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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-02-21Dryden Rail Trail Friends and Task Force Minutes of the Virtual Meeting Monday, February 21, 2022 Attendance: Rose Borzik, Alice Green, Dan Lamb, Tony and Janice Bretscher, Bob Beck, Todd Bittner, Steve Winans, Chris and Diane Tessaglia-Hymes, Susan Ashdown, Judy Pierpont Call to order at 7:04 pm – Bob Beck Additions to agenda: Todd shared a photo of an area of Fall Creek that had been proposed for an alternative route instead of the bridge across Route 13. The view from upstream, looking at the truss of old Monkey Run Road bridge, shows an ice dam that appears to be approximately 10 feet thick and caused extensive flooding in valley. He noted that the potential for ice jams and flash flooding in the area were part of the reason the Task Force rejected the alternative route early in the planning process. Approval of January minutes Wendy Wakula wrote that the word “trial” appeared instead of the word “trail.” With that correction, the minutes were approved unanimously. Thanks to Gwen Beck for preparing them. Game Farm Road update – Dan Dan said the Town now has full participation in a new planning process for the Game Farm crossing, including both Town of Ithaca and Dryden officials and highway engineers, County Highway officials, and consultant Barton & Loguidice (B&L). The consultants have developed a new sketch of the road “hump” on the north side of the crossing. They hope to have a report with recommendations for mitigations the end of the month. DEC did not approve the speed limit reduction from 55 to 45 MPH, so the B&L plan has to work for the at-grade crossing at the current speed. Todd reminded that Jeff Smith promised in May 2019 that the County was willing to reduce the hump north of the crossing the next time the road was re-paved. Todd said he is concerned that the county won’t address this critical sight line issue as they promised. Dan agreed that the sight line is the main issue and it’s not clear what mitigations will meet the requirements. Lower speed would mitigate, or removing the hump. It remains to be seen what the county will require and how it will respond to the B&L recommendations. Bob said that the County did follow through on their offer to do a survey with vertical mapping. Dan shared a B&L map of the vertical dimensions. Bob noted that Rick Young suggested that we buy some more of the flashing lights in anticipation of needs at Mt. Pleasant and Game Farm Rd. DEC / CU property swap, trail parking & kiosk location – Todd, Bob, Diane Todd said that what’s needed is formal approval to allow for parking along the Compost Rd north of Stevenson Rd, to alleviate some of the issues created by overflow parking on Game Farm Rd. Cornell and DEC are planning a land swap for property at the Compost Rd. Kristin Gutenberger of the Cornell Real Estate Office said that Cornell would follow up with DEC to move along that swap and identify if the University would be willing to accommodate the parking lot in that area. Bob said he now thinks that the best place for a kiosk is along a short path between the shared compost driveway/trail and the potential off-road parking area just east of the compost drive and north of Stevenson Road. Todd thought it would be good to give Cornell a size range for the number of cars it needs to accommodate. Susan said this is something that needs to be designed. There’s a dip and it’s not level. Bob said a culvert will be needed and DPW would be able to work on the parking lot. He thinks it should accommodate 12 cars. Todd said that in presenting the case to allow the parking lot to be constructed east of the Compost Rd. the Town should not assume that the currently unused field won’t be put to other uses in the future. Bob suggested that the lot configuration would provide for cars to be parked perpendicular to the road with room to turn around in the lot. The existing fence could be shortened. He noted that Dryden paid Cornell Ag for the fence materials, as well as for vegetation along the fence that was never planted. Todd thought a drawing with dimensions could convey what we’re looking for. He believes that CU will want the parking lot to be fenced. Need to get the standard dimensions necessary for autos to back out safely. Alice and Bob will check Town design guidelines with the Planning Department and Bob will prepare a plan. Design Committee update – Diane DEC Game Farm Manager Evan Wills met with members of the DRT Design Subcommittee in January. Diane reported that there will be two kiosks, one, by DEC, down the trail showing DEC info, and another closer to the proposed parking lot off the Compost Rd. All agreed that the Rail Trail kiosk will name the area Game Farm Station. Initially the thought was that the kiosk and a parking lot could go at Game Farm Rd, but Evan said DEC has planted native grasses in that area, and Tompkins County Highway doesn’t want any more parking off Game Farm Rd. But there does need to be a good visible entry sign at the gateway to our trail. There was discussion of an archway there, but that might make it more difficult for emergency vehicles. Diane has a new job, and will get out the minutes from the design committee meeting soon. SEQR for Route 13 bridge TAP grant – Bob Ray Burger prepared the SEQR and the Town Board made a negative declaration. This action now goes to the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) which will start the process of making contact with the one remaining landowner who hasn’t approved an easement amendment on property needed to complete the ramp at the east end of the bridge. EPF grant update – Bob Kathleen McIsaac, local representative for the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) talked with Bob to say that she has received word from Albany that they’re finally reviewing the easements that were submitted 18 months ago. She was asked whether the DEC would cancel our agreement through the Game Farm at some point in the future. Bob reassured Kathleen that the DRT TF has a good working relationship with DEC, and expects that when the current 20-year