3 meetings planned on state park proposal

Scenic Hudson will hold three virtual community meetings this month about the planned creation of Hudson Cliffs State Park on a 508-acre site that a Scenic Hudson affiliate bought from a housing developer in 2019.

Scenic Hudson is working with New York state parks officials and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to create the new park, which would be the first state park in the city of Kingston and town of Ulster. During the virtual meetings, the public will be able to learn about the land, its nature and its history, as well as see ideas for transforming former industrial areas into public spaces. The public also will be able to offer ideas for the park.

The meetings are scheduled for 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18; 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20; and, in Spanish only, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24.

To register for the meetings, obtain more information about the project, or fill out a community survey about the planned park, go to the website hudsoncliffsparkinfo.org. Questions can be emailed to contact@hudsoncliffsparkinfo.org.

The creation of the park was to be included in a $3 billion Restore Mother Nature bond act proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but a ballot proposition on approving the bond was pulled last year amid uncertainty over the financial impact on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the bond, the

state would have acquired the 508 acres from Scenic Hudson Land Trust affiliate Quarry Wates LLC and turned the land into a state park.

Quarry Waters bought the land in late 2019 from AVR Acquisition Corp. of Yonkers, which at one time planned to build a large housing development on part of the site.

The amount Quarry Waters paid was not disclosed, but the land had an assessed value of about $5 million at the time of the sale.

The site, of which 75 percent is in Kingston and 25 percent in the town of Ulster, previously was used for cement mining and processing and was known as the Tilcon property. It now features a portion of the 750-mile Empire State Trail called the Hudson River Brickyards Trail.

FILE PHOTO BY PIERCE JOHNSTON The land that Scenic Hudson Land Trust affiliate Quarry Waters LLC purchased in October 2019 is seen at the center of this photo. It extends southward from East Kingston in the town of Ulster, N.Y., to the neighboring city of Kingston. The piece of land jutting into the Hudson River in the distance is Kingston Point.