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General News: My Vision for Our Community's Waterfront
July 24, 2006
By John Wenz
The following was written by one village resident to describe his vision for increasing recreational use of the riverfront, while preserving the beauty of the area. John Wenz is a marine surveyor who also serves as president of the Cornwall Baymen's Association and Chairman of the Village's Riverfront Revitalization Committee. Comments on his proposals are welcomed in the Forum or you may email a longer response to [email protected].
It’s the middle of summer vacation for the children of our waterfront community. It’s sad to think that they – and their families -- don’t have much of a realistic chance at sailing, boating, or paddling in their own home town. Other people do; in waterfront communities all over the world.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Cornwall Landing became a gathering place for those individuals and families in the community who might share a common interest in participating in these activities? Would it be possible for our tax base to benefit, in some small way, from a low-impact connection to the river?
Volunteer Community Boating Organization
I visualize a volunteer community boating organization, patterned after Community Boating Inc. in Boston, which exists primarily to give our kids a chance to get out on the river. Providing safe, healthy outlets for our kids right here at home should be a high priority. If your kids are athletic, you’ll know what I mean when I ask “Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to drag your whole family around the region in pursuit of ‘The Travel Team Schedule’?”)
Safe Dock for Small Boats
An important first step would be to provide a safe dock for small boats to launch and to tie up. A floating, wave-attenuator dock is a cost-effective way to accomplish this in a short time.
Perhaps the Village and the Yacht Club can work in cooperation to develop a harbor management plan, and establish resident and transient mooring areas. Maybe the Yacht Club can finally address their dredging needs with the help and support of the Village. Somewhere in that process might exist a solution to the financial burden of their recent property tax contribution increase.
Low-Impact Town Landing
Providing a well-planned, low-impact town landing would enable cruising yachtsmen and day-tripping boaters, as well as excursion and tour boats, to visit Cornwall to patronize our restaurants and shops. Keep in mind that very few visiting boaters will use the waterfront park other than to land at the town dock; they will go up to the Village and the Town’s main street. And don’t worry about how to get them up the hill; that problem has been solved in many other places.
Economic Boost from Boaters
Customers with disposable income who don’t need parking spaces are exactly what our commercial taxpayers need to help their businesses flourish. After all, the SeaGrant Institute recently concluded that private boaters spend $50-55 million annually on trip-related expenditures in the Mid-Hudson and Capitol regions of New York State. In addition, organizations like New York Waterways have expressed a desire to “tap into the pent-up demand for ferry service in the Hudson Valley’s tourism industry”.
Granted, we have a lot of vacant or under-utilized storefronts in Cornwall and COH right now. Visiting boaters might provide the incentive that potential business owners need to make an investment in our community and bring new vitality to our commercial center. Let’s look at it this way- There are thousands of boaters out on the Hudson right now, cruising past Cornwall Landing looking for a nice place to visit. Shouldn’t we make an effort to enable them to come here? And don’t forget that most of those day-trippers live within an easy driving distance. If they like what they find here, they’ll probably come back by car to visit during the off-season. Tasteful business growth could make a significant contribution to the stabilization of both Town and Village taxes which, in turn, will maintain both municipal services and the value of our real estate. The annual tax increases may not have much of an impact on certain individuals, but most of the residents I talk to do not want to see this continue unabated.
Let’s Talk About Our Waterfront’s Future
What I’m advocating is meaningful dialogue and participation; not the confrontational, polarized behavior that seems to come from Washington right on down to the local level. We need people to engage one another in conversation; listen closely, make suggestions and offer solutions, not just criticize and condemn. Isn’t it time for all the stakeholders to cooperate, so that we can reach a positive outcome for all?
Perhaps we need to agree to disagree, yet recognize that change on our waterfront might be necessary for the good of the entire community. With thoughtful planning and creative financing, sensible improvements can be accomplished without turning Cornwall Landing into Newburgh’s Front Street.
Tranquility at Donahue Park
A town landing and community boating-related improvements, constructed between the existing launch ramp and the Cornwall Yacht Club, would have little impact on the tranquility at Donahue Park. Let’s look at this with an open mind and see how re-connecting our waterfront community with the water might improve our quality of life. We can’t ignore this; it must be done now.
Change is Inevitable
One thing is for sure- Cornwall Landing will not remain like it is for much longer. With all due respect, you’re naïve if you don’t believe that there are powerful people who are trying to utilize their money and influence to “develop” our waterfront park. (It’s funny how the term “develop” is often used to describe the destructive exploitation of a bucolic location!) We can’t be complacent; we need to do the right thing, now, while we still can.
Proposals for the Future
Let’s build the “Mary Powell Dock” as a multipurpose dock which can accommodate both visiting tour boats and private boats. If we choose to, we can configure it to provide somewhat of a promenade and fishing pier as well.
Let’s open a dialogue between the Village and the Yacht Club, currently the two primary stakeholders on our waterfront, to establish a community youth and adult sailing and paddling center. By the way, I’m all in favor of a strong yacht club which is an active participant in our community; not one which is isolated from us. After all, Webster’s definition of the term Yacht Club is: “a club organized to promote and regulate yachting and boating”.
Let’s adjust the way in which we issue parking permits to resemble what works in waterfront communities all over our country.
Let’s insist that the fees collected for parking permits and landing fees be used toward improvements to the park like public toilets, a nice promenade, and more attractive railings and friendlier signage.
What we do at the foot of Dock Road is the key to re-connecting Cornwall-on-Hudson back to the Hudson. Once we do the right thing at Donahue Park and Cornwall Landing, we can explore the alternatives for the rest of our waterfront.
I
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