St. Lawrence County Recreational Trails Advisory Board Meeting
St. Lawrence County Soil and Water Conservation District Office

1942 Old DeKalb Road, Canton, NY 13617

DRAFT Minutes for June 17, 2014

Present: Dawn Howard,Roger Bennett, Danny Collins, Deb Christy, Art Wilson,Schyler Shea, Walt Paul, Stan Hewlett,Warren Irwin,Kermit Blanchard,Scott Sutherland, Bill Dashnaw, David Irish, and Spencer Thew.

Guests: Pat Whalen, Dahl McCormick, and Charles Schloer.

Excused: Hank Ford,Alex MacKinnon,and Bill Swafford.

1. Meeting was called to order at 7:00PM by Chairman Roger Bennett.

2. Quorum present.

3. Motion to accept the minutes of the May 20, 2014meeting made by Kermit Blanchard, seconded by Warren Irwin, approved by all.

4. Speaker – None.

5. Trail Coordinator – Deb Christy. (See report attached at the end of minutes.)

  • It was a good weekend at the end of May. Deb Christy thanked everyone for their help on the Long Pond Easement ride and the trip to Spencer Thew’s for the presentation and BBQ. She thanked Kermit Blanchard especially for carrying the day and Spencer Thew for the facility use. Scott Sutherland said he wished more NYS officials had attended, but the County reps enjoyed the day.
  • The UTV weight bill has a lot happening fast. The ADK Council sent a letter with pictures of a truck mud hole and machines larger than 1500 lbs. to NYS Legislators last week. Deb Christy clarified with a piece to the Legislators yesterday. Senator Patty Ritchie matched Assemblywoman Addie Russell’sUTV bill and the Senate passed it. It is for machines up to 1500 lbs. and no more than 3 passengers. Short two votes to pass the Assembly so Deb Christy will pick some folks to lobby tonight. There is a move to add the Engelbright bill to this that would prohibit ATV use on NYS Forest Preserve land and other areas. Deb Christy advises against adding this language to the bill because we have two small areas we need to go through and this would severely limit us. She would rather lose the bill than add this language to it. Much discussion took place with a consensus to hold firm. Walt Paul added that this language would be contrary to language in the State Land Master Plan and he asked what the County’s lobbying firm was doing. Deb Christy gave an update and said she has also learned a lot about lobbying from the Recreational Off Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA). Seems like everything is tied to money. Our bill has to happen by Thursday.
  • Safety, education and enforcement will keep this trail going.
  • Polaris will help with a trail grant.
  • Rt. 56 bridge MOU – The Town of Colton didn’t bring forward anything at their June meeting. They want to make sure it is ready.The County Attorney is working with the DOT. There maybe a July 9th Colton Town Board meeting with an August hearing and aSeptember opening of the Town roads. Schyler Shea asked about the parking area.Walt Paul mentioned that DEC lands may have to be gone through and Pat Whalen spoke to why this piece was overlooked. Bill Dashnaw and Pat Whalen spoke about avoiding this piece.
  • Deb Christy met with DEC officials from Albany today up in the Brasher State Forest. Need to clarify who owns what roads and what roads to open. Town may qualify abandon some, but has set some money aside to fix others. Our goal is not to buy, but we may need some small easements to connect to the multi-use trail. NYS may have some funds. DEC Aaron Graves has the UMP almost done, but will now have to revisit. Walt Paul suggested getting stakeholder groups involved. UMP process was discussed and then recreation plans, esp. for the middle section of trail. Speed limit is 25 mph for all users.
  • We didn’t get the RVRDA grant for the bridge on the Morgan Rd.
  • The first Empire State Development Grant through the Hwy Dept. (which we had taken from us)was for $500,000. The second grant was for $250,000, but came with paperwork for the original dollar amount by mistake. That contract was signed, but we can’t do it as written. Deb Christy plans to collect the paperwork, timeline, and personnel changes that took place and send all with a letter to help get this corrected so we can move forward. The County account has an incorrect dollar value assigned to it also which needs to be cleaned up. The new grant has a 20% match. We have a tractor sitting here and could find other funding, political support, or the Snowmobile Association may buy it.
  • Deb Christy is rethinking a new grant to rebuild Picketville Rd. She needs to clarify qualified abandoned with the Town of Parishville. Also, speak to the Town re 3 small sections of additional roads.
  • Would the group be interested in owning property in Pitcairn that is on our trail? A club there is willing to transfer 230 acres with a campsite, track and mud bog. Could be deeded to SLC or to a 501c3 such as the SLC ATV Assoc., but not the Trails Board. Insurance and image would be an issue. Walt Paul suggested that the devil was in the detail and we would need to look at the deed, incorporation status, and their books.
  • Deb Christy will ask Don Chambers at SLC Hwy to write a letter to Brookfield re the Rainbow bridge. Matt Johnson of Brookfield is waiting for a bridge sketch.
  • Deb Christy also talked to Don Chambers re a side arm for the tractor for brushing. Bill Dashnaw suggested looking at alternative models.
  • Our other RVRDA grant is done.

