CRTA Wins The Bid On Rail Trail Parcel
By Thaddeus Flint
The Corkscrew Rail Trail has its “anchor” after winning a parcel of land in New Lebanon at a Columbia County Tax auction.
Sixteen Lovers Lane, with 3.44 acres of land, was sold for the high bid of $18,001 to the Corkscrew Rail Trail Association (CRTA) at the February 28 auction. The next highest bid, according to CRTA member Bruce Shenker, was just $2,300. “We totally over bid,” said Shenker. The minimum bid was $500.
Columbia County uses a sealed bid auction at tax foreclosure sales, so the only way to have some assurance one might be successful is to bid high.
“It’s a shame,” said Shenker on Monday. All that money could have gone toward more productive uses as the trail grows from the current diminutive 2.5 miles that snake south from Knapp Road in Stephentown into New Lebanon. Columbia County would probably agree. The parcel was originally offered to the CRTA by the County for just the asking bid, but that deal was derailed after a majority of the New Lebanon Town Board raised a ruckus heard all the way down to Hudson.
“The local Town Board killed a chance for us to build our rail trail,” was how the CRTA described the smashed agreement on a GoFundMe page, as the land was put back on the auction block. Town Supervisor Colleen Teal and Councilman Norman Rasmussen supported the deal since day one. However three Board members, Mark Baumli, Jesse Newton, and Kevin Smith were of the opinion that the County shouldn’t be deciding who gets the land–even if it was their land–and that the parcel should be returned to a public auction so everyone had a fair shot at it.
A total of $8,455 was pledged on GoFundMe by 72 people since the fund raising began back in August. The rest of the bid money, also donated, was kept strategically secret since anyone who made an effort would know the CRTA had over $8,000 and growing in public donations to go towards a bid.
“The silver lining,” said Shenker, was that after the Town Board kept not supporting the original deal, “so many more people were coming out to support it.” One Town meeting was held at the LVPA Fire House because turnout was expected to be high. It was actually overflowing even there, and almost everyone in attendance wanted a rail trail.
A rail trail they will get. “Before too long it will be possible to walk and bike the old Rutland Rail bed, along 3.14 acres through the middle of town, along a wooded stream,” says the CRTA. But the Association still hopes to have the continued support of the community for the toil ahead. Shenker says that “a lot of work is needed” removing the burned structure on the property, as well as cleaning up debris scattered about the future trail. The cleanup is planned for Spring. Anyone who would like to volunteer their time, experience, or equipment—“heavy equipment will be especially needed,” said Shenker—should contact the CRTA. Contact information and more information on the current trail can be found on the CRTA’s website: Corkscrewrailtrail.com.
Already, other land owners along the railroad right of way have been offering the CRTA permission to extend the trail through their properties – but connecting all those properties will take plenty of time and even more money. The good news is that the CRTA will be in a position to start looking for grants to continue stitching the old Rutland Railroad bed back together again. “This is our anchor,” said Shenker.