Funds would cover local portion of state grant

Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Inc. said on Monday (Feb. 9) that it has pledged $450,000 to extend the sidewalks on Fair Street from Mayor's Park in Cold Spring to Route 9D and Little Stony Point.

The village and Philipstown are applying for a grant from the state Department of Transportation that would reimburse 80 percent of the project costs. The $450,000 from HHFT will cover the 20 percent required from the village and town. The project is expected to cost about $2 million.

"We've been talking with the village and the town about sidewalks a lot," said Peter Mullan, the HHFT president. "How do we do something quick to address the situation in the village," to provide a safe pedestrian route from Main Street to Little Stony Point and the Washburn Trail.

The Fjord Trail, a proposed 7.5-mile linear park connecting Cold Spring and Beacon, is designed to alleviate overcrowding in the village and along Route 9D. Many visitors are hikers who walk from the train station down Fair Street to reach Little Stony Point, Bull Hill and points beyond.

Although Fair Street is not part of the proposed trail, HHFT Executive Director Amy Kacala said it has always been on the designers' minds.

"In the master plan, we call Fair Street a 'meander' to acknowledge that people are walking on that route," she said. "It won't be a multimodal route in the same way as our trail, but more ways for people to get out of the village is important to reduce congestion.

"While the connection we'll make to Dockside Park will be part of the trail, this is an alternate route people are already used to taking," she said. "We want to make sure that they're walking safely, and we know that the municipalities share that concern."

The sidewalks on Fair Street will also be needed because the trail itself won't be coming to Cold Spring anytime soon: HHFT announced on Monday that it is delaying construction on the trail between Breakneck Ridge and Cold Spring for at least two years while it collects more ecological data.

HHFT plans to build a boardwalk that extends into the river as part of the southern trail. Many residents, as well as the environmental group Riverkeeper, have expressed concern about the impact of construction on the river.

Mullan said he hopes that because the matching funds for the sidewalks are coming from a local nonprofit, rather than the municipalities, it will make for a "stronger application" for the state grant. He said he also hopes the donation will give the project's detractors — of which there have been many in Philipstown — some pause. "I hope that the people of Cold Spring see this as a measure of our commitment to the community," he said.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Cold Spring Mayor Kathleen Foley, Nelsonville Mayor Chris Winward and Philipstown Supervisor John Van Tassel said they were grateful for the $450,000 pledge but that the municipalities still must find money to construct sidewalks along Route 9D toward Breakneck.

"HHFT was not willing to contribute to funding for 9D, estimated at $3 million, for which we are pursuing a TAP [Transportation Alternatives Program] grant," they said. "In order to qualify for the reimbursable 80 percent from TAP, local governments have to demonstrate in their applications that the full amount for the projects can be fronted. We are actively working to secure front-end funding for both projects, and the situation is fluid."