combined enforcement details to deal with specific issues as they already do,” the notes say. “New York State Snowmobile Association and local snowmobile clubs support zero tolerance regarding enforcement of snowmobile laws and regulation.”

The group also discussed possible user conflicts between cross-country skiers and snowmobilers, but decided that efforts will be made to educate users to limit those conflicts. Skiers will be encouraged to move to the side and let snowmobilers pass, while snowmobilers will be told to slow down and move away from skiers on the trail.

The consensus agreement made by the group is that “DEC, municipalities and organizations will promote the use of snowmobiles in a manner that provides an excellent experience for snowmobilers while minimizing the negative impacts on residents along and near the recreational trail and other users of the trail.”

The notes also say that the point of contact for law enforcement issues will be DEC dispatch in Ray Brook or county 911 dispatchers.

Amenities

Signs, trash cans, bathrooms, benches and bike racks are a few of the amenities the group discussed having along the trail. They agreed that villages might be able to provide full-use bathrooms, while pit privies and composting toilets could be installed at access points or along the corridor.

The consensus of the group is that amenities should be “Aesthetically pleasing; (have a) consistent appearance with distinguishable differences between communities; Clean; Vandal proof; Bike racks nearby; and Co-locate facilities as much as possible.”

Future topics

The group plans to discuss several issues at future meetings, including road crossings, causeways, bridges and culverts, historic preservation, rules and management of the trail and public participation.

Discussions will also include the needs of skiers and bicyclists, as well as minimizing the impact of the trail on residential areas.

The meeting notes are at www.dropbox.com/sh/tmtuaj6pfpqv8h7/AACJFya2NPYovSSsSukZd5-Ua?dl=0&preview=November+8%2C+2016+Recreational+Trail+Stakeholders+Meeting+Summary.docx.

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