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Thursday, January 19, 1988, pp. 3 and 9.
Related story here

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New proposals offered to
keep river access open
DEC wants outright purchase of property
By GLENN PONTIER

CALLICOON -- Despite last week's "final" purchase offer by the state, the Delaware Community Center has proposed several innovative methods whereby the Delaware river access at Callicoon could stay in local hands, yet be used by the public.
In a January 19th letter to Kenneth Wick, director of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Division of Fish and Wildlife, the center offered six proposals -- including sale of a recreational easement -- to keep the site open while maintaining some community control over it.
During a two-hour discussion of the issue on January 11, a DEC representative said the agency was willing to purchase the 1.34 acre site at a fair market value of $17,500. But an earlier offer for a 20-year lease of the property for $15,000 had been withdrawn, after Wick instituted a "policy decision" not to use long-term leases, said Wayne Elliot, DEC Region III fisheries manager.
"A dead issue. No way. Decision made," Elliot stated last week about a lease arrangement with the DEC, "I'm convinced our agency isn't going to reverse itself on this site."
He did offer to work with the Callicoon Fire Department to overturn a deed restriction that requires the property to be used for community recreation, or its ownership reverts back to the fire department.
"Our attorneys say it doesn't represent an impediment to a sale. It brings in another party. Would they sign a release overturning the deed condition? The fire company has to decide if it will void the restriction," Elliot explained.
"We have an offer on the board," he added, saying the only decisions now were up to the center and the fire company.
However, community center members were resolute in their desire to fred another way to keep the access open to the public -- and in private hands.
Calling the sale a "betrayal of our trust," board president Tom Rue said the land was part of the community's heritage, as he pushed for a different resolution to the problem.
Various proposals offered at the meeting suggested everything from purchase of a "permanent recreational easement" to "re-naturalization" of the property.
Without softening his line, Elliot did agree to take back the idea of DEC purchase of an easement, but cautioned that it was a "long-shot." However, he also appeared to re-open the door for a long-term rental agreement if no funds were involved. "If the community center wants to enter into a 25-year lease for $1, I'll sign it tomorrow," he stated.
The community center letter reminds Wick that the "Upper Delaware is special" and the sole federal "wild and scenic river" segment in New York. It cites the state's commitment to the River Management Plan and, "Among the plan's most fundamental concepts is that land in the river corridor should remain privately held."
"By their participation, the DEC and the Town of Delaware, together with other governmental entities, have entered into a compact to administer this river segment differently. Since the Upper Delaware is administratively unique, why not let the Callicoon access site be the only DEC river access in the State which is privately owned'?" it asks.

The letter details what DEC purchase of a recreational easement would include: "a recreational easement allowing the public to utilize the premises as a site to be used by the public for boat launching, for access for the purposes of fishing and pleasure boating, and for such appurtenant use as may be appropriate including the launching of canoes and cartop boats." Other proposals include: pursuit of federal grants to renew the lease at a fair market value; National Park Service or a private land conservancy leasing the site; and DEC purchase, with a restrictive covenant in the deed that would cause the property to revert to the center if 'it ceased to operate as a river access.

When DEC lease of the property ends this year, so will the state's assumption of liability over the site. Center officials say that the river access will have to be closed to the public because of insurance considerations.

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Related external links


Callicoon on the Delaware

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River