By Mark Scheer Niagara Gazette, link to original post
Plans for the development of a fitness trail at Niagara County Community College ran into a stumbling block on Tuesday.
During a meeting at Beaver Island State Park, members of the Niagara River Greenway Commission determined the trails project is not consistent with a larger regional plan for creating a seamless system of parkland along the Niagara River from Buffalo to Youngstown.
College officials were hoping to secure greenway funding to build a walking path that would be about a mile in length and enhance an existing multi-station fitness course already located on the NCCC’s campus in Sanborn. The project has been under consideration for several years and is included in the college’s master plan. The request was made under the county’s portion of the Niagara River Greenway program. The county receives $390,000 in greenway funding annually under the 50-year relicensing agreement between the Niagara Power Coalition and the New York Power Authority. The lack of consistency does not necessarily prevent college officials from seeking funds through the Niagara County Host Standing Committee, the group that is responsible for authorizing the use of greenway money parks and recreational improvement projects. Obtaining a determination of consistency from the commission is, however, generally considered a key step in the process of requesting funds through the standing committee.
In judging the project inconsistent with the greenway vision, several commission members said they were not satisfied that the college’s proposal offered sufficient connections to other existing elements of the greenway, including the Niagara Wine Trail, which was previously endorsed by commission members.
“If it is just in general proximity of the wine trail, is that really enough of a criteria for really being consistent with the greenway vision?” said Tim DePriest, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s representative on the commission.
NCCC’s grant director Megan Stadler, who made the college’s presentation to the commission, suggested the trail would serve as a “gateway” project to the greenway. She suggested the fitness trail would be used by an estimated 1,000 students, as many as 800 faculty members as well as residents in surrounding communities each year. She said the project, as designed, would complement the Niagara Wine Trail and other trails currently under development in Sanborn.
“We bring a lot of people to our campus now and this trail would bring even more people to our campus and make that connection from the greenway to the wine trail,” she said.
