The Conservancy has been working for the past five years with the NYS Dept of Transportation (“the DOT”) to obtain ownership of the DOT Right of Way land in High Falls. We are happy to announce that the DOT has decided to transfer this land to Marbletown for the price of one dollar. On December 21, the Town Board adopted a resolution authorizing Town Supervisor Rich Parete to sign the purchase and sale agreement with DOT. A closing date is to be set in the near future. The agreement specifies that this land must be used for a public walkway (i.e., “rail trail”) forever. For anyone not familiar with this property, we included a map of the Right of Way. Completion of this transfer of land to Marbletown ownership will be an extremely important development. It will then be possible for the Conservancy and Marbletown to make improvements to the land, repurposing it as the High Falls Creek Walk. These improvements will include repair of the surface and possibly landscaping, benches, fencing along the creek side, and installation of sculptures along the town side. Development of the Creek Walk land and its connection to the 5 Locks Walk will be a joint effort of the Conservancy, coordinating with Marbletown, the O&W Rail Trail Committee, the D&H Canal Historical Society, and Central Hudson. We will be discussing leadership and funding of this Project at our January 10 meeting.
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