ROTTERDAM County eyes new trail head Plotter Kill Preserve improvements eyed BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Schenectady County officials say they plan to seek a state grant to create a new trail head for the 632-acre county-owned Plotter Kill Preserve, to improve access for search and rescue teams and protect the county’s watershed. The trail head would create a new entrance off East Gregg Road, dramatically increasing the ability of emergency personnel to reach people in the lower half of sprawling preserve, said John Tobiassen, fire chief of the Plotter Kill Volunteer Fire Co. The only entrances at present are at the southern end of the preserve off Route 159 and off Coplon Road. Tobiassen said the Fire Department responds to 10 to 15 calls per year involving lost or injured hikers. “Depending on where the hiker is lost, a rescue operation can, and often does, take several hours to complete. In particular, the lower preserve near the Thruway is over an hour hike in from either of the two existing trail heads,” Tobiassen said. “We often have to send crews on ATVs down the steep power lines that cross the preserve, in order to cut the amount of time it takes to reach a victim,” he said. The trail head would also protect a key recharge area of the Great Flats Aquifer, Schenectady County’s sole source of drinking water, said Ray Gillen, commissioner of economic development and planning for Schenectady County. The county wants to create the trail head, construct 2,300 feet of new trail and add a kiosk and a small parking area on 20 acres of what is now private property. It hopes to purchase the property from Lynda Hirata of 282 East Gregg Road with the state grant. The county Legislature discussed the grant application in committee Monday night and will vote on it Jan. 13. The grant is through the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, under its Recreational Trails Program. The state is getting the money from the federal government. Gillen said the project’s total cost is $94,800. The grant will cover 80 percent of the total, or $75,840. The Rotterdam Town Board in December voted to provide $5,000 toward the project. The county will provide $3,500 in services. The Metroplex Development Authority will cover the remaining $10,460, Gillen said. Gillen is also Metroplex chairman. Gillen said the state is seeking grant applications, making the project timing opportune. “We are always competing for federal and state dollars,” he said. “It accomplishes our work on preserving open space and green space and in protecting some of the most important wells and springs associated with the Great Flats Aquifer.” Another advantage is that, if successful, the grant will allow the Plotter Kill Preserve to become part of the Long Path, a hiking trail that traverses New York and connects to the statewide bike trail, Gillen said. ................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00901
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January 6, 2009, 7:59am
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Why is MetroPlex involved in this? MetroPlex is "Economic" development, supposedly
The county wants to create the trail head, construct 2,300 feet of new trail and add a kiosk and a small parking area on 20 acres of what is now private property. It hopes to purchase the property from Lynda Hirata of 282 East Gregg Road with the state grant.
I would have thought that they would have purchased the property FIRST!! Guess not, huh? And does that $94,800 include the purchase of the property? AND who will be paying for this property?
Sorry folks, but I really could have found a better use for the $100,000 +. IMHO
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The Plotterkill Preserve in Rotterdam is officially called the Almy Coggeshall Plotterkill Nature Preserve, in honor of the environmentalist, G.E. engineer and community activist who died New Year’s Day at age 91. An avid hiker and crosscountry skier, not just here but in the Adirondacks, Coggeshall had seen countless trails, and surely would have approved of Schenectady County’s plan to create nearly half a mile of new trail as well as a trailhead at the northern end of the preserve on what is now private land. The project would be relatively inexpensive — about $95,000 — and would have multiple benefits. One would be increased public safety. Lovely as the preserve is, with its deep ravines and impressive waterfalls, it can also be dangerous. Hikers have regularly gotten lost there, and required the assistance of search-and-rescue teams to get out. The new trailhead will give hikers another way in and out, and if they are lost, shorten the distance rescuers must traverse to reach them. Other key benefits would be preservation of open space and protection of major wells and springs associated with the Great Flats Aquifer, which supplies most of the county’s water. And there would be recreational benefits, including linkage to the Long Trail, which runs from New Jersey to the Adirondacks, and to the Mohawk Hudson Bikeway. The recreational component is important because the county will be looking to get 80 percent of the project funding from a state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation grant. The rest would come from the town of Rotterdam ($5,000), the county ($3,500 in services) and Metroplex ($10,500). Metroplex funding is justified because the agency has made it clear in the past that it considers recreation (including extension of the bike path), tourism and protection of the water supply keys to economic development. And $10,500 isn’t that much money...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00703
The total is almost $100,000 of TAXPAYER'S MONEY no matter how you spin it.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The recreational component is important because the county will be looking to get 80 percent of the project funding from a state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation grant. The rest would come from the town of Rotterdam ($5,000), the county ($3,500 in services) and Metroplex ($10,500).
State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Grant...Taxes.
Town of Rotterdam...Taxes.
County...Taxes.
Metroplex...Taxes.
Now, that being said, 80% is coming from the state. through the grant. The "rest," 20% is totalled up to be $19,000. by my calculations, a state that is billions in defecit, along with a county that itself is millions in defecit are going to spend a total of...
thankss to you Judy for one more good thing you have done through the hard work over here quietly helping the people and not being a big mouth with the speeches
thankss to you Judy for one more good thing you have done through the hard work over here quietly helping the people and not being a big mouth with the speeches
It appears that Judy is just a stepping stone for her son!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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