After getting a state grant last year to begin revitalizing Colonie’s Mohawk Riverfront, the grassroots organization that has set its sights on rehabilitating the waterway will unveil its first in a series of strategies to do so next week.
Shortly after Mohawk River Community Partners (MCRP) received a $65,000 New York’s Department of State Division of Coastal Resources grant, the group joined forces with University at Albany graduate students, town planners and volunteers to come up with the Water Revitalization Strategy and Action Plan.
The two groups will present their findings Monday, Oct. 16, at The Crossings of Colonie.
The first task the groups tackled was coming up with ways to improve access points to the river along the town’s 10-mile stretch of waterfront. The group is calling for public input in compliance with conditions of the grant for realistic solutions to some of the problems facing revitalizing public access areas, said MRCP president Stephen Cotler.
Some of the problems include halting silting of the waterway through subsidiary water sources, cutting back invasive plants in boating and swimming areas, and the matter of coming up with the money to do those things.
`Everything hinges on money, but hopefully we can get a better understanding of the hydraulics of the river and the silting. It’s a long-term effort that is going to be fueled by cash, which we don’t have right now. But, we do have enough to get started,` said Cotler.
For now, the matter of money will take a back burner to how and when the partners will complete the revitalization strategy. First things first, the public will be familiarized with what 14 University at Albany graduate students are proposing to get started and begin improving access to the river.
`The task the contract calls upon is strengthening existing points of access to the river’s visual and physical characteristics,` said Gene A. Bunnell associate professor at University at Albany’s geography and planning department.
Bunnell led the group of students through the survey of the river and development of the plan. `This is an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned, and it’s an opportunity to provide a service for communities.`
Bunnell’s students combed Colonie’s 10 miles of waterfront identifying existing and potential points of access, he said. Students surveyed public utility easements and other vacant parcels along the river to develop the plan to improve upon and connect existing access points, as well as add others.
The second year graduate students worked side-by-side with town planners to assure that the goals of the town’s comprehensive plan and newly proposed land use and zoning regulations were noted, said Bunnell. What they came up with is essentially the framework for the strategic plan, he said.
The only thing to do now is to see what the community wants to do.
Aside from the students’ presentation of their findings, MRCP will also present an overview of future river management strategies that could become part of the plan and a gateway improvement project strategy. The partners will also update the public on the timetable for the implementation of certain parts of the plan, said Cotler.
The partners hope to be on their way, or completing, some of the minor implementations of the plan within two years, Cotler said. Those plans include a harvesting machine to rid the river’s shores and access areas of the invasive water chestnut plant.
Mohawk River Community Partners is a grassroots public/private partnership committed to re-familiarizing Colonie with its historical and recreational roots in the Mohawk River.
Copies of Colonie’s Waterfront Revitalization Strategy can be viewed at the William K. Sanford Town Library or online at www.colonie.org.
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