budget earmarks money for Saratoga Spa State Park

Budget earmarks money to fix parks
Spitzer's 2008-09 plan sets aside $110 million for Capital Region sites

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer
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First published: Thursday, January 24, 2008

ALBANY -- Chances are a Capital Region park near you will be repaired under a $110 million plan in Gov. Eliot Spitzer's 2008-09 budget.
Saratoga Spa, Moreau Lake, John Boyd Thacher, Grafton Lakes and Thompson's Lake state parks would be spruced up with everything from rebuilt swimming pools to new bathrooms.

At Saratoga Performing Arts Center about $2.5 million would be spent to renovate the amphitheater's exterior and access ramps, with another $1.1 million earmarked at the park for pool renovations, bike and pedestrian improvements along the Avenue of the Pines and Route 50, and repairs to roads and parking lots.

About $1.8 million is proposed at Moreau Lake park in northern Saratoga County to replace bathrooms, replace water and electrical lines, resurface roads, fix the bathhouse roof and improve the camper registration area.

In Albany County, Thacher Park would benefit from a $3 million pool rebuilding project, as well as another $500,000 set aside for water storage and supply improvements. At Thompson's Lake, $250,000 would be spent for a new septic system and water supply lines.

In Rensselaer County, about $700,000 would be set aside at Grafton Lakes for resurfacing the parking lot and building a new park police substation. At Cherry Plain, $250,000 would be set aside for new bathrooms.

At Peebles Island park, $2 million would be used to demolish an abandoned building, with another $350,000 proposed for bridge repairs.

In Schoharie County, about $800,000 would be spent toward strengthening the Erie Canal aqueduct at the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter.

In Johnstown, Fulton County, pathways, benches and landscaping would be improved at a cost of $170,000.



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