Hearing March 13 for Dryden Rail-Trail bridge

DRYDEN - Dryden’s town board scheduled on Thursday three public hearings – including one the deputy supervisor called the last item connecting the final segment of Dryden’s Rail-Trail.

The hearing scheduled for 6:05 p.m.  March 13 concerns an agreement with the state Transportation Department, and a bond resolution. If the board follows the hearing by approving a bond, the decision would clear the remaining obstacle blocking the Rail-Trail: a bridge planned to carry the trail over state Route 13 near Route 366 near the hamlet of Varna east of Ithaca.

The initial proposal in March 2020 was $2.2 million. The total pedestrian bridge project is now close to $3.1 million. Much of that is grant funded: In addition to a $1.5 million Transportation Alternative Program grant from the New York State Department of Transportation, the town board received more than $105,000 in grants from other entities. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) announced in 2022 a $700,000 grant to fill the gap.

“We’d be very close to getting clearance from New York State (Department of Transportation),” said Deputy Supervisor Dan Lamb.

The town board also scheduled public hearings shortly after 6 p.m. March 20 regarding special-use permits for a hemp-processing business at 478 Lower Creek Road, and one concerning a redevelopment effort that would convert a former orchid-growing business on 2.6 acres at 1274 Dryden Road into a combination of “workforce housing” – four apartments and a “mini-home” – and retail.

The trail has been a labor of love for Lamb and other local outdoors enthusiasts, some of whom have worked for years to expand the trail. It’s now a 14-mile-long multi-use path that connects the villages of Dryden and Freeville and the hamlets of Etna and Varna.

Once the bridge is constructed, the trail will continue 1.25 miles to connect with East Ithaca Recreation Way.

Volunteers who have developed the trail say its intended for recreational use and to provide a continuous cross-town route for alternative transportation. Longer-term, it was designed to connect Dryden’s communities to each other and to other parts of Tompkins County.

Also Thursday, the board:

• Learned from town Conservation Committee liaison Spring Buck that the committee plans to plant trees near the trail in memory of educator and committee member Robert M. Beck, who died last June at 82.
• Heard the town’s newly hired dog-control officer, Amaretta Beardslee, report that new state regulations mean that the animal shelter the town uses is unlikely to pass its next state inspection. She cited a number of reasons, including summer heat.

Beardslee also suggested the town begin its door-to-door dog census on April 25.