6. Reports of Committees:

  1. Executive – Roger Bennett.
  • Roger Bennett inquired if anyone was having trouble opening reports. Some people reported a time delay.
  • He received a resignation from the Finance Committee. The group will need a new Chairperson. Bill Dashnaw accepted the position. The Committee is looking for additional members.
  1. Board of Legislators – Alex MacKinnon, Scott Sutherland, and Tony Arquiett.
  • ScottSutherland missed last night’s BOL meeting, but the BOL still supports us even with the bumps in the road. He would like to be involved with the Pitcairn land offer.
  • Trail ride was great.
  • Scott Sutherland will be calling the BOL Chairman tonight re the lobbying effort on the UTV weight bill.
  1. Oversight – Kermit Blanchard.
  • Kermit Blanchard reported that Deb Christy had covered almost everything in her report.
  • He thanked Spencer Thew on behalf of the Oversight Comm. for the use of his facilities.
  • Dawn Howard was asked about putting gravel on County land. Staff needs to see sites.
  • There will be a parade in Parishville on Saturday, 7/26 at noon and a ride on 7/27. Meet at 9:00 am at the kiosk. The ride will end at the Fireman’s field. Need lots of user groups. May need to do different start times.
  1. Finance and Insurance –Bill Dashnaw.
  • There will be a committee meeting soon.
  1. Enforcement,Safety, and Education - Scott Sutherland.
  • No committee meeting has been held.
  1. SEQR – Erik Backlund & Alex MacKinnon. No report.
  • Dawn Howard reported that Alex MacKinnon was going to talk to the DEC re the draft SEQR request we received.

7. Unfinished Business.

  1. Dawn Howard reported on the ATV training held at the Farm Safety Day for 5th graders. She thanked Janice Lutz for providing an ATV and for helping to locate a replacement presenter.
  1. Dawn Howard reported that progress was being made with the County Attorney on the Adopt a Natural Resource policy for trail volunteers.
  1. New Business.
  1. Spencer Thew would like more info on the Parishville event.
  1. Announcements. None.
  1. The next Trails Board meeting is scheduled for 7/15/14 at 7:00 PM in the SWCD office.
  1. Hearings and Comments.
  1. Dahl McCormick said his group has raised money to do the preliminaries for a campground.

12. Motion to adjourn by Walt Paul,seconded by Warren Irwin, and all were in favor. Meeting adjournedat 8:38 PM.

Minutes by Dawn Howard

ST LAWRENCE COUNTY TRAIL COORDINATOR

Deb Christy 315-386-8525

WORK REPORT

May 2014/June 2014

LOBBYING IN ALBANY

It has been a long six months lobbying with our diverse grass roots advocacy group that joined together to support increasing the ATV Weight Limit Bill. I am thankful to have Cape Air in our County. It saved me 10 hours driving every time I went to Albany, gave me a full day from 8am to 5pm at the Capitol Building and still came home each evening to catch up paperwork. It is amazing how much time can be consumed trying to get a bill passed.

As you know March 5 and 6 we spent two days in Albany as a team approach to represent voices of counties building multi-use trails for economic development that want UTV’s to be part of their trail system, manufacturers and dealers who want their products to be legally registered, and off highway organizations representing riders who have been unable to register the newest, safest and greenest machines on the market.

We answered questions about economic impacts, safety standards, and what other states weight limits are.

Another key point was by allowing New York’s outdoor enthusiasts to register these family-friendly vehicles, New York will be making a major step toward building on Governor Cuomo’s commitment to tourism, encourage more people to participate in outdoor sports and highlighting New York as a tourist destination. Our message was well received by many members of the Senate and Assembly.

May 31 we held our “St. Lawrence County ATV Awareness / Educational Ride for Elected Officials”. We did not get as many Assembly and Senate as we would have liked but I think everyone had a good day.

June 2 and 3 we went back to Albany with a display of UTV’s in the Capitol Building. We wanted to show Senate and Assembly firsthand what these machines really are and ask for their support of the ATV bill again.

June 16, 2014 last minute lobbying before end of session June 19, 2014

June 16 we made our last trip to Albany with Polaris Industries and ROHVA. Met with Patty Ritchie and other Senate members in the morning and stopped at each of the assembly offices to share handouts to correct the environmental “sky is falling” impression that was given last week in handouts from Adirondack Council. We spent the afternoon pulling Senate and Assembly members off the floor to go over environmental concerns, economic impact and environmental stewardship of the trails by ATV clubs in St Lawrence County. Adirondack Council was right there also making last minute meetings with Senate and Assembly. We left the capitol building at 5 pm for the airport and were told that Senate was debating the bill and may table as they were worried they did not have enough votes. By the time we arrived at the airport the tables had turned and the new was: ATV Weight Bill passes Senate after hour debate on the floor!