agreement expires, there will be a permanent agreement. Kathleen also said that she would like us to send a first request for reimbursement, even though the final contract hasn’t been completed due to the lengthy time its taken to get Albany approval of the many easements covered in this grant. Bob connected Kathleen with town bookkeeper Amanda Anderson, and they’ve agreed to begin the reimbursement process in anticipation of the contract being completed. The grant spending was first authorized when the 50/50 matching grant was announced in December 2017. Plan for next grants – Todd, Bob Bob and Todd met with Fernando DeAragon Director of the Ithaca Tompkins County Transportation Council to get his take on the appropriateness of applying for a RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant. Todd noted that Fernando has been a key advisor for the whole DRT project, so it seemed helpful to get his input about the RAISE grant. Fernando said this is one of the most competitive grants, and the thresholds of funding are higher: $1M-$23 million. He said federal government is looking for shovel ready projects with regional impact. The application process is complicated, and the deadline is April 14. He thought if we had all the easements in hand and we were looking to finish the trail, it would be this kind of grant to go for Also, if the project isn’t shovel-ready they won’t fund it. Todd said this turned the discussion to looking at whether the funding would be appropriate for a bundle of other trail enhancements, like making Dryden to Freeville and Monkey Run to Game Farm Rds completely ADA accessible, with stone dust surface, parking lots etc. This could include an extension Hall Woods Rd to Pinckney. But the cost of all these wouldn’t add up to the minimum $1M grant threshold. They concluded that it seems like this grant might not be the best fit for the scope of work presently anticipated on the Rail Trail. Fernando also said there will be a lot of this same infrastructure money that will be made available through the federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) in the next funding cycle, with another application possibly to open up this Fall. Extending the trail through to Freeville would be perfect for this grant, when the needed easements are secured. Todd said that having successfully moved forward with the first TAP grant (for the Route 13 bridge) would put the Town in good shape for a second one. Dan reported that the Town has been told that the RAISE grants are highly funded, and that there’s a set-aside for rural communities for the million-plus grants. He wondered whether adding asphalt surfacing on two sections of the trail might meet the threshold. Alice spoke against creating more impervious surfaces. Todd said from early days of the design process the plan was to make the surface ADA compliant with stone dust. Equestrians favor stone dust for this multi-use trail. Chris asked if the Town might apply for these grants themselves? What about applying for funding to create feeder trails into the DRT, for example from Lower Creek Rd, or up Pinckney Rd.? Susan said a connecting spur in Varna would make sense too. Todd noted that there’s already a project underway to create a feeder from the Varna Community Center to the Trail. Alice said she thinks the idea of trail connectors has a lot of merit. The Planning Board was recently alerted that there’s a need for planning this next stage of Town trail development, and that this is beyond the scope of the current DRT TF. However, there are no plans yet, and the project is certainly not shovel ready. She also asked whether the Town is willing to take on new matches, noting this would mean another $200K required from the Town for the 80/20 match. Dan said he understands that if a rural municipality qualifies as economically disadvantaged (as Dryden does) the match may be negotiable. After extensive discussion Bob summarized that the Task Force is not ready to apply for this RAISE grant; a TAP grant application in the Fall may be more appropriate. F.H. Fox Bridge memorial update – Bob Bob reported on a conversation with Jerry Bertoldo, a Cornell Veterinary School alum who is heading up efforts to memorialize Prof. FH Fox at the Varna bridge. He said that a member of FH Fox’s family is offering $50K herself for the memorial. The Task Force Design Committee has provided two sign renderings for the donors to consider, included in Bob’s written proposal to Jerry last year. Jerry said he is still looking at whether CU Alumni Development Office will allow this kind of donation. It was noted that a gift from a Family member to the Town of Dryden, shouldn’t be a matter for Alumni Development. Todd suggested that the Task Force draft a letter of intent that says: for your gift we will include the signage on the bridge for a certain time frame (suggest 25 years). The renderings can be included, to show general design options. The letter would stipulate that the balance of the unspent funds will be used to help complete the trail in other sections. Bob’s proposal last year essentially is our letter of intent. Consider Project Lead (Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Summer Youth Employment Program) for this summer – Alice Patrick Lynch, a new Dryden Youth Services project manager through CCE, has contacted the task force about whether there is a project that youth can help with this summer. The Project Lead program offers volunteer work experience, and job preparation training to local teens and pre-teens. Two previous Project Lead youth crews cleared sections of the trail west of Route 366 in Etna. It was agreed that Task Force volunteers could help supervise the youth work for one week this summer at the Etna to Pinckney Rd. section. The schedule calls for four work periods, from 9 am to noon each day. Todd suggested checking with Milo Richmond to see if he’d help. Chris also volunteered. Bob and Alice will meet with Patrick to follow up on dates and details. Next meeting scheduled for March 21 (in person) in Varna or Etna. Adjournment at 9:01 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Alice Walsh Green