Schuylerville trustees took a major step to upgrade Fort Hardy park in the village: they voted to create a seven-member planning task force. With a grant of $48,750 from the state matched by $16,250 from the village, the task force will be charged with planning the updates to the village's premier riverfront park. The vote to move forward was unanimous at the Schuylerville's Board of Trustees meeting Monday night, Nov. 9.
Updates might include improved walkways, a better launch site for small boats, better baseball fields, a new youth center, and other amenities, officials said.
The planning and construction will take years, said village clerk and treasurer, Cory Heyman, during an interview Tuesday morning. According to earlier meeting minutes, they have five years to complete the project.
The village is in the very beginning of the process, a process Heyman said will look for advice from many different people or groups.
The Saratoga Rowing Association, which uses the launch area, the Old Saratoga Athletic Association, the schools, churches, the local chamber of commerce, and the Small Business Association are expected to be part of the process.
As well, she said the task force would hear from local youth groups. She said the youth center on the property, an older building with concrete floors and cinder block walls, is worn down and has seen better days.
The park marks the location where British forces surrendered to the newly-created American army during the Revolutionary War, the village's website says, so the history of the park will be incorporated into the plans and the physical remains will be preserved, Heyman said.
The park sits on the north side of Ferry Street between the Hudson River and an old portion of the Champlain Canal.
"In the end, a landscape architect takes all these ideas and puts them together," Heyman said.