“Everybody wants trails.” Thus did town supervisor Marybeth Majestic sum up the findings of a survey recently presented by Gardiner’s Parks and Recreation Committee to the town board’s December 1 meeting by committee chair Mike Albright. Town residents responding to the survey rated the availability of trails, both for walking and for cycling, as highest among their priorities for outdoor recreation. Of the amenities offered at Majestic Park, its trails were by far the most popularly used asset, cited by 63 percent of respondees.
The margin was even higher in the section of the survey that sought to gauge popular support for the committee’s campaign to create an extensive trail system on the 86 acres owned by the town surrounding the Gardiner Transfer Station and capped landfill. Of those responding, a resounding 86 percent agreed the acreage should be repurposed for biking and hiking trails. They said they would be willing to have ten dollars of their town taxes dedicated annually to trail maintenance, according to Albright.
Supervisor Majestic took the discussion to a more ambitious level. “It’s a great plan, but I think if has to be a greater plan if we’re to go forward with it,” she said, noting the marked upsurge in popularity of the Wallkill Valley rail-trail, hiking paths in the Shawangunks and other area trails during the pandemic. “It’s going to be crowded. We want to make sure that it’s as great as it should be.”
A site visit to tour the proposed trail routes had impressed on Majestic that the width of some paths was “minimal” and needed to be expanded in order to accommodate varied users safely. “I’d like to see a larger development of the trail network. We need a wider shale path – one for walking, one for biking,” she said.
The town-owned parcel under discussion offers spectacular views of the Shawangunk Ridge and has frontage on the Wallkill River. Part of it is under consideration by the Climate Smart Gardiner committee as a potential site for a town-owned solar array.
Plans for a trail network have been under way since at least 2018, when parks and recreation representatives began collaborating with the mountain biking club Fats in the Cats and other off-road cycling enthusiasts who have volunteered to help design, build and maintain the trails. Majestic said that she would look into potential sources of grant funding to pay for the cost of surfacing materials and expansion of the trailhead parking lot.
The supervisor also noted that the Parks and Recreation Committee had two vacancies, and that a highly experienced applicant had expressed interest in one of them. A vote on appointing the prospective committee member was tabled until the December 8 meeting in order to allow town-board members time to interview the candidate.