East Aurora Advertiser

Community Input Sought in Rail to Trail Discussions



The Aurora Town Board is going to host a community forum regarding a multi-use trail corridor in West Falls. The purpose is to have neighbors of the trail learn more about the current status for the land and to ask questions about the process. 

The public forum will be April 25 at 7 p.m. at the Aurora Town Hall, 575 Oakwood Ave. 

During its recent town board meeting, an agreement was reached to send out a letter inviting neighbors of the corridor within the Town of Aurora to attend the forum. They will also be informed about an upcoming meeting in West Falls for a similar purpose. 

“It seems like we are at a point where we need to move forward,” Aurora Councilman Luke Wochensky said. 

There is a section of West Falls that once had a railway running through it. The rail company removed many of the rail lines in 2009, and in 2018 the Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail (ECRT) group, a non-profit organization, signed a 49-year railbanking lease agreement with the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad to manage the 27-mile corridor, which also goes in Orchard Park and Springville. 

According to the rail trail group, “railbanking is a federal program that maintains the railroads federal right-of-way while allowing for interim trail use in lieu of rail traffic for an interim period. Under the terms of the lease agreement, and the federal rail banking program, ECRT was selected as the local trail manager to build a multi-use trail on the 27-mile rail line.”

Some sections of the trail have been opened to the public for hiking or bicycling, and other parts are closed. The organization is hoping to do more in the coming years. It has been fundraising for those projects and talking to neighbors and other groups along the trail. 

One group that would be impacted is the West Falls Conservation Society. The old railway had its line go through a part of the society’s property. The concern is how to provide safe passage for people on the trail while still allowing the conservation society to function in its present form. 

Leaders with the society and ECRT have both said they are working on a solution and think they have a similar goal. People with ECRT said they want to work in a way that doesn’t hurt the society, but allows it to function while also benefiting from the trail. 

At the March 28 meeting, West Falls Conservation Society President Jack Bouquin said there have been good talks with the groups over the past year and he feels everyone is “sincere” in making sure the conservation society is not hindered by this move. He has asked that some legal documents be drawn up to make sure that is the case. 

The town board agreed and that they would make sure the society stays whole. 

“The club needs to remain as it is,” Wochensky said.

He said it appears both sides are in agreement on what to do, the process just needs to be pushed along to finish it up. He said the board wants to hear from neighbors of the trail, while also explaining what is taking place and that’s the reason for hosting the public meeting.

Turning former railways into multi-use trails has become more common in recent years. It’s a way to preserve the corridor in case the railway ever decides to utilize that space again for transportation, and it has been marketed as a tourist draw for communities. There is the Chautauqua Rails to Trails organization that has done something similar, with a trail that stretches from Brocton, through Chautauqua and down to Sherman, NY. It features stops near communities

And there are other places that have had a trail go through or near a conservation society and solutions were found to make it work. The town is looking at those to see what can be done in West Falls. 

This upcoming meeting is in regards to the Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail group and its proposed work. There have been other plans from another organization, GObike Buffalo, to construct a nearly 90 mile trail from Buffalo to Hinsdale, with that trail utilizing parts of the 27-miles railbanked with ECRT. Those are two separate initiatives, though the groups have looked at how they will work together on the longer trail.

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