Gardiner Rail Trail Saga by Marion Kells

(Note - this is an article from last year written by Marion Kells. Since then, the Gardiner section of the Rail Trail has been purchased by the town for $70,000. A grant to reimburse the money to the town is not gone through as of this date. The town is now having to take up the burden of cost and maintenance, without adding any benefit to the people that they didn't have before the purchase.)

For more than two decades the question has cropped up in Gardiner -- to take over (buy) , or not to take over the portion of the old railroad bed that runs through our town. Recently, Louis Benson and Joe Katz formed a committee to look into the question. After some investigation they suggested that, in their opinion, it was time for Gardiner to purchase the property. And they gave several reasons for it. They gave none of the reasons for approaching such a purchase with caution, if not downright refusal. And in the ensuing months, the euphoria over possibly owning the rail trail has the Town Board on the brink of ownership. That would be ownership by the taxpayers of Gardiner.

The committee mentioned relatively small sums for the purchase and other costs that would be incurred if the town bought the rail trail. They never were able to give a figure for how much it costs the Town and Village of New Paltz to operate and maintain the rail trail in their jurisdictions. That would be a very important, even deciding, figure to know.

The reasons Gardiner does not now own the rail trail, and some history of the years-long discussion are interesting.

In March of 1982, notices were sent by New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) announcing the abandonment of portions of the Conrail right-of-way (ROW). The notice informed towns through which the ROW ran, that they would have preferential right to acquire the property, and that the towns must advise NYSDOT of their interest by certain date, or those rights would lapse.

In May of 1983, the supervisors of New Paltz, Gardiner, Shawangunk and Montgomery contacted NYSDOT asking that their four towns be granted preferential status. Negotiations concerning purchase price and other considerations would involve the towns, NYSDOT and Conrail.

Following that period, attention to the rail trail was low priority for the Gardiner Town Board. The towns of Montgomery and Shawangunk purchased the ROW in their towns in October 1985.

By 1988 a group calling itself the Wallkill Valley Railroad Associates (WVRA) made a bid for the ROW traversing Gardiner and the Town and Village of New Paltz. A June 1988 letter from Matthew Bialecki, representing the WVRA, apprised the Gardiner supervisor of the intention of the group, if their bid was accepted, to sell off the ROW to the municipalities. He added that if the municipalities were not interested,, WVRA would sell to private individuals, most likely adjacent landowners.

Later in 1988, the ROW came to the interest of the Wallkill Valley Land Trust (WVLT), which had organized for the purpose of furthering land preservation. How the WVRA was eclipsed by the WVLT is not clear, but from that point on, the WVLT controlled the ROW. They stated that their association with the Trust For Public Land made it possible for them “to participate in projects which might otherwise be beyond our financial or technical ability”.

The WVLT issued a Declaration stating what obligations they or any subsequent owners of the ROW would have. These “rules” would be in effect permanently, and dictate how the ROW would be administered. Apparently, the Town and Village of New Paltz agreed to the “rules”, and contracted with WVLT early in 1989, to purchase their portions of the ROW. There followed a flurry of letters to the Town of Gardiner urging them to “sign on”. Clearly, the WVLT, not wanting the responsibility of ownership, hoped to turn over the rail trail, with their added Declaration of restrictions, as quickly as possible.

During that period Gardiner town boards changed from election to election, but those boards were always only lukewarm to any takeover of the ROW. The reluctance by Gardiner in the ROW discussions was for several reasons: the well-known (but now past) Gardiner aversion to spending taxpayer money for non-essentials; the apprehension about taking on a liability with possibility of lawsuits; demands by a few that more and more amenities be added to the rail trail; the demand by WVLT to impose restrictions on use of the trail, even if Gardiner owned it; WVLT would not guarantee title or the value of quit claims; the contention by the Town and Village of New Paltz that they had the power to commit the Town of Gardiner to purchase Gardiner’s portion of the ROW; and, among additional reasons, the correct assumption that the rail trail would benefit New Paltz residents and other outsiders, far more than Gardiner residents and serve as a unique corridor of access to our town, and the properties abutting the trail, that could have undesirable consequences.

In July 1988, the Gardiner Town Board sent a questionnaire to Gardiner residents whose property abutted the ROW. The results of this questionnaire were almost unanimously against the use of the ROW as a rail trail or linear park. Also, the Town Board received letters from other taxpayers in the town, objecting to the use of tax dollars in such a purchase and continued upkeep.

At a meeting in June, 1989 between the Gardiner Town Board and the WVLT, the Gardiner Town Board gave their final NO to any takeover of the ROW.

A February 7, 1991 letter from Steve Ruelke, Project Manager for WVLT, to the Gardiner Town Board, announced that purchases by the Town and Village of New Paltz of their portions of the ROW were completed. He added that the offer to the Town of Gardiner to purchase their ROW portion was now null and void. However, the door was not shut to possible negotiations in the future.

Mr. Ruelke went on to outline some of WVLT’s plans for the rail trail: their intent to improve the trail between 44/55 and the Town of New Paltz; decking the Forest Glen bridge; brush clearing and ditching; working with the Wallkill Valley Railroad Association, volunteers committed to operating, managing and maintaining the entire 12 miles of trail; planning a small railroad museum; organizing nature walks and other activities.

The WVLT’s annoyance with Gardiner’s turn down was thinly concealed. Newspaper reports had then saying that Gardiner was “putting up smoke screens”, and Gardiner Town Board members wouldn’t participate in the rail trail scheme because they were “afraid of new ideas”. And periodically, throughout the 1990s, feelers were sent from the WVLT to Gardiner officials to see if a change in boards might have brought about a change in minds.

An example of such an attempt to spark Gardiner’s interest occurred in 1993. WVLT asked that Gardiner agree to act as municipal sponsor for a grant application under the ISTEA Transportation Enhancement federal program. The plan was that if WVLT succeeded in receiving the grant, the money would suffice as Gardiner’s payment for the rail trail. It was learned that by being a municipal sponsor for the ISTEA grant, Gardiner could be left in the sorry position of being responsible for the rail trail if the other parties failed their part of the agreement. In addition, the town board asked WVLT to release Gardiner from the restrictions placed on the rail trail by the WVLT Declaration. They refused, and once again, Gardiner had to deny WVLT’s request.

CODA: The above decisions of the past Gardiner town boards are proven to have been wise. Time after time stories in the local papers have told of vandalism, intrusion on private property, necessity of police involvement, and continued demands by trail users for additional amenities. All of these problems and costs would have been the responsibility of Gardiner taxpayers, had we bought the ROW.

The facts that Gardiner has within its borders a fine town park, as yet not fully developed, a state park on the Shawangunk Ridge, along with the recently added Awosting Reserve and Tillson Lake land, other parcels in the town set aside for future parks, and expansive yards where most residents do their recreating, all work against Gardiner taking on still more park land.

It is unreasonable that Gardiner should buy the rail trail. Gardiner will not be deprived of it, since it runs through our town. It is owned by a group pledged by their Declaration to continue it as a rail trail. Working with the Wallkill Valley Railroad Association, they have the clout to obtain grants (already proven), and they have the enthusiasm of the people who are interested in such a linear park. It is just and fair that those who believe in it should shoulder the burden, not all the taxpayers of Gardiner.