Glens Falls pursues major nature preserve off Sanford St.

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

The former Glens Falls Tennis and Swim Club is envisioned as the centerpiece of an ambitious wetland preserve and recreation park off East Sanford Street near Quaker Road.

Organizers of “The Crockwell Preserve” envision a 20-acre or more site with nature paths, walking and biking trails, possible gardens, an education center — and permanently protected wetlands.

“What we’re trying to accomplish is to create a publicly accessible wetlands preserve that allows folks, not just from Glens Falls, but all over the area, to interact and experience what it is to be in the wetlands, to be able to recreate there,” says Doug Thorn, president of the newly created Crockwell Partnership not-for-profit leading the effort.

“Ultimately, it’s about accessibility, it’s about preservation, it’s about education,” Mr. Thorn says. “We’re really trying to take something that’s a dormant asset and turn it into something, this preserve, that people can actually enjoy.”

Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins said, “From the start the goal was to turn it into an educational facility, gardens and more.

“It was all part what they called the Great [Cedar] Swamp, which Quaker Road was built on,” Mayor Collins says.

He recalls fishing in Crockwell Pond as a child, and remembers the property’s history as a farm — Crockwell Farm.

The preserve is named for artist Douglass Crockwell (1904-1968) and his wife Margaret Braman Crockwell (who died in 1995).

Much of the targeted property was part of the 160-acre Crockwell estate. Originally owned by Margaret’s family, it includes Crockwell Pond in Glens Falls and about a half-dozen surrounding properties in the Town of Queensbury.

The Crockwells, who lived at 245 Sanford Street, donated the 6.5 acres that became the Tennis and Swim Club. It’s now owned by the City of Glens Falls.

The Crockwell Partnership is an outgrowth of a committee formed in 2018 by then-Mayor Dan Hall to consider what to do with the Tennis and Swim Club after the City purchased the 6.5-acre property from Warren County for $38,000 in back taxes, Mr. Hall recalls.

Other Partnership members are Glens Falls Ward 2 Common Councilman Bob Landry; Queensbury Ward 2 Town Councilman Harrison Freer; Mr. Hall; Dr. William Brender, who owns much of the surrounding wetland property; and nearby residents Sandra Hutchinson, who was an environmental attorney and is Associate Publisher and co-owner of The Chronicle, and businessman Gary Mikutel.

Mr. Hall and Mr. Thorn both said they expect to include many other people in the committee as the project evolves.

First step: Design firm

On Monday Glens Falls put out a formal Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking a firm to assist with the next step — to develop a feasibility plan for the properties, run public meetings on the project and create visuals of what it could look like.

The City earmarked $100,000 of ARPA (American Recovery Plan Act) funds.

“But that’s it,” Mayor Collins says, as far as the City’s running the effort.

“We’d love to help this become the center that it is, but we’re not looking to purchase any more land or to run this thing.”

“That’s where the Partnership comes in,” says Mr. Thorn. The non-profit will take over and work with the private and public entities involved, communicate with the public, oversee plans for the property, seek grants and other funding, and administer any additional land purchases, easements or donations.

The deadline for the RFQ is August 23. Mr. Thorn said the Partnership aims to select a firm by late September, to begin the next public phase of the plan.

The long-term goal is to extend the preserve out to Quaker Road, on properties owned by the Town of Queensbury, Warren County, and by private individuals, and to connect with Crockwell Pond — now owned by SUNY Adirondack — through possible easements from private property owners on East Sanford Street.

Undeveloped land across Quaker Road, some owned by the Town and some by the preservationist Saratoga PLAN, could eventually be part of it, Mr. Thorn said.

Oudekerk’s Celery Farm operated in the adjacent peat-rich wetland before Quaker Road was built. The wetland — the Big Cedar Swamp — extends to Warren County Airport.

The Crockwell Partnership was formed in January to oversee the project. Their role is “to work with the City, the Town, the County, with everybody, the community and the neighbors, to realize the original dream,” says Mr. Thorn.

He says the dream is “to turn this into a wetland preserve, or some gardens, with an educational component, and with access for folks to be able to walk around and experience what it’s like to be in the wetlands, to learn a little bit about it and generally, just have fun.”

It’s all preliminary, Mr. Thorn says. The involved entities, from SUNY Adirondack to the Town of Queensbury, are aware of the general project, even possibly amenable, but yet not signed on, he said.

Mr. Thorn says, “In a perfect scenario — I can imagine a couple school busses pulling up from Glens Falls, Queensbury, Warrensburg, Saratoga High, to take a field trip, to walk along — however the trail system would work — to really get a sense of: What is all this about wetlands? To understand, why does anybody care about wetlands?”

Mr. Thorn is a relatively recent Glens Falls resident moving here in 2019 to run the insurance division of Arrow Financial, parent of Glens Falls National Bank.

He tells The Chronicle his previous experience includes overseeing revitalization of the opera house in his hometown of Hudson, N.Y. He is also president of the board of the Charles Wood Theater.

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