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Public Meeting on Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail

Posted on: April 12, 2023 - 12:54pm
Community Meeting

A few weeks ago, the Town of Philipstown, Village of Cold Spring, and Village of Nelsonville decided to hold a joint public meeting on May 8th at 7pm at the Haldane School Auditorium related to the proposed Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail. We wanted the meeting to be structured in a way that it would be driven by the top priority questions as determined by community members.

Rather than assuming what those questions were, we developed a process guided by resident participation. Starting today, residents can submit questions until April 19th and rank them beginning on April 21st. These top ranked questions by community members will be given to guests from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail a week before the May 8th meeting so they can give thorough responses.

If you have questions about either the advantages or disadvantages of the proposed trail, we hope you will participate in this process and encourage other community members to participate by forwarding them this information.

A few notes on process:

  • In order to familiarize yourself with development plans and responses, please feel free to review the following resources and planning documents: https://www.coldspringny.gov/mayor-board-trustees/pages/hudson-highlands...
  • Please submit a question online at https://bit.ly/HHFTQuestions from April 12 at 9am to April 19 by 5pm;
  • You can also submit a question by emailing them to HHFTquestions@gmail.com or dropping them in an envelope at the Village of Cold Spring mail slot at 85 Main St.;
  • As these questions will be part of the public record, we've asked you to include your name and where you live;
  • Questions should be no longer than 50 words and responses may be edited for length or clarity;
  • If submitted questions revolve around similar topics, we will combine them for the community prioritization process so as many issues as possible can be addressed at the joint public meeting;
  • At the joint public meeting on May 8th, our community's top priority questions will be addressed by NYS Parks and the HHFT. Please participate in ranking submitted questions from April 21 at 9am to April 28 by 5pm by visiting https://bit.ly/HHFTPriorities; and
  • After the community's top priority questions are addressed, attendees can offer public questions or comments at the May 8th public meeting that address either the advantages or disadvantages of the proposed trail that haven’t been discussed already. As with all public comment sessions, each member of the public may speak once, with a three-minute time limit.

We hope that focusing the May 8th forum on those questions chosen by community members will help foster a productive discussion.