Railroad tracks run beside Tupper Lake’s train station, rebuilt in the 2000s in hopes of receiving train traffic. New York state intends to replace the rails with a multi-use trail from here to Lake Placid and renovate the tracks south of here, connecting to Utica. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

RAY BROOK — Adirondack Park Agency staff said Friday that a state plan for a rail trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake could come before the board next month.

APA staff said they have received a draft unit management plan for the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor, and said it was likely to come before the APA board at the October meeting, and could have a vote for a public comment period at December’s meeting.

The DEC and state Department of Transportation released a UMP for the corridor in 2016 that called for upgrading the train tracks from Big Moose to Tupper Lake for passenger service, while converting the tracks from Tupper Lake to Lake Placid into a multi-use trail. That plan was shot down in court, but the APA changed the definition of a travel corridor in the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, and the DEC is expected to put forward roughly the same proposal this time around.

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Permits

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The APA board also approved a two-lot subdivision in Hamilton County owned by APA board member Dan Wilt. Wilt recused himself and left the room for the vote, and the full board approved the permit.

The board also approved a permit for a logging operation on private land in Westport.

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Stand-in chair

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Brad Austin, representative of the state’s Department of Economic Development, served as acting chair for this meeting. The APA has been without a permanent chair since then-acting chair Karen Feldman resigned over a pay dispute earlier this year.

The APA is next slated to meet on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 10 and 11.