Archive: News

Construction began Tuesday on the transformation of Salt Point from a largely unregulated party hangout to a quiet nature park.  A new road, parking lots, nature trails, and new signage are all part of the Town of Lansing's plan to manage the property and restore indigenous foliage and wildlife.  The Town has received grant money to make the changes.  "We're going to put the money in to have that place that's a quiet place for people to walk and enjoy," says Town Supervisor Steve Farkas.

Highway Department workers had roughed out a new road that parallels the railroad tracks, then turns West along the waterfront, ending in a small parking lot where un-powered boats will be launched.  A tractor was removing grass and dirt from a parking lot near the entrance that Highway Superintendent Jack French says can be restored, while other equipment cleared land for the smaller boat launch lot.  " It looks like we can save the one parking lot," French says.  "It might be a couple of years before we have to repave it.  But the road itself will be torn up, and the road that goes up to the point will be gravelled."


Located across Salmon Creek from Myers Park, the Town of Lansing has a 25 year renewable lease with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to manage the 35 acre property.  Originally a Cayuga hunting ground, the property housed a Cayuga Lake Salt Company plant from 1893 to 1962.  Using deep wells to extract the brine, the salt was transported on the barge canal system and by rail.  The DEC purchased the land in 1960s, and operated a fish hatchery there for ten years in the 1970s.

Since the 1980s the area was not used, and it developed a reputation as an unmonitored party place nicknamed 'U.C. Point' for Utica Club beer, a popular brand at the time.  While some visitors have gone to enjoy the beauty of the land and the lake, it has also attracted a lot of crime, including dumping and littering, underage drinking, and the uncontrolled partying.  

At its worst a young person was killed in a boating accident there.  "Those types of things are avoidable if only people understand that they've got to live by the rules," Farkas says.  "It isn't as if there is a laundry list of rules -- they're pretty simple.  I equate it to the old the old sayings about the Adirondack mountains.  They said, 'Whatever you take in you bring out.  You leave only your footprints.'"


Last year details were worked out and a 25 year renewable lease for the Town to manage the land was signed.  Farkas hopes it will continue to be renewed well into the future.  "Nothing's in perpetuity, but I think that after a while when the DEC sees that we have shown that we have been good stewards of that land that they won't have any problem with forever being what is there," Farkas says.  "And I hope that people who follow behind our present board keep up that good relationship."


Crime has continued to be a problem.  As part of the plan a gate was installed near the end of March, to help the Town regulate usage and keep people out at night.  "The gate is hung on a big post set in concrete in the ground," says Town Planner Darby Kiley.  "There was another one on the right side.  The very same day that it was pout in, it was taken out -- a ten foot long steel post in cement was removed the very night it was put in.  At this point the gate won't close, because there's nothing to attach it to.  We haven't met yet to decide what to do about that."

One thing town officials have done is to contract Town Constable Scott Ferris early this year.  Normally he begins patrolling town parks on April 1, but he was asked to begin in March after the gate post was stolen.  Educating the public to the park's new uses will be a large part of Ferris's task this summer, as well as enforcing current laws, including DEC regulations.  "Not even one percent of the population is the problem," Farkas says.  "It's only a few, of which, unfortunately, not many are even Town residents.  'That's the party place.  We can come and have a party out on the point and throw our garbage all around.'  It's going to be more of a costly education for those people to understand that it's a different world."


But Farkas doesn't anticipate that the task will be difficult for Ferris. " We had meetings with our local magistrates and encoraged them to assist us in getting the word out," he explains.  "Sometimes it's easier to be tough at the start and then back off.  If you start with a laissez faire attitude you're never going to get there.  It's not asking a lot for them to take care of a very beautiful natural area and enjoy that for what it is."

French says the construction should take about a week or a week and a half, depending on the weather.  Meanwhile plans are going ahead to fill in or revegetate roads elsewhere on the property, transforming some of them into nature trails.  "I have a student at Cornell working on a plan and planting scheme," Kiley says.  "She's a student who will be leaving soon, so she's been working really hard on that.  I think it's going to be a really good visual guide for presentations and things.  I'd like to see the walking trails laid out."


Kiley also says the Town is planning a Salt Point cleanup on May 20 from 3 - 5.  She is hoping to attract local volunteers  to remove litter and make the park presentable.  For the past few years a cleanup has been scheduled each Fall to coincide with a national beach cleanup effort, and that is still planned for September 15 this year.  But Kiley has been working on this additional cleanup with Sharon Anderson from the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network.  "We'll provide bags," she says.  "People can bring their gloves.  We felt there was a need to get the litter picked up before the vegetation comes out."

French says the road will be gravel, because the grant money doesn't cover the cost of pavement.  Kiley also notes that the boat launch area, originally planned as a loop at the end of the road, will now be a small parking lot to help stay within budget.  

Town officials hope to have an opening ceremony some time in the Spring, and expect that the road and parking lots will be ready for use before the end of this month.  Regulations are being enforced, and officials are pleased to be able to offer a different park experience from that at Myers Park, across Salmon Creek from Salt Point.

"From now until the end of April or into May is the beginning of the educational process, getting people to realize that the rules are going to change," Farkas says.  "That will be an ongoing process to educate people that it's not the south side of Salmon Creek, it's the north side.  It's a different world in the sense that people are welcome to be there, but the reason for being there will be different from the reason for being in Myers Park."

"People have got to understand that we want to encourage the development of native species of plants, and a place to go that is just a quiet place to enjoy," Farkas continues.  "The days of uncontrolled hell-raising are not going to be there.  It is strictly going to be a day use area."

----
v3i14