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Home My WebLink About2020-09-21 Dryden Rail Trail Friends and Task Force Minutes of the Meeting, 7-8:30 pm Monday, Sept 21, 2020 Via Zoom Attendance: Bob Beck, John Kiefer, Dan Lamb, Bruno Schickel, Chris and Diane Tessaglia-Hymes, Todd Bittner, Alice Green, Loren Sparling, Rose Borzik, Susan Ashdown, Karl Kolesnikoff Call to order at 7:06 pm – Bob Beck, Alice Green August minutes approved. Addition to the agenda: Todd would like to discuss the decision making process between the Task Force, its subcommittees and the Town Board Pending DEC Agreement for Reynolds Game Farm – Dan Dan emailed with DEC’s Bureau of Wildlife Chief, Jim Farquhar, Sept. 11 & 13 and was told that the proposed new agreement is being reviewed by the DEC’s real properties attorney and “we’ll get there.” Dan asked to review what the lack of the DEC agreement is holding up for the Rail Trail project? Todd said: getting the Town reimbursed for the money it’s spent since 2017. He asked if we have an estimate of that amount. Bob said the complete figure has to include Town payroll and benefits info, which has to come from the Town bookkeeper. Bruno guessed the Town is entitled to about $70K to date. Alice said the Game Farm’s ROW is the last property agreement holding up signing the NYS Parks’ EPF grant. Bruno also noted that there are a lot of questions on the Facebook page and other media about when the Game Farm section of the trail will open. Dan said this info would provide additional leverage to speed up action from the DEC. He also reported that he’d talked recently with Cornell VP for Intergovernmental Relations Joel Malina and Gary Stewart about this project. Dan said he let them know what a big project this is, and how central was Todd Bittner’s role in securing the large grants for the Trail and the Route 13 Bridge. Pending 3-way MOU for Game Farm Crossing – Alice The proposed MOU has been amended and reviewed by the Towns of Ithaca and Dryden, and the County’s Attorney and Highway Superintendent, according to Jason Leifer. Alice said Jason told her this afternoon that the MOU is “almost there.” She said the Towns are still waiting on the results of the DEC’s traffic study, as part of their joint request for a speed reduction to 45 MPH on Game Farm Rd. She added that until the results of that study are received, Jeff Smith the County Highway Superintendent wants the plan for the installation and maintenance of the at-grade crossing to be based on the 55 MPH speed limit. Bob said he hasn’t heard back from John Lampman about when he might work on that plan. Town of Ithaca Supervisor Rod Howe suggested that John might work with Barton and Loguidice to get the plan stamped. Todd suggested that it might be possible to roll this into the TAP grant. Bruno thought it might be good to ask Erdman Anthony since they already have a relationship with the Town. Alice said if none of these work out, it might be appropriate to ask for another Cornell donation for this crossing. Facilitating Town management of trail Financial Date – Alice All the Town Hall staff involved in managing records for Rail Trail spending accounts are lined up for a meeting soon to be scheduled. The idea is to prepare a mock up of a reimbursement submission for 2018 expenditures and submit it to Kathleen Mc Isaac from NYS OPRHP to get feedback. Historical photos and info for kiosks – Diane, Chris Chris and Diane shared historical photos of the Etna RR Depot from the early 1900’s that they procured from the Lehigh Valley Railroad Society. He noted there was a photo of a major accident that occurred in the early 1920’s directly opposite of what was then the Dart home, now property of Mark Anderson Continuing Trail work at Etna – Chris and Diane Chris also shared a Google map view of a stretch of the trail west of Route 366 in Etna, showing the area that they have cleared. This is an extension of work started by a teen crew that worked two summers through the Town’s Project Lead program led by Cooperative Extension’s Rural Youth Services Plan. Diane and Chris have cleared a long new section of the trail through very thick honeysuckle using his chainsaw. They found date pins tapped into the ties indicating the date of installation, one from 1912 another from 1917. Todd suggested adding some of these artifacts at the kiosk. Diane said Judy Auble Zazzara has loaned them a history of Etna that will be really useful for creating graphics for the kiosk in Etna. Route 13 Bridge Meetings with Erdman Anthony and NYSDOT – Bob Ray Burger has had two Zoom meetings with reps from Erdman Anthony. They said they’re within a couple of days of being ready to provide design alternatives and cost figures for different alignments of the bridge. One would be perpendicular to the road; the other would follow the alignment of the railroad bed. Ray’s meeting with DOT was to request DOT to get assistance for ROW acquisition just east of Route 13. DOT has agreed to begin that process for the 33 feet of right of way needed at the former Vanguard Press property. He announced at the Town Board meeting last week that DOT has agreed to do this work. The goal is to gather information about cost alternatives. Decision making process – Todd There was some discussion about clarifying the process for moving recommendations when subcommittees are doing work. Bruno said he believes subcommittees should make recommendations to the Task Force, and the Task Force should vote on what to recommend to the Town Board. Todd agreed with that sequence. Remaining questions to be discussed at a future meeting include: When there are sensitive issues, such as land acquisition, how should the Task Force operate to conform to open meetings laws. What types of issues should be handled in executive session? Bruno recommends seeking the Town Attorney’s opinion. Chris posted a link to the NYS Open Meetings law in the chat box. https://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/openmeetlaw.html Trail Work at George Rd and more - Bruno Stone dust has been installed on George Rd, about 850 feet on each side of the road. It’s well packed in now. Bruno shared a work to date progress report (attached). He noted that stone dust is expensive and it doesn’t go too far. It works out to about $2 per linear foot for about 2 inches deep. The summary does not yet include Chris and Diane’s considerable clearing work, or Bruno’s own time on the project. John asked if Bruno is using limestone stone dust. Dan asked