Mount Utsayantha - Mt Utsayantha Project News

Mount Utsayantha Project News

Stamford board working on returning park to former glory
Mount Utsayantha to have rebuilding work

The Daily Star - ONLINE EDITION - Oneonta, NY
Saturday, August 2, 2003

By Patricia Breakey

The Stamford Village Board is putting together a plan to redevelop the park on Mount Utsayantha and is seeking advice from anyone interested in the project, Mayor Waylen Bray said.

"We decided to organize this meeting as an informal way to update the community on what we have been working on the past few months, get some input and give people a chance to air any concerns they might have," Bray said.

The 20-acre parcel of land on the top of the mountain was donated to the village more than 100 years ago by Dr. Churchill for use as a public park, but over the years it has fallen into disrepair, and the buildings on the site have been vandalized, Bray said.

"Mount Utsayantha should be part of the northern Catskills destination," Bray said. "You can see five states from the top. I first went up there in the early 1970s, and a ranger pointed out the various states to me. The park is still useable, but it's not beautiful."

Bray organized an ad hoc committee in May to work with The Catskill Center for Conservation & Development on a redevelopment plan for the mountaintop. The plan will focus on options for restoring the observation building built in 1926 and the state-owned fire tower erected in 1934, redeveloping the park and trail system, repairing the access road and addressing security issues.

"We want to make the park so nice nobody would want to damage it," Bray said. "But we have to figure out ways to try to make it vandal-proof."

David Koehn, head of the Utsayantha Flyers Organization, said the group keeps the launches for gliders clear and helps keep portions of the property mowed and litter-free.

"If we didn't keep the brush cut at the launches, there would be no views, and there are such great vistas up there," said Koehn of Oneonta. "When we are up there flying, the atmosphere is fun and festive. People love to come and watch. It's a beautiful mountaintop."

Koehn said his organization will be very involved in the restoration project.

Catskill Center Assistant Director Helen Budrock helped the village get a $1,800 technical-assistance grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, which will fund hiring a historic preservation architect to examine the observation building and prepare recommendations and cost estimates for its stabilization and possible restoration.

Budrock said a $2,000 grant provided by the Catskill Watershed Corp. is footing the bill to hire local landscape architect Birgitta Brophy, who is preparing a landscape master plan for the park itself.

The only cost to the village has been $600 toward the technical-assistance grant, Budrock said. She said additional grants will be sought to pay for the restoration.

"It is crucial to get input from the community at this early stage," Budrock said. "I would like to see as many people as possible come out to the meeting to show their support for the project, to ask questions, voice concerns and even share their memories of the mountain as it used to be."

Bray said he expects many of the people at the meeting to immediately launch into stories about the glory days of Mount Utsayantha.

"There are still people up there every day," Bray said. "And you can't even bring up the subject without having people immediately say 'I remember ...'"

Budrock said she plans to have a draft plan finished in September, outlining options for redeveloping Utsayantha, including cost estimates and funding sources for the village board to consider. She said the Catskill Center is preparing the plan at no cost to the village.