May, 2001 issue

The funding is provided through the Governor's 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act. It is necessary for the village to provide matching funds and negotiations with the school are still in progress.

Mayor Lee Kinnally said, "Hastings is blessed by our magnificent waterfront, which we have worked hard to restore and revitalize for our families to enjoy. This aquisition will provide a crucial link to out trailway system, while preserving important open space for future generations."

"As the Hudson continues its remarkable recovery, we must provide more opportunities for all New Yorkers to enjoy full access to the river, whether you're an angler, hiker, biker or a bird watcher."

The site is an exceptionally well-preserved natural area on the Hudson River in densely-developed southern Westchester. The area along the Hudson River and the slopes above are home to a surprising diversity of trees, including locust, sycamore, maple, elms, sugar maple, sassafras, red oak, willow, common cottonwood, osage orange, hackberry, hawthorn, hops and raspberry, and numerous flowering plants, among them mugwort, celandine, asters, Queen Anne's lace and goldenrods are abundant.

More than 35 varieties of birds have been identified on the property including Baltimore and orchard orioles, cedar waxwing, red-winged blackbird, yellow warbler, yellow-throat, palm warbler and a black-throated blue warbler.

The property being purchased is divided into four strips, including 4.13 acres of underwater land west of the Metro North tracks; 4.03 acres east of the tracks offering magnificent views of the river, the Palisades and Manhattan skyline, and accessible by a new village trail; a 4.09 acre parcel east of Warburton Avenue bordering the Old Croton Aqueduct, providing a green buffer and opening up views for users of the State Park: and a two-acre parcel east of the aqueduct that will be subdivided from the remaining Graham School property. This parcel consists of a steep slope covered by magnificent trees well over one hundred years old.

Charlotte Fahn, a Hastings resident and member of the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct, said, "For Aqueduct trail users, preservation of the parcel as a green space will be a tremendous boon. It will maintain a green buffer on both sides of a very pleasant section of the trail and preserve natural habitat for the plants and birds that walkers enjoy."

The Village Board of Trustees recently approved the creation of a new 1,600 foot trail (the Rowley's Bridge Trail) extending from the south from Southside Avenue to Zinsser bridge, parallel to the Metro North tracks and Hudson River. The purchase of the Graham property will allow the village to extend the trail up to Rowley's Brook, under Rowley's Bridge, to the aqueduct.

John Chervokas, Chairperson of Historic River Towns of Westchester (HRTW) and Supervisor of the Town of Ossining commented, "I sense the future generations of planners will be studying Hastings-on-Hudson's successful effort of reclaiming its riverfront."

Representatives of Hastings-on-Hudson joined members of other Hudson River communities at a recent HRTW work session called by the Westchester County Planning Department to explore the possibilities of a "Riverwalk" along the entire extent of the 44-mile shoreline the previous week.

The project has been suggested by Westchester County Executive Andrw Spano and closely follows the Hudson Valley Greenway corridor proposed earlier for both shores of the Hudson River, from Manhattan to Troy. The Conservancy has designated the Hastings trailway as a priority in its trail system.

On the same morning, Governor Pataki announced $387,500 for the Town of Orangetown in Rockland County to acquire and preserve the environmentally significant 25-acre Mary Blake property and funding for projects in the Villages of Haverstraw and Nyack.