Attendance

NAME	ADDRESS	TELEPHONE NUMBER	E-MAIL ADDRESS
Donald Odell	97 Manning Blvd., Apt A Albany, NY 12203	48304574	dodell@nycap.rr.com
Don Robertson	NYSDOT – Region 1 84 Holland Ave. Albany, NY 12208	474-6219	drobertson@gw.dot.state.ny.us
Henrietta O’Grady	Saratoga City Heritage Trails & Halfmoon Trails	371-8374	HENNY@HOTMAIL.COM
Denise Farnan	19 Roosevelt Dr. Saratoga Springs, NY 12866	584-2000 X 205	Denise.Farnan@OPRHP.state.ny.us
Louis Rossi	72B Devonshire Dr. Guilderland, NY 12084	869-3782	Louisrossi@aol.com
Kathy Quandt	ACCVB 25 Quackenbush Sq. Albany, NY 12207	434-1217 X 213	Kathy@albany.org
Jason Purvis	CDTC	458-2161	c dtc@crisny.org
Monique Wahba	Dept. of Dev. & Planning 21 Lodge St.	434-2532 x 26	wahbam@ci.albany.ny.us
Andy Labruzzo	Albany County 112 State St., Room 1006 Albany, NY 12207	447-5645	alabruzzo@albanycounty.com
Debbie Jacques	City Hall Cohoes, NY 12047	233-2118	djacques@ci.cohoes.ny.us
John DiMura	NYS Canal Corp	436-3034	john_dimura@canals.state.us.ny
Ivan Vamos	13 Maple Lane Loudonville, NY 12211	459-2026	ivanvamos@hotmail.com
Kevin McLoughlin	Hudson River Greenway	473-3835	Kevin.McLoughlin@hudsongreenway.state.ny.us
Dick Hurst	One Tug Boat Alley Watervliet, NY 12188	527-5041	WFDCAHANUC@aol.com
Jennifer Krausnick	63 State St. Albany, NY 12207	465-8975 x 231	jennifer@ceg.org

Statewide Canalway Trail Group

John DiMura distributed a conceptual Canalways Trails Association (CTANY) flow chart, and explained the relationship between the CTANY Managing Board, the Regional Canalway Trail Groups (RCTG) and the local Adopt-A-Trail Groups.
He noted that regional Canalway Trail groups are generally formed at the county level. The existing Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Trail resulted in the formation of a multi-county region for the Capital District.

The new Adopt-A-Trail brochure was distributed.

Reviewed Canalway Trail improvements. Included two sections in Montgomery County. This should complete the link from Rotterdam Junction to just east of Utica. One of the problems completing the connection to the remainder of the Mohawk Hudson Bike Hike Path is resolving access over the railroad tracks at Scrafford Lane in Rotterdam. Finished links will be connected via BR 5.

John announced that Don Odell will be the Mohawk-Hudson Regional Canalway Trail Group’s representative on the CTANY Statewide Board on a temporary basis.

Updates

q Ivan Vamos distributed announcements about the release of NYBC manual for bicycle advocates. Find it online at www.nybc.net.

q Don Robertson, NYSDOT, noted that the Town of Rotterdam is not interested in suing Guilford over the issue of connecting the hike bike path over the rail line right-of-way at Scrafford Lane, and would prefer to negotiate a solution. He noted that NYSDOT built the trail in the 1970s. Schenectady County has information as to engineering specifications, and what may be required to resolve the issue.

q Denis Farnham, NYSOPRHP, noted that bids have been received for the bridge rehabilitation connecting the Village of Waterford with Peebles Island.

q Kathy Quandt, ACCVB, noted that the Albany Convention & Visitors Bureau is in the final steps of preparing a publication advertising the Capital-Saratoga Region (Counties of Albany, Fulton, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Washington), and Columbia County, which has joined and paid to be included in the publication. The publication will feature the bike & hike trails, waterways, and scenic bi-ways.

q Jason Purvis, CDTC, reported:

The new regional bike-hike map is nearly complete and should be going to the printer shortly.
The CDTC, Greenway and Albany County have been meeting and finalizing the work scope for fulfilling the objectives and requirements of the Greenway grant.
The CDTC Bicycle Pedestrian Task Force will meet Tuesday, March 5.
The prioritized list of the enhancement grant applications will be going to the CDTC Planning Committee on March 6.

q Andy Labruzzo, Albany County, reported that participants from the COUNTY EDC&P and DPW, the Greenway, NYSDOT and the Cities of Cohoes and Watervliet, and Village of Green Island had completed the on-road Mohawk Hudson Bike Path signage survey. Don Robertson noted that the NYSDOT is completing improvements to the Watervliet trail head parking area including a “you-are-here” sign for the trail head.

q Kevin McLoughlin, Greenway, reported that there will be an end-to-end celebration of the Greenway water trail with the celebration in Waterford being on August 2.

q Monique Wahba, City of Albany, reported:

The North Waterfront needs a “driver” in the grand scheme now that the intermodal center is not working out. At this point, that seems to be a focus on the beginning of the Erie Canal, and the creation of a water basin at that location. There would be a mix of water related activities. The planning anticipates a mix of office development north of the basin location. In this scheme, the bike path would go around the basin harbor. Also, she mentioned the possibility of a rowing club boat house on the river north of the basin. An impediment will be access under I-787 for the boat house, and for the bike path. Also, the scheme includes an Erie Canal museum.

In response, Ivan Vamos noted concerns relating to water & sediment issues. A basin of this sort may require continuous dredging. Also, harbor and marina access under I-787 provide serious difficulties. In further discussion, Lou Rossi noted that this used to be the location of the lumber district, which might be a historic factor.

· The South Waterfront District encompasses the area from the U Haul building to Island Creek. The north end of the project would remain commercial. The south end of the project area would include a re-creation of Fort Orange, and a permanent dock for the Half Moon. There are rail lines through both sites complicating access to the river.

CEG Virtual Tour

Jennifer Krausnick gave a short presentation of the “Virtual Tour” prepared by the CEG (Council on Economic Growth). She explained that it constitutes an inventory of community “visions”, and extends along both sides of the Hudson River in Albany and Rensselaer Counties from the Albany and Rensselaer cities going north through Troy and Cohoes.

Inter-Municipal Management Organization White Paper

This element focused on the white paper presented by Kevin McLoughlin at the last meeting. Discussion included:

Jason Purvis noted that the trail management aspects of the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Path has been mapped. He will also check as to what information and material is available at the CDTC. Don Robertson noted that he had provided information to the CDTC.
Ivan Vamos noted that the Appalachian Trail Conference has an agreement format (and has 85 years experience in this). A contact may be Dave Startzl.
There was some agreement to collect existing agreements to provide examples for the regional group in its efforts. Kevin McLachlan, Andy Labruzzo & Don Odell will work on this.
Jason will provide a map.

Outreach Plan

The group reviewed material from the last meeting report. The discussion included:

How should the message be crafted for local officials?
Who might be contacted for how they have done this? The efforts of Warren and St. Lawrence Counties were mentioned.
How is support for the trail to be built? There was some discussion of the need to craft a message for users and for local officials. It was noted that the trail is a relatively low cost amenity, and that there should be some focus on the quality of life aspects of the trail.

Next Time

The group will focus on the development of a flyer for outreach and continue discussion on the Trail Management Association concept.

The next meeting will be 2:00-4:00 PM, Monday, April 1, 2002 at the Waterford Canal Visitor’s Center, One Tugboat Alley

SUBMITTED BY:

Don Odell, recorder