“Friends of Kingston Rail Trails” is now on Facebook!
The Kingston Land Trust Rail Trail Committee
“Connecting people and places of Kingston by trail.”
Contact: Gregg Swanzey - gswanzey@gmail.com
Committee Members
Gregg Swanzey (Chair), Steve Noble, Kevin McEvoy,
Tim Weidemann, Katie Scott-Childress, Beth Roessler, Meg Clark, Andi Turco-Levin, Brad Will, Cherie Hanson-Rodriguez, Matt Gillis, Jeremy Kane, Debra Harris, Neil Millens, Josh Gordon, Nancy Clark, Kevin Godbey, Tom Herlihy, Robbie Rimes, Bryan Roberts, Bob Smith, Jimmy Buff.
Advisory
Bill Rudge, Tom Pfeffer, Jennifer Schwartz Berky, Kristen E. Wilson, Lynn Woods, John Winter (WLC), Kevin Smith (WLC), Patty Goodwin (WLC), Karl Beard (NPS), Martin Daley (PTNY), Frances Gotcsik (PTNY), Johnny Scott, Rebecca Martin
Subcommittees
KLT RTC Trail Keepers
Meg Clark (Co-Chair), Katie Scott-Childress (Co-Chair), Matt Gillis, Beth Roessler.
KLT RTC Trail Development
Tim Weidemann (Chair), Andi Turco-Levin, Beth Roessler, Brad Will, Jeremy Kane, Steve Noble, Nancy Clark.
KLT RTC Communications and Outreach
Neil Millens (Chair), Debra Harris, Tim Weidemann, Kevin Godbey.
Our Mission:
The Kingston Land Trust Rail Trail committee is dedicated to planning, development, utilization, and proper maintenance of rail trails and other non-motorized linkages in the City of Kingston.
Our Vision:
People of the City of Kingston will benefit from a network of trails, bike paths, and complete streets that connect rail trails from the Wallkill Valley, Rondout Valley, Catskill Mountains and Kingston Point to a Midtown Hub along the Broadway Corridor creating more opportunities for residents, families and visitors to connect with places in the city that are special to them and to interact with nature.
Our Goals:
- To pursue strategies that restore connections along historic pathways between existing rail trails that currently terminate at the edge of the city and bring them to the Broadway Corridor at Midtown while working closely with other organizations working on similar issues regarding land use, complete streets, and liveable communities.
- To create pathways and bikeways in the City of Kingston that make it a more liveable city while respecting the rights and concerns of property owners.
- To provide ample opportunities for the residents of the City of Kingston to shape their community in ways that encourage healthy lifestyles, public safety, community spirit, and civic engagement.
- To ensure that the special places of Kingston are inventoried and incorporated into plans that lead to a complete walking and biking network in the city.
- To generate and present ideas during and out of this process using a broad range of media and modalities.Coming soon.
Our Accomplishments:
*January, 2012 - The Kingston Land Trust Rail Trail Committee is awarded a Capacity Building Grant from PTNY. Same item in the Daily Freeman.
*October, 2011 – National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program awards the Kingston Land Trust with a grant to provide technical assistance to help plan and sustain the Kingston Land Trust’s Kingston Rail Trail Connections project.
*October, 2011 - The Hudson Valley Greenway awards the Kingston Land Trust $10,000 for an engineering study of the 1.5 mile right of way that will be matched by the CDBG of $10,000 previously approved by the Common Council.
*October, 2011 – Parks and Trails NY (PTNY) award the Kingston Land Trust a Healthy Trails Healthy People program mini-grant to develop a Friends of Kingston Rail Trails web page.
* May 3, 2011 – The City of Kingston Common Council approves a Community Development Block Grant award of $10,000 to the Kingston Land Trust for an engineering study for the Kingston Point Rail Trail, a critical component for development of a plan for transforming the right-of-way into a public greenway and multi-use trail. With it we will survey the condition of the tunnel, investigate drainage issues, inventory items for the work plan, and examime conceptual alternatives and set the stage for a design process.
* April 30, 2011 – The Kingston Land Trust Rail Trail Committee hosts a team for its first official clean up the upper leg of the Kingston Point Rail Trail from East Chester Street to the Hasbrouck Avenue tunnel as part of the Friends of Historic Kingston’s Clean Sweep Initiative with plenty of volunteer help and a donation from Rondout Savings Bank. Thanks also to the City’s Public Works Department for incredible support with chainsaw work out ahead of the cleanup, a huge container for handling brush, a truck for the trash and DPW personel on a Saturday morning. Next cleanup June 4th!
* March, 2011 – The KLT RTC is awarded a $12,500 for the “Kingston Rail Trail Connections” Project, a two year project to enable the Kingston Land Trust to launch public planning processes to pursue strategies to restore linkages to the city of Kingston via historic transportation pathways through the LAND TRUST ALLIANCE.
* December 2010 – The Kingston Land Trust Rail Trail Committee is awarded a prestigious feasibility study grant from Parks & Trails New York. The “Kingston Connections” project was one of three selected for 2011. For more on this, click on this LINK.