June 17 Tuesday Evening Addie Russell told us if we added the Englebright bill to our ATV weight limit bill that the bill would pass. If we did not add it the bill would not pass this year and possibly never pass.

The trails board was meeting as the call came in so we discussed it at length. Our board felt if we accept this bill we were literally giving away the park. Scott Sutherland was at the meeting and a great help calling Jonathan and Fred Monroe from The Adirondack Review Board to get their opinions before proceeding with our reply. Tony and Jonathan both jumped in Tuesday night and Wednesday to see if there were any other options to try and get this bill passed. We talked about Chapter Amendments once bill was passed or second separate bill of legislation to adjust wording but we all new once the bill was passed none of this would happen.

June 18 I had to break the heart wrenching news to Polaris, Rohva, Addie and Patty that we know how important this bill is to all of us but in New York we have more to think about than just the bill. It has been the main agenda for ADK and Adirondack Council last year and this year to stop ATV’S in the park. Last year they tried the hybrid bill thru Patty and we voted no to that. The Englebright Bill includes language on not allowing UTV’S in the state forest preserve which will eliminate UTV’S on a large segment of the St Lawrence County Trail System due to small segments of forest preserve that we hope will connect our trail system. It would also eliminate our Regional concept with Franklin, Clinton, Lewis and Oswego Counties. Our trails boardhas all voted and advised me to reply to a no to adding Englebright Bill to the ATV Weight Limit Bill.

The state has purchased so much land and so many easements in and around the park that it makes it impossible for us to cross our county without using some of this land. The middle section of our 120 mile trail is completely in the park and there is no other way around it. If this bill was passed it would cut our trail in thirds and block our cross county concept. From a recreational and sporting community perspective this would be a disaster and I know there will be outrage! If we can't push the UTV bill through we need to regroup and start again after the election. The Trails Board remains optimistic we will move this forward in the future.

Russell statement on UTV legislation

The legislation I have been pushing in the assembly to allow for certain UTVs to weigh more than regular ATVs (A.4971), so that they can be registered at the DMV, has drawn significant opposition. While the bill was reported out of the Transportation Committee and then out of the Codes committee, the opposition prevented the bill from being considered by the Ways and Means Committee. My bill has made it further than any bill of this kind in the Assembly in many years and it will continue to be one of my top priorities moving forward.

In an attempt to further the increased weight issue after it had stalled, I proposed an amendment to my bill to spur a dialogue between the ATV community and environmental advocate groups. The amendment was well received by the advocates, but in the end, they were unable to reach consensus to move forward at this time. The proposed amendment has been taken off the table, meaning our work will need to continue in order to gain approval of the heavier side-by-side UTV's.

However, the dialogue over the last few days has moved the UTV issue even further along in the legislative process. There have been valuable discussions, and commitments by all involved to continue to work on addressing the issues important to everyone, and some common ground has been found.

While there have been many people working on this issue with me, I would like to acknowledge the St. Lawrence Legislature's work on this matter, being a driving force on tackling these challenging issues. We have made significant progress this year which may allow us to address several other related topics as a result of my offer to work with those opposed to this bill.

Ritchie statement on UTV legislation

I’m very disappointed that, once again, the Assembly Majority has failed to pass common sense UTV legislation to lift the only-in-NY ban on these popular vehicles. I've passed UTV legislation FOUR TIMES in the Senate and, this year, even passed the Assembly's own version as a compromise. The ban on UTVs is costing us jobs, tourism and revenues for local governments--as well as recreational opportunities for New Yorkers who love the outdoors. I remain committed to working to overturn the ban and will be exploring our options.

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe says MOU signed on land claims settlement May 28, 2014

Such an exciting time for St Lawrence County. Thank you to Governor Cuomo, Tribal Leaders, Karen St Hilaire, Jonathan Putney, our Trails Board Member Tony Arquiett and all the St Lawrence County Legislators for working so hard to do the very best you could for our county. ATV/UTV owners greatly appreciate being part of this historic agreement to move our county multi-use trail forward and the opportunity to open ATV trails again in Brasher State Forest! The two highlights for ATV owners are:

1.The State to assist St. Lawrence County and the Town of Brasher in obtaining authorization to use all-terrain vehicles on trails in the Brasher State Forest.

2. The State to assist St. Lawrence County and the Town of Colton in obtaining the required designation to allow all-terrain vehicles use on a short portion of State Highway 56 as part of the Countywide multi-use trail.