File photo/Kim Dedam
Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor
RAY BROOK | Adirondack Park Agency commissioners took a first look at proposed changes to the definition, management and use of Adirondack Park State Land “Travel Corridors.”
They did not weigh in last week on the proposed State Land Master Plan (SLMP) amendment, but they did open discussion to public hearing and review.
APA Deputy Director Kathy Regan outlined six options clarifying land-use and regulation of a Travel Corridor.
Alternative 1 is a no-action version. Alternative 6 is the option preferred by APA land-use planners, she said.
In Alternative 6, APA’s definition of Travel Corridor would allow both railroad and rail-trail use on the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor and on any or all state-owned railroad corridors in the Adirondack Park.
“This alternative would also allow for a rail-with-trail” use, Regan said.
It proposes to add new terminology to the SLMP, including “rail-trail,” “trail without rails,” “rail bed,” and “road bed,” items that had not previously been part of formal Travel Corridor definition.
Alternative 6 also identifies land-use protection measures for water quality, including guidelines for restrooms on Travel Corridors, which might include pit-potties and port-o-potties.
The preferred alternative would maintain bridges and culverts on Travel Corridors as conforming structures, along with boardwalks, fencing, railings and observation decks.
The Travel Corridors, which include state highways’ right-of-way, are often heavily traveled areas, Regan said.
Bike racks would be allowed in Travel Corridor Alternative 6, but must be made of natural materials, such as wood, Regan said.
Travel Corridors with rails would be managed for operation of rail cars, rail bikes and snowmobiles. And trails may parallel the existing tracks in this proposed clarification, the deputy director said.
Travel Corridors without rails, she added, would allow biking, hiking, cross-country skiing and other non-motorized travel, plus snowmobile use in winter.
Amendment Alternative 6 also formalizes Travel Corridor review process.
“In order to take the rails out, there needs to be a Unit Management Plan,” Regan said.
Initial -- but not comprehensive -- APA mapping research estimates some 800 miles of existing railroad beds or defunct railroad lines with tracks are scattered around the Adirondack Park.
RAILROAD LINE THROWN IN
Regan presented a brief history of how Travel Corridor was defined by state land mapping in the first place.
It was included in 1972 State Land Master Plan (SLMP_ documents as a land-use classification for highways, she said.
In 1974, according to DEC, the Remsen-Lake Placid railroad corridor was purchased by the state.
And in 1979, Regan said, the definition of Travel Corridor was modified to include the 119-mile Remsen-Lake Placid line.
“The interesting thing to note is that most changes made in 1979 ... included modifications to the highway criteria,” Regan said.
“They sort of threw in the railroad and didn’t put in any guidelines.”
CLARIFICATION
APA’s SLMP proposed amendment this year looks to clarify use and definition, albeit 40 years later.
In 1996, the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor UMP was written with extensive public input via DEC and identified as a 119-mile continuous asset. The UMP allowed upgrades to sections of the railroad track for use by scenic excursion trains.
A 2008 amendment to Remsen-Lake Placid UMP allowed for management of vegetation along the railroad right-of-way, APA’s deputy director said.
Then the highly contentious 2016 amendment to the UMP divided the corridor into two sections, allowing conversion of 34 miles on the northern end to a multi-use trail.
DEC, the state Department of Transportation and APA plan halted scenic railroad use between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. Discontinuing use of the railroad line in 2017 also pushed away a new rail-bike business that ran between Saranac Lake and Lake Clear. No trains or rail-bikes ran along the line last year, and the Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society sued the state.
The need for more precise definition of Travel Corridor comes in part in response to that lawsuit.
A court decision handed down by Judge Robert G. Main Jr. in Franklin County Supreme Court last September said converting part of the 119-mile Travel Corridor to a trail constitutes “a reclassification beyond the authority of the 2016 UMP.”
Among other legal concerns, Main said a UMP process cannot be used to revise the State Land Master Plan.
He halted removal of the rails.
“The rationalization by respondents (state agencies) that a multi-recreational use trail is qualified for continuation as a Travel Corridor is not based in reason,” the judge said last fall. “It defies common sense. The Court rejects this contention as irrational and, hence, arbitrary and capricious.”
Regan said DEC and APA recognized need to clarify the meaning and use of “Travel Corridor” with an amendment to the State Land Master Plan.
Travel Corridor lands encompass some 1,078 miles of State and Interstate Highways, plus the 119-mile Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor inside the Adirondack Park boundary.
The proposed amendment, if adopted, would apply to “any future acquisition of railroad corridors with existing rails” inside the Blue Line.
In addition to Alternative One, which takes no action, and preferred Alternative 6, APA amendment options propose either more broad-based action or language specific only to the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor.
In short:
Alternative 2 suggests reclassifying a portion of the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor.
Alternative 3 would establish a wholly new classification category which would allow for conversion of a former rail corridor to a rail-trail and then place all or a section of the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor into this new land-use category.
Alternative 4: Would revise the Travel Corridor definition and guidelines to allow a rail-trail on any former railroad corridor owned by the State or on any future railroad corridors yet to be acquired by the State.
Alternative 5: Suggests revising Travel Corridor definition and use to allow a rail-trail only on the 34-mile, Tupper Lake to Lake Placid portion of the Remsen-Lake Placid railroad line.
To review all six proposed Travel Corridor clarifications, download the Draft Environmental Impact Statement at: https://apa.ny.gov/Mailing/2018/03/stateLand.htm
A final Environmental Impact Statement will include APA’s written response to public comments.
ADD YOUR COMMENT:
Three public hearings on the proposed Travel Corridor amendment to the State Land Master Plan will be held at the following locations and times:
April 11 7 p.m., Adirondack Park Agency, 1133 NYS Route 86, Ray Brook, NY
April 24 7 p.m., The View, 3273 NYS Route 28, Old Forge
April 25 11 a.m., NYSDEC offices, 625 Broadway, Albany
Oral comments limited to 3 minutes.
Public comments can be submitted via mail or email through May 7 to:
Or to:
Kathy Regan, Deputy Director for Planning
NYS Adirondack Park Agency
P.O. Box 99, Ray Brook, NY 12977
