Dear Editor,
Congratulations on an excellent, thorough and balanced depiction of the Corkscrew trail developments. Some of us in Petersburgh have been following these with interest, since there had been a parallel flurry of low key meetings last year called by our Petersburgh town supervisor and spurred also by Jim Bonesteel of the RPA. As a dissenting member of that committee, I was nonetheless privy to local reactions and research that might be relevant to the grand (or some would say, grandiose) plan to run the trail from Chatham to Bennington.
In a nutshell, from my perspective, it ain’t going to happen. First, our supervisor, who initially wisely attempted to enlist some local landowners in the possible path of the trail before making the plan generally known to the public, was, as far as I know, unable to enlist one single landowner to offer his/her land for trail use. In a happenstance neighborly chat with two such landowners with critical land in the trail’s path, a member of our committee was told that they were unalterably opposed to the trail’s using their land.
Second, unlike our Stephentown friends, there is virtually no local interest or support from the critical mass or people who ostensibly would use, run, and police the trail — hikers and bikers. Of the committee that was formed, only three people could be characterized as active outdoorspeople, and all three were opposed to the trail. It is precisely this kind of grass roots structure that is absolutely crucial to any forward movement on a trail proposal.
Third, the cost. A recent dinner with Barbara and Bob Murdock, who were involved in the initial stages of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, gave me indigestion … the initial engineering cost was $200,000 according to Bob, and the actual construction cost c. 11 million dollars, or roughly 1 million per mile. With the county’s complete inability to manage event the most basic road infrastructure such as Route 22 south of Petersburgh, where do the Corkscrew people think they are going to get this kind of money?
Due to the devastation of Irene, any rail trail that comes anywhere near the Little Hoosick will need additional mitigation that in itself will put it out of reach of any proposal.
The concern for Stephentown folks should be that, should you bind with Petersburgh in a joint grant proposal, we would be so needful (since we would be going from scratch) that we would drain an inordinate amount of funding that would take away from your own funding.
Fourth, after doing some research, knowing the history and culture of Petersburgh, and seeing the impossibility of implementing it here without significant motorized use and noise (legally or illegally), the project will only cause a major uproar in the town similar to the one that occurred when they tried to install a motocross track here a few years ago.
Our situation is nearly directly opposite from Stephentown’s:
• In Stephentown, the motorized use is already there and will remain. There might be more of an upside to expanding it as a multiple use facility. Petersburgh, on the other hand, enjoys relative peace and quiet along the route. The trail will open it up to noise and misuse that didn’t exist.
• In Stephentown, there is already a force in place to maintain the trail, with the snowmobile club, with heavy equipment and a ready cadre of people ready to help, involving relatively little extra effort required to make this into a hike bike use as well. But even with this body of dedicated snowmobilers, I noticed on their web site’s Facebook page a continual thread of the problem of ATV and other non-authorized motorized use. If these responsible people, who have a larger community of support which is already well organized, can not stop this motorized use, what makes you think that Petersburgh, with virtually no infrastructure, no policing capability, and a culture of unlawful motorized use all over the area will be able to restrict this in any way? No property owner in his (her) right mind would agree to opening their land to such potential abuse. Just look at what has happened to the Taconic Trail south of Petersburgh around Berlin Mountain. Totally ruined by ATV use and no discernible policing.
• The acoustic sound problem is a significant difference. Anyone who is living along the Rt. 22 corridor in Petersburgh/Berlin knows that motorized noise has an echo/amplification effect, unlike the relatively flatter area around Stephentown.
Any promises by an official that, once built, trail abuse can be prevented and policed just do not ring true if one examines the culture and the budgets of this area. That is why it is so important for us to very closely examine the long term implications of this trail and its potential to severely impact the peace and quiet of our rural valley, and the resultant abuse and lowering of property values along the route. Any statements to the contrary by officials promoting the project should be viewed skeptically.
Barton McLean
Petersburgh