Town officials discuss Sandywood trail connection to Veterans Park with private funding interest

Town Council President Pete told the Parks & Recreation advisory committee that a newly approved subdivision called Sandywood Circle can be connected to Veterans Park by a roughly 0.6-mile trail that would be bikeable and link neighborhoods to schools and park facilities.

Pete said the developer has completed roads and utilities and the town signed its first building permit on the new road last week, which he called a trigger for moving the trail from a long-term goal to a near-term project. He said a private nonprofit has approached the town offering to invest “a substantial amount” toward the trail and that the group has already walked the route with town parks and engineering staff.

The proposed route includes two pedestrian bridges over low-lying creek sections. Pete gave dimensions and cost estimates: one bridge about 6 feet wide by 52 feet long and a second about 6 feet by 66 feet, each with roughly a 9,000-pound capacity; quoted prices were about $36,000 and $50,000 respectively (approximate). He also provided a unit cost for a 6-foot-wide stone-dust path at about $15 per running foot. Pete said the town could buy prefabricated bridges of aluminum construction with composite decking and railings, and that foundations are included in preliminary estimates.

Because the rear of lots and a drainage easement abut the proposed trail, Pete said the town is planning a vinyl split-rail fence on the easement boundary to make the easement’s limits clear before houses are occupied and neighbors begin to treat the easement as private property. He said letters were sent to adjacent homeowners in advance of preliminary clearing; one resident objected to work immediately adjacent to his house and the town plans to fence that section and modify alignment where needed.

Committee members discussed surface options and accessibility. Pete said engineering has found a stone-dust (crusher fines) surface at 6 feet wide can be compacted and is “one step from concrete” for durability; staff reported such surfaces can be raked and recoated after vehicle traffic and that they have been used at other town trails. Committee members pressed whether the surface would be ADA-accessible and plowable; Pete said the path is typically groomed or snow-blown rather than plowed, and that hybrid bikes and walkers could use it but “race bikes” would be less suitable. He also noted a potential paved “connector” through the park to make parts fully bikeable.

Pete emphasized connectivity benefits: the trail could take riders off Baseline or Stony Point Road and provide a direct, off-road route to Veterans Park, Hughes Road School and other destinations, reducing on-street bicycle travel. He said the walk of the corridor was “relatively easy,” with only a few low spots in the floodplain that can be spanned by the proposed bridges so the trail corridor itself would avoid being in the regulated floodplain.

Pete said the immediate next steps are to seek town board approval to install the fence on the easement to “stake our claim,” refine design and pricing with engineering and the nonprofit, and discuss options for grant applications if private funding does not fully cover the work. He described the nonprofit’s potential contribution as “six figures” but said the exact split between surface cost, bridges and foundations is still to be determined. No formal motion or vote on the trail funding or construction was recorded at the meeting.

Committee members asked for walk-throughs and additional design detail; several said they supported moving promptly to secure the easement and the nonprofit partnership before houses sell and neighbors assume ownership of the easement.

Pete and committee members also discussed replicating the fence requirement as a development standard so future easements are protected at the time subdivisions are built.

Provenance: Excerpts from the meeting transcript where Pete described the route, the nonprofit interest, bridge sizes and cost estimates and the fence plan.