State, HHFT Seek Ruling on Dockside Access

Cold Spring, Philipstown contest use for Fjord Trail State parks and Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail asked a state judge in Carmel on Aug. 14 to dismiss claims by Cold Spring and Philipstown that an easement used to access Dockside Park through private property does not allow entry for a riverside boardwalk. The claim is one of several to be decided by Judge Gina Capone in a lawsuit the municipalities filed in May challenging the state's environmental review of the 7.5-mile Fjord Trail, which would connect Cold Spring to Beacon and include an elevated boardwalk over the Hudson River between Dockside and Little Stony Point parks. In addition to state parks and HHFT, Putnam County is named as a defendant. Laura Bergman, a Cold Spring resident, also is named because she owns the property subject to the easement. A previous owner of Bergman's land agreed in 1988 to allow the use of the strip that pedestrians traverse to enter Dockside at North and West streets. That easement allows the state, which owns the 26-acre park, to enter and exit by foot or vehicle for vegetation maintenance and activities such as installing utility lines, grading and paving. Cold Spring and Philipstown contend that the easement only allows access to Dockside, "not structures or properties adjacent to it," such as the proposed trail, which goes through Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve. According to the town and village, "there is no basis to interpret the Dockside easement so broadly as to permit access to an 8,800-acre park by the general public." In asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, state parks and HHFT argue that neither Cold Spring nor Philipstown has an "ownership interest" in the easement and is not a party to the agreement. Therefore, they "lack standing to bring a claim concerning its scope." Cold Spring has an agreement with the state to manage and operate the park, but the agency said it can "revoke the license at will." Philipstown "is even further removed, as it does not even have a license agreement," according to court documents. Even if the judge sides with state parks and HHFT on the scope of the easement, they face other challenges that Cold Spring and Philipstown have mounted to the state environmental review finalized in January. A second lawsuit has been filed in Albany County by Protect the Highlands, a nonprofit founded by residents critical of the project. The state has asked a judge to pause that case until Capone rules. In a "findings statement" issued at the conclusion of the review, state parks stated that the trail "will achieve a balance between the protection of the environment and the need to accommodate social and economic considerations." But the municipalities and Protect the Highlands are concerned that, as envisioned, the trail will overrun the village and town with more tourists, harm the environment and increase the burden on fire, medical and police personnel. Cold Spring and Philipstown argue that concerns regarding traffic and emergency services "were marginalized, if not completely ignored," in the review, and that several findings were "arbitrary and capricious, irrational and afflicted by errors of law." Protect the Highlands alleges that the findings statement was "arbitrary, capricious and irrational on several fronts" and should be annulled. When the lawsuits were filed in May, HHFT called them "baseless and wasteful," and said it and state parks "approached the Fjord Trail project by the book, with a transparent, thorough and extensively executed environmental review process, in accordance with law, with years of public input." Construction is underway on the Breakneck Connector and Bridge, which will carry the trail over the Metro-North tracks north of the Breakneck Tunnel. It includes renovations to the Breakneck train stop and parallel parking and sidewalks. That project underwent a separate environmental review, as did HHFT's proposal to turn Dutchess Manor into a headquarters and visitors ce...