By Thaddeus Flint
“So here we are again,” was New Lebanon resident Cynthia Creech’s reaction last Thursday night to yet another discussion on the proposed sale of a local property to the Corkscrew Rail Trail. The Public Hearing on the matter indeed seemed like yet another of those deja-vu-all-over-again, again, moments that make New Lebanon so unique. And that feeling, it turns out, is destined to continue.
This is the third of discussions on the sale of 16 Lovers Lane by Columbia County to the Rail Trail Association that has taken place before the New Lebanon Town Board. The Board itself didn’t do much discussing at the May 17 meeting, held at the New Lebanon Fire House because the Town Hall would have been too small a venue for the number of Townspeople expected. As it was a Public Hearing, the idea was the hear the public. And hear they did–for close to two hours– as one resident after another stood up to voice their support of having a trail through their Town.
Right from the beginning there was some question as to who had the right to publicly speak at a public meeting. Often, some believe, that only residents, and perhaps only even tax-paying residents, should be able have to their say. However, Town Supervisor Colleen Teal squelched that idea from the get-go. “It’s open to the public,” she stated, exactly as the title “Public Hearing” says it is, no taxes required. This was backed up by author, attorney, past-President of Trinity and Amherst Colleges, and constitutional law professor Tom Gerety who presumable knows about stuff like that. But that’s New Lebanon, you really have no idea who will get up next.
Basically everyone who got up–with the exception of about three or four residents–were enthusiastically for the project. They cited everything from the trail being a safer alternative—one that could be a pedestrian back door to the Town’s businesses–than walking down State Routes 20 & 22, to keeping with the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, to the psychologic benefits of community spaces. “We are all suffering from a lack of community,” said psychologist Adelia Moore who presumably knows about stuff like that. “This is exactly the kind of thing I think we need,” added Moore, pointing out that all too often these days children and families are living their lives apart right next to each other, immersed in the “screens” of their phones and computers.
“Families and children have nothing in this Town,” said resident Terrianne Koepp, who went on to list the many benefits New Lebanon enjoyed back when the railroad was still going through Town. Koepp—who actually remembers the trains and presumably knows about stuff like that–said that residents could once again have some benefit from what remains, a trail people would make a destination like so many other successful trails throughout the Country. “Why don’t we bank on our history?” she asked.
That New Lebanon, so filled with history, is right now celebrating its bicentennial, was continually touched upon. Just like Shatford Park became a much loved part of the Town through the bequest of Almar Shatford’s will of 1955, the creation of the Corkscrew Rail Trail could be another such memorable event greatly appreciated when looked back at in the years to come. “It is not often that a town has an opportunity to create a legacy,” said resident Brenda Adams to the Board. “It would be wonderful it this Board could find—not its duty—but with its heart…to support this.”
Resident Judy Zimmer went a bit further than this, pointing out that with so much public support coming out in favor of the trail, it would call into “question if [the Town Board] are really respecting their constituents on this,” should a future vote be once again against the sale.
Once again there was grumbling that the meeting was “stacked” by supporters of the trail. However, why the rest of those resident supposedly against the project continually fail to show and say so is never made clear. It was the sale though, and not the trail itself, that those residents in the vocal minority were mostly against. Resident Johanna Johnson-Smith pretty much summed up the opposition by saying she was for the trail but didn’t think the way the County had removed the property from bidding was correct. “It’s biased,” said Johnson-Smith, adding that “hundreds of acres” of Town land had already been removed from tax rolls and put into conservancies, forever keeping them from being built on.
That all of the land conserved is no longer on the rolls, however was disputed by Christine Vanderlan, a Projects Manager with the Columbia Country Land Conservancy who presumably knows about stuff like that. “Our Board of Directors has a long standing policy that they approve donating voluntary payments to communities…at the tax value of the property when we acquired it.”
While the Rail Trail has not yet said if they would do similarly should they acquire the Lovers Lane property, the association is certain that the economic benefits to New Lebanon would more than make up for the taxes that were coming from that property when it was a residence—just over $600 total to the County.
The matter is still not over. The deja-vu will continue deja-vu-ing at the June meeting of the Town Board, when yet another discussion will happen (and perhaps another vote taken) before the results are sent down to the County for its consideration. And that’s presuming that the County even wants to consider it again. Two County committees, who presumably know about stuff like this, have already both voted—unanimously–that the best possible use of the land is a trail through the Town.