ccSCOOP - NEWS - Hudson-to-Stockport Trail Being Planned

HUDSON-TO-STOCKPORT TRAIL BEING PLANNED

Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News

09-19-09 – 7:30 p.m. - The proposed trail system connecting Greenport and Stockport could include more views of the river thanks to a plan being pursued by the Columbia Land Conservancy.

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.

“Over time, those good connections need to be made so people can enjoy the beauty of the area,” said Ellen Jouret-Epstein of the Columbia Land Conservancy.

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While a separate effort is underway to begin the trail process in Stockport, Hudson officials and the CLC are moving ahead with plans to create a public walking area in the North Bay that will eventually connect to the Greenport Conservation Area. “We were granted funds to develop a plan to make a public space out of the Hudson North Bay, and we commissioned a team of designers and ecologists to do the plan. It’s underway right now,” she said. “When it’s complete, we will have a master plan with visionary and practical things in it.”

Hopes are high that a “preliminary opening” of the park area in Hudson, marking the installation of signage to indicate that the former county landfill in Hudson’s North Bay and some adjacent land is open to the public, could take place by the end of the year or at some time before spring. “We are looking at signage that would interpret the site and let the public know they can walk there,” said Jouret-Epstein. “It would be a very, very modest step, but it would be a step.”

An issue slowing the development of the larger trail plan is the sorting out the ownership of land in the North Bay, which has deed restrictions for usage.

“There are a bunch of parcels . . . near the water area that have some issues regarding ownership that we are trying to sort through with the city and state,” Jouret-Epstein said. The issues deal with the land potentially reverting back to the state if not used for economic development. Who will develop and own the trail remains unclear. “The ultimate ownership of all of this is unclear. OSI (The Open Space Institute) owns the Greenport Conservation Area, but who will be the ultimate owner and manager of this site [in Hudson] is unclear,” she said.

The northern end of the future trail network—Harrier Hill Park in Stockport—is owned by Scenic Hudson and will be linked to the Greenport Conservation Area through the Stockport Flats Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, which is maintained by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.