KINGSTON >> The Ulster County Legislature has created a new committee, and committed tens of thousands of dollars, to look anew at the county’s policy calling for a recreation trail along the former Ulster & Delaware rail corridor.
Legislators voted 21-1 Tuesday to adopt a resolution creating the Ulster & Delaware Corridor Advisory Committee and to move $30,000 from the county’s contingency account to pay for an independent consultant to aid the committee review of work already completed, facilitate discussions and help determine the most appropriate development of the 38-mile corridor. Legislator Richard Gerentine, R-Marlborough voted against the resolution.
The committee is to submit a written report of its findings and proposed next steps to the Legislature by Nov. 30.
Lawmakers hope the new committee, composed entirely of county legislators, will be able to look at the county’s current policy – and the potential uses for the corridor – without the controversy that has surrounded that debate so far.
The creation of the new committee comes eight months after lawmakers adopted a resolution calling for the corridor to be converted to a recreational trail only between Kingston and Boiceville – a resolution that some legislators now question.
“I hope there’s a way to develop a rail with trail,” said Legislator Manna Jo Greene, D-Rosendale. “I think both sides bring forth a lot of merit.”
Ulster County Executive Michael Hein originally proposed converting the railroad corridor between Kingston and the Ashokan Reservoir into a recreational trail, with a tourist train operating in the corridor west of the Ashokan. In December, though, he announced a revised plan that would allow a tourist train to also run between the Kingston Plaza and Hurley Mountain Road in the town of Ulster. For that plan to move forward, he said, the Legislature must revise its policy.
The county and the Catskill Mountain Railroad have been embroiled in a legal dispute since 2013, when the railroad sued the county after the county served the railroad with a notice of default, claiming the railroad failed to live up to the terms of its lease. The Catskill Mountain Railroad operates under a 25-year lease with the county that expires in May 2016.
Serving on the new committee are Legislators Lynn Archer, D-Accord, David Donaldson, D-Kingston, Greene, Jeanette Provenzano, D-Kingston, Ken Ronk, R-Wallkill, Herbert Litts, R-Lloyd, Carl Belfiglio, R-Espous, James Maloney, R-town of Ulster, and Tracey Bartels, a non-enrolled voter from Gardiner who caucuses with the Democrats.