Oyster Bay to vote on waterway trail

Creation of the latest section of a new statewide Blueway Trail system highlighting paddling routes and shoreline attractions is expected to be approved Tuesday by the Oyster Bay Town Board.

Trustees will vote on awarding a consulting contract to map a water trail along the North Shore of the town showing launching areas and other points of interest.

Oyster Bay would join North Hempstead, Huntington, New York City, towns along the South Shore Estuary between the mainland and the outer barrier islands, and several municipalities upstate that are developing segments of the waterway trail.

Creating the system is part of a program by the New York Department of State. The agency provided matching $75,000 grants to Oyster Bay and North Hempstead, which has already developed a draft of its maps.

Oyster Bay issued a request for proposals and received seven responses. The town board plans to hire Nelson, Pope & Voorhis of Melville, the same firm North Hempstead is using, for $134,000.

The Oyster Bay segment will link with the North Hempstead trail at North Hempstead Beach Park in Hempstead Harbor and then travel along North Shore waters to Oyster Bay Harbor. It will go to Cold Spring Harbor where it will connect with the water trail being developed by the Town of Huntington.

Eric Swenson, Oyster Bay superintendent of environmental control, said signs will be erected at water access points. Printed and online maps "will show where people can get access to the water, possible routes and their difficulty level, historic points along the way, places to view nature, places to eat, bathroom facilities, emergency services and give information on tides and obstructions in the water."

The program is designed "to bring more people down to the water and to use the water with the idea that as they have more of a connection they will want to protect water quality," Swenson said.

The Oyster Bay trail is being developed with the environmental group Friends of the Bay, which proposed the project, and the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee.

Kevin Braun, North Hempstead environmental control specialist, said that town's final Blueway Trail map should be published within six months.

The Town of Huntington did not receive a state grant, but is working on its own waterway trail to link up with the Oyster Bay trail. That updated map is scheduled to be ready by the end of the year.