The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation just completed its public comment period on proposed changes to the Remsen Lake Placid rail corridor. It’s a controversial plan to determine whether part or all of the rail corridor should be removed and redeveloped for recreational use.
The latest revision to the Unit Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the rail corridor is Alternative 7. It would remove rail tracks between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake to create recreational trails. The remainder of the route from Tupper Lake to Remsen would remain as a rail corridor.
As the public comment period ended, the Adirondack Council urged the Adirondack Park Agency to approve Alternative 7. Executive Director Willie Janeway calls the plan viable and a reasonable compromise. “It provides something for almost everybody. It provides for an investment in the corridor for bringing back rail service to Tupper Lake but also establishing what could be a world-class tourist destination recreational trail to Tupper Lake from Tupper Lake to Lake Placid. It’s not all that some people wanted. So there are some critics on both sides. Because of that we thought it was really important as the Council to weigh in and say this is really a good compromise. It’s good for the Park. It’s good for the ecological integrity of these wild lands that are traversed. And we hope the Governor does go forward and invest in this plan and implement it.”
Adirondack Wild Friends of the Forest Preserve Partner David Gibson says if the state wants to implement the proposal, it must amend the State Land Master Plan. “The State Land Master Plan has the word rail or railroad embedded throughout the description of the travel corridor section. The rail, railroad, right-of-way means a form of mass transit and when you end that form of mass transit you should amend the State Land Master Plan to reflect an all recreational corridor which is what’s being proposed. So we don’t oppose a necessarily an all-recreational trail between as proposed Lake Placid and Tupper Lake but we do insist that the State Land Master Plan be observed and that the current characterization of the right-of-way, meaning a rail or railroad, has to be amended to reflect an all recreational facility.”
Trails With Rails Action Committee Coordinator Bob Hest says Alternative 7 does not conform with the State Land Master Plan, the Environmental Impact Statement is flawed and the process is not adequate for the magnitude of the proposed change. “We’re talking about, in this Alternative 7, removing 26 percent of the infrastructure in a state and national historic designated property. It’s in the interest of everybody who lives in the Tri-Lakes to have an improved transportation network that upgrading the rails from Remsen all the way to Lake Placid would represent.”
Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates Director Tony Goodwin is also director of the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society and founder of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council. He is among those pleased with Alternative 7, calling it a step in the right direction. “Thirty-four miles of recreational trail is certainly one of the things that we want and we believe that it will show that there’s a great demand for such a recreational trail and that it will be an immediate benefit to the communities that it goes through, namely Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. But we’re also asking the DOT to take a very, very careful look at the costs and the potential revenues that would result from an improvement of the tracks from Big Moose to Tupper Lake.”
Alternative 7 must be approved by the Adirondack Park Agency before it can be implemented.