if the Town’s free asphalt filings would be helpful. Bruno said it’s not fine enough. Todd said the petroleum-based asphalt would not be appropriate for protected areas near the trail. He added that Bruno’s stone dust costs are considerably less than the $7 per linear foot that was estimated for the project in the grant, based on figures from State Parks. But Bruno said his figure was not for a ten-foot wide path. Even so, Todd said the current figures for stone dust could mean a cost savings from original estimates. Bruno also brush hogged the sections of the trail from Stevenson Rd to the Fox bridge. It had also been mowed by DPW and “it’s looking really good.” Bob asked about moving the flashing lights from Springhouse Rd. to Mount Pleasant. Bruno said he would talk with Rick Young about that. Rick has already agreed to remove signs that his staff had placed on the kiosks. Trail Proposal at Etna Nature Preserve – Bruno, Bob, Chris and Diane Chris and Diane have a connection across their property into the eastern end of the Finger Lakes Land Trust Nature Preserve in Etna. Bob said this offers a temporary way to connect from Etna and the preserve, and a piece of land owned by Bruno, then across Route 366 to the newly more cleared section to the west. There is not yet an agreement to get the trail through or past the nature preserve and to date there is no easement from the adjacent landowners where the a portion of rail bed lies. Bruno shared sketches of a plan to cut a new trail in about 4 feet and parallel to the Nature Preserve property line, and a temporary new path to Etna Lane across Chris and Diane’s property. Bob and Bruno have presented this plan for consideration by the Finger Lakes Land Trust. They are working with Andy Zepp and Chris Olney. The sensitive issue is crossing of the culvert near a small pond. The proposal is for a footpath, not a bicycle trail through the interior of the preserve to Chris and Diane’s property at Etna Lane. Susan asked if this crossing would be ADA compliant. Yes, for the parallel trail, but not the interior path to Etna Lane. Todd asked if this work would be supported by any grants. Bruno is donating the work. The new section is still within the original trail easement from the Land Trust. Plan is to extend the trail there and be a good neighbor to demonstrate to those who haven’t given easements that the trail is a good thing for the area. Bruno noted that he and Todd are working on getting free gravel from Cornell University that can be excellent fill in this and other trail sections. Chris also asked about the possibility of parking on Route 366. Bruno said he wants to do some more clearing to see how much space is available. He thinks parking could be created on the Adkins easement section. DOT approval will still be necessary for use of the shoulder. There is some parking across from the Land Trust preserve entrance. Future grants – Bob, John, Todd, Alice Bob noted that there’s no grant funding yet for the middle section of the trail. He recently saw an announcement that the City has received a federal BUILD grant. He wondered if this might be an appropriate fund to apply for. Ray Burger also reported that there is significant federal funding for trails coming. Todd posted a link https://www.transportation.gov/BUILDgrants/about He said this is a TIGER grant that municipalities are eligible to apply for. It would be good to hear what Erdman Anthony knows about this type of funding. He suggested checking with the Town to see how many grants the Town is prepared to support. Dan reported that he has talked with Jason Leifer about this. The Town is reticent to take on any more grants that require a significant match. John noted that the scope of the existing Parks Grant is flexible; after examining costs for the very efficient work already done, it may be possible to expand the scope of that grant and get more work done than what was included in the original application. Bruno thinks the project is ahead of budget, and the next needed work is culvert pipes at the washout east of the Leonardo property. Todd said the gravel material that is available from the Cornell University at the Flat Rocks Water Intake operation could be a local match if it goes into a section covered by a grant. This is another consideration for expanding the Parks grant: looking at what other donations could match. Bob said the Town and County haven’t made any progress on attempts to acquire another property to get the trail all the way to Etna. New Podcast and video – Todd Todd has written a new blog piece with an associated video that uses a section of the Rail Trail, the Jim Schug Section, to illustrate the intersection of conservation and recreation. It will be posted to the Rail Trail list serve and Facebook page. October Meeting scheduled for 7 pm Oct 19 Adjournment at 8:58 pm Submitted by Alice Walsh Green Proposal for the Dryden Rail Trail at the Etna Nature Preserve As part of the Dryden Rail Trail project, the Town of Dryden’s Rail Trail Task Force requests approval from the Finger Lakes Land Trust to construct a trail described as follows at the Land Trust’s Etna Nature Preserve. We propose to construct a section of trail, gravel surfaced and 10 feet in width, within the edge of the Etna Preserve parallel to its easterly property line and within the 25’ area as speciﬁed in the Trail Easement Agreement of 11/21/2017. The attached map shows the location of the proposed trail, and the four section drawings show the construction details. Sections A, B and C show our proposed modiﬁcation to the grade adjacent to the former rail bed, the current property line. Added ﬁll will include ﬁne stone sourced from creek excavation at Cornell. A green buffer will be preserved at the property line, and removed vegetation will be placed at the base of the new grade. Section D shows the longer section of the proposed trail which traverses a ﬂat area of the Preserve, vegetated with trees and dense honeysuckle. Here we propose to leave a green buffer of 8’ to 15’ between the trail and the property line, and to place removed vegetation adjacent to the new trail. In addition, we suggest a narrow foot path be cleared to connect the rail trail to the north-easterly end of the Preserve’s loop trail. We will be happy to meet with you on a site visit and to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your consideration of this request. Bob Beck, Chair Rail Trail Task Force Town of Dryden (607) 423-0397 (mobile) rmb24@cornell.edu