Town will seek approval for 2 Bristol Beach trails
Officials are set to ask the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to let the town begin work on two public trails at Bristol Beach.
Councilwoman Leeanne Thornton provided the update last week during a Town Board meeting.
“The Bristol Beach team…spent several hours (mapping) out two potential trails,” Thornton said. “One that would follow along the (Hudson River) past the old kiln to the south and another one from the beach area north to the old railroad track.”
Town officials have been gearing up preparations for wider use of a site, which currently has only one open trial and a parking lot. Those were constructed from funds that in 2016 included $37,000 from Hudson River Valley Greenway, $10,000 from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and $73,000 from the former Winston Farm Alliance.
Ownership of Bristol Beach, which was initially deeded to the town and given to the state, was transferred to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission in 1967.
Aspirations to develop the property for recreational use have materialized slowly since the town signed a 20-year agreement with the commission in 2016. A master plan was released a year later but ultimately had to be scaled back. Initial plans called for an amphitheater, but that was eliminated in favor of less costly goals like trails with education signage.
Thornton was optimistic that officials would convince the Palisades Interstate Park Commission that it’s time to embrace the 165acre site as a unique opportunity for Hudson River access.
“We have to submit a report…before the end of the month to get approval, to get their permission basically, to go ahead and start taking our clippers and saws and getting to work on trails, potentially, that we hope to have walkable, I would hope by mid-summer,” she said.
“Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who are looking for a project, we are going to be looking for community volunteers,” Thornton said. “If you enjoy Falling Waters and Esopus Bend, this is going to be the next great spot to take a hike and enjoy the northern part of the town.”
The site, which has 1.1 miles of Hudson River shoreline, includes the remains of the former Staples Brickyard, which has made the approval less than a sure thing because of liability concerns. However, town officials want to have the location used for education purposes and consider it important to note that the company’s departure in 1958 represented the end of an era for the brick industry.
“We want to see the structures and celebrate the industry,” said Supervisor Fred Costello. “Near the southern of the property, there’s the gantry that they use for loading and unloading. We want people to see those structures.”
During the state environmental quality reviews, issues raised about impacts included significant concerns involving the wide cove that serves as a tidal basin for migrating birds. It’s also part of overlapping territories of bald eagles that have nearby nests and use the undeveloped shoreline for hunting.