Rec high on town’s to-do list for 2019

MOREAU, N.Y. >> Recreation facilities and opportunities are expected to be a top priority for the Town of Moreau in 2019, Supervisor Todd Kusnierz says.

More than a dozen residents have already responded to a request for people to serve on a new recreation master plan committee, charged with developing a first-ever, five-year plan.

“We have an incredible amount of opportunity with the amount of land we have,” Kusnierz said. “We have 59 acres immediately south of Betar Park that’s undeveloped, which we purchased this year.”

Harry J. Betar Jr. Recreational Park offers yearround activities with numerous baseball and softball diamonds, athletic fields and trails for hiking and cross-country skiing.

The annual state high school girls softball championships are held there.

Recently, the town board approved spending $221,000 for phase one of a new children’s spray park, scheduled for construction next year. The town has applied for a $125,000 grant to help fund the project.

“We also have opportunities along the [Hudson] river,” Kusnierz said.

The town is pursuing development of a master plan for a new park on town-owned land on Farnan Road. Consideration is also being given to extending recreational uses onto state-owned property adjoining the town-owned parcel just to the south.

(For information go to http://www.townofmoreau.org/access_plans.asp).

On Tuesday (7 p.m.), a representative from Saratoga PLAN is scheduled to update the Town Board about the Southern Palmertown Conservation and Recreation Project. Plans call for preserving land and creating a hiking trail from Moreau Lake

State Park south to Saratoga Springs, along the Palmertown Ridge.

Separately, the town website says Moreau is working on another project called the Big Boom Trail, designed by the 2015 Design Studio Team at the University of Albany. This project would connect Moreau Lake State Park, on the south end, to the Betar Byway in the Village of South Glens Falls, which provides direct access to the Feeder Canal Trail system from Queensbury to Hudson Falls. For information: http:// www.townofmoreau. org/pdf/1%20Big% 20Boom%20Trail %20Concept%20Plan.pdf