Steve Thurston (2021)
Fort Hardy Park in Schuylerville sits immediately adjacent to the Champlain Canalway Trail and the Canal Region Visitor Center, on Ferry Street.
In Schuylerville, the village is looking for a company to help plan a redevelopment of the Fort Hardy Waterfront Park, the site where the British forces lay down their weapons and surrendered to the American forces during the “turning point” of the American Revolution in October 1777. The park is now a recreational site.
This Request for Proposals asks only for help creating a plan for redevelopment of the 29-acre park. It does not ask the company to complete the redevelopment itself.
The due date to answer the RFP, posted on the village’s web page is Tuesday, June 1, and the village has gotten interest, but no proposals so far, officials said.
“I’m anticipating two companies bidding on this,” Mayor Dan Carpenter said in an interview today. Cory Heyman, the clerk of the board, said at least one company called for information.
They will not make names public yet.
“I haven’t told anybody,” Carpenter said. “It’s not public until we open the bids.”
According to the RFP: “Work will include an inventory of current land resources and physical facilities, a topographic survey, and review of existing programs and activities. A preliminary and final master plan narrative, drawings, renderings, cost estimates, and phasing plan will be prepared. The intended project outcome is to create a strategic roadmap for gradual implementation of improvements that will provide enhanced recreation space, trail opportunities, and universal access to the waterfront."
The village created a task force last November to oversee some of the process. The park sits on the north side of Ferry Street between the Hudson River and an old portion of the Champlain Canal. The entire process from planning to construction will take years, officials said then. According to one state grant in use, the village has five years to complete the project. [For more, click here.]
The park currently has playing fields, a boat launch ramp, a kayak dock, a gazebo and an old, unused portion of the Champlain Canal, among other amenities. The park sits immediately adjacent to the Champlain Canal Trail and the Canal Region Visitor Center, part of the Hudson Hoosic Rivers Parnership.
Part of the planning process will include discussions with local groups and other stakeholders to determine the best uses of the historic property.
The RFP says that the surveying and planning should be completed, in conjunction with the village board, the Project Advisory Committee and the Department of State, by Jan. 31, 2022.