Improving Remsen to Lake Placid line part of five-year plan for the North Country
Following three months of debates and discussions, the North Country Regional Economic Development Council’s co-Chairman, Anthony G. Collins, has submitted a plan for economic development and growth in the North Country to State officials in New York City.
The council, which unveiled a draft of its strategic plan earlier this month, believes it to be a solid foundation upon which the North County communities may thrive.
In the plan, eight of the council’s “visions for the future” are highlighted and discussed. Some of the goals include creating the greenest energy economy in the state by harnessing solar and hydropower, which, in the opinion of the council, will see the beginning of an agricultural revolution in the area.
Perhaps most importantly to the plan, however, is the council’s desire to improve and rehabilitate the various railroad lines that run through the North Country.
In years one through five of the strategic plan, the council supports the development of a high-speed rail in the New York- Montreal corridor, rehabilitation of the Remsen-Lake Placid line, and upgrades to CSX rail infrastructure between Watertown and Newton Falls.
In the plan sent to state officials, the council expressed support for the prioritization and rehabilitation of the Remsen-Lake Placid rail corridor.
The latest version of the plan supports state, federal and private funding for rehabbing the entire railroad, from Remsen all the way to Lake Placid.
The plan calls the corridor the “last remaining rail access into the central Adirondacks.”
The council is also prioritizing a rail rehabilitation project between Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake.
The council’s draft plan also says accommodations should be made for a multi-use recreational trail.
However, the corridor is controversial, and not everyone is pleased to see it included in the strategic plan.
Lee Keet, a member of the steering committee for the Adirondack Recreational Trail, a group that wishes to tear up the tracks between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake in favor of a multiuse trail, questions the economic council’s decision to include support for the railroad in the strategic plan.
“The facts of the matter are that the rail, whether it has benefit to the local communities or not, which is debatable, has far less benefit to the local communities than a recreation trail,” Keet said.
Keet added that his group would challenge the North Country council’s decision to support the rail corridor.
However, David Tomberlin, Vice President of the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce and a member of Next Stop Tupper Lake, a group that supports expansion of a tourist train in the Tri-Lakes, disagrees with Keet. “We think it’s great for the economy in the North Country,” Tomberlin says.
Also included in the proposal is a plan to upgrade the Montreal- New York rail corridor thereby creating a high-speed and efficient rail line.
However, for now the Regional Development Council must wait to see if its offering will be named one of the top four plans in the state to be granted $40 million in funding.
By mid-December, state leaders hope to select the top four regions that will receive $40 million each in state funding. The remaining six councils will share an additional $40 million.
