Tuesday, February 1, 2011

SNOWMOBILING NEEDS TOWN APPROVAL

Some folks read only what they wanted to in the last post about snowmobiling and failed to notice one key component of the law...

Snowmobile clubs must obtain a resolution of support from the municipality where the Canalway Trail is located before applying for a permit from the Canal Corporation. A municipality has the option to continue the prohibition along its stretch of the trail. The regulations apply to lands under the jurisdiction of the Canal Corporation.

That said, a local club must pursue this matter with the town of Royalton if anyone hopes to take their snow machine on the towpath.

Realize, too, that you may not have a continuous path, either. When last this came up (January of 2009), Middleport was dead set against it:

Middleport Mayor Julie Maedl said Wednesday that she opposes the idea, although her board hasn’t voted on it, and the director of New York State Canal Corp. said that all municipalities along a route must support it.

Maedl said Middleport rejected a snowmobile trail plan along the canal 10 years ago. “There are people walking on that canal bank yearround,” she said. Maedl also said that it might set a precedent for all-terrain vehicles on the towpath, which she opposes. Maedl, who lives right along the canal, said that before she got cable television, there used to be so many snowmobilers that they would create interference with TV reception, and they would park all over the sidewalks heading to Middleport’s bars. She said the trail “is not policed the way it ought to be.”

Read the coverage about that -- and the Canal Authority's pilot program -- here:

http://gasportnewyork.blogspot.com/2009/01/legal-snowmobiling-on-towpath-may-be-in.html