Train stations;

RAY BROOK — The state’s move to build the controversial recreation trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake has postponed removal of railroad tracks until next summer.

Initially, state construction looked to tear out the northern 34 miles of tracks in November, moving Adirondack Scenic Railroad excursion trains out of the region.

Instead, a group the state Department of Environmental Conservation considers “core stakeholders” has been convened to advise the process.

A bit of news, though it might not really be much--the court case that was scheduled to start on September 28 has been postponed (again!) by the Attorney General of the State of New York to November 2.

Maybe I missed it amongst the multiple threads, but which court case are you referring to?

The Scenic Railroad, managed by the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society (ARPS), filed litigation against DEC and the Adirondack Park Agency last spring. The 2,200-page lawsuit claims DEC and APA did not properly consider historic provenance of the railroad line, which is listed on both state and national Registers of Historic Places.

The legal challenge also asserts that removing the tracks changes the core transportation focus on what was classified, by definition, as a “railroad” Travel Corridor in the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan. Thus, as legal argument follows, the plan requires full economic and environmental impact review, a process the Preservation Society says is to date incomplete.

Oral arguments in that case are set to be presented in Franklin County Supreme Court on Sept. 28 at 10:30 a.m., according to the Supreme Court clerk in Malone. Acting Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Main Jr. is hearing the case.

From the Facebook page of a pro-rail group. . .an awful lot of this railroad is on easements with possible reversion clauses:

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheRa ... =3&theater

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5861490E

I can personally tell you some members of the trail crowd are upset at this development.

He characterized the parcel where "fee title" is in question as "thousands of feet, not very many thousands of feet." That would be enough to a significant hitch in the new rail-trail pathway that is supposed to be built next spring. But Stegeman downplayed the significance of the discovery, saying, "We're beginning discussions with ownership of the land in that section where those questions have arisen. These are routine kinds of issues that come up. I think we're very confident that we'll work through these."

Stegman? lets hope they've switched to railtrail.

"On September 29 the State announced that it had discovered nine in-holdings along the corridor owned by two separate 501c3 not-for-profits. The DEC professes minimal concern that this will delay trial construction and claims to be working out the issue with the two land owners." From the "new" Adirondack Rail Trail [trail group] web page.

There are numerous stretches in which the rail corridor traverses private land holdings and the State of New York put the brakes on the pending Supreme Court case when it discovered that there were ownership or reversionary easements when they examined the deeds or titles of two Non-Profit 501c3 landholders in the Saranac Lake area (we can only speculate who). Possibly the State did not want to raise the alarm or create undue interest of other property owners all along the corridor, so they decided to investigate a couple of 501c3 Non-profits as a test case.

Needless to say, now we can bet there are a large number of private individuals, businesses, corporations, etc... along the rail corridor pulling out and dusting off their property title searches and title deeds to see if there are any easement agreements, revisionary clauses, eminent domain acquisitions, etc... in relation to their property when the railroads were built. This could be a payday for them if the rails get ripped up and new easement negotiations and agreements have to be worked out with New York State to put a recreational trail through their land holdings. Maybe they will face the prospect of New York using eminent domain to put the trail through without compensation. Who knows?

New York should now take the prudent path and let the rail infrastructure remain in place with the current easements within the titles and deeds silently at rest in the county courthouse ledgers, and make the best use of this transportation asset into the Adirondacks! Fulfill the vision of the 1996 Amendment 6 Plan and restore the rails and build adjoining recreational trails, and be done with this mess which is Amendment 7!--an administrator at Friends of the Rails-Adirondack Rail Corridor