Ethan, a planner in the county planning department, briefed the committee on implementation steps from the county's outdoor recreation economy strategic plan and said his office will coordinate with the Occupancy Tax Coordination Committee if grant awards require local matching funds. "This plan outlined a lot of different strategies and projects that we could be pursuing as a county to amplify the economic impact of outdoor recreation on our tourism economy," Ethan said, describing the memo in the meeting packet as a starting point for collaboration.

Ethan outlined four priority projects staff are pursuing for grant readiness and potential funding support:

- A Hudson River rail-corridor feasibility study to evaluate the future of the Warren County Railway corridor (rev rail, rail-with-trail and other options).
- A Mountain-to-River downtown connection project focused on improving physical connections between Main Street and North Creek, tied to large investments at Skibold Park (staff noted roughly $40 million of infrastructure investment in that area was underway).
- Implementation of the Warren County multi-trail modernization and connectivity study (staff said the draft study leveraged about $160 million in federal funding and recommended signage, safety and navigation improvements along trails).
- Mill Creek Recreation Area trail-development work on a previously studied 170-acre parcel in Liebertown, with conceptual routes developed by a professional trail builder and a grant application planned to implement portions of the study.

Ethan emphasized staff are not requesting occupancy-tax dollars at the meeting but said the office would return to the committee if grant awards or solicitations required local match or if projects advanced to a stage needing county funding. "Today, I'm not asking anything from this committee, but I did wanna coordinate with you," Ethan said.

Committee members asked whether the planning office intended to apply for all four projects through the Consolidated Funding Application (CFA); Ethan said yes. Supervisors also asked about using occupancy-tax line items for grant-match and consultant work to prepare grant-ready projects; Ethan said some occupancy-tax dollars are already being used for consultant work to key up projects and that the office is using funds strategically.

Public and supervisor discussion broadened to water access and acquisition. Supervisor Patrick and others raised concerns about public access to Lake George and other waters, noting population and visitor growth makes additional access a long-term planning priority. Ethan said public access to water had been a repeated theme in the outdoor-rec-planning process and that some grant programs (for example Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and Department of State grants) could support site improvements or acquisitions. Ethan noted the planning office submitted a Department of State grant in June to improve access and erosion control on sites the county already owns along the Scribe River.

Next steps: Staff said they will continue preparing CFA applications, coordinate any requested occupancy-tax match with the committee if awards occur, and continue stakeholder engagement (including the DPW parks/railroad committee and partners such as the Lake George Land Conservancy) on acquisition and access strategies.