Beacon Leg of Rail Trail to Move Forward

Council expected to hire consulting firm
Beacon is wasting no time getting started on the first leg of a proposed 13-mile rail trail from the city to Hopewell Junction.
The City Council is expected to vote on Monday (Dec. 15) to approve spending $350,000 to hire a Westchester County firm to design a 3.3-mile section from the Beacon waterfront to the Town of Fishkill line. The trail could eventually connect to the planned Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail and, in Hopewell, the Dutchess Rail Trail and 750-mile Empire State Trail.
If the council approves the request, City Administrator Chris White said that Barton & Loguidice, which conducted a feasibility study on the trail for the Dutchess County Transportation Council, could begin design and engineering work as early as January.
The city's goal is to put the project out to bid by November and construct the 12- to 14-foot-wide multi-use segment in 2027. "What we've been doing in the last couple of months is figuring out how we can start our piece and accelerate it and go forward," Mayor Lee Kyriacou said during the council's Monday (Dec. 8) meeting.

In October, the Barton & Loguidice report recommended a "rail-to-trail" conversion of the abandoned line, which begins at the Hudson River. The line, which has not been active for 30 years, runs through Beacon and along the east end of Main Street before crossing back and forth over Fishkill Creek on its way through the Village of Fishkill and the towns of Fishkill and East Fishkill.
The line is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In 2024, Metro-North, an MTA agency, "railbanked" the tracks, reserving its right to revive service, although an agency representative said it had no plans to do so.
The Dutchess Transportation report estimated that it would cost $46 million to $56 million to construct the entire trail; Beacon officials anticipate the first segment will be $4.5 million. There are two bridges (near Dennings Avenue and at South and Tioronda avenues) and an overpass at Wolcott Avenue, but otherwise, the paved trail will be "basically a road project," White said.
The city has requested a "sizeable" grant from the governor's office to link the project to a proposed development at the Beacon train station that is part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's housing agenda. It is also seeking funds from Dutchess County and two private organizations.
In other business scheduled for Monday:
The council is expected to vote on an update to the city's fee schedule. Beacon charges fees for dozens of services, including dog licenses, building inspections, record searches and permits for backyard chickens. Not all fees are increasing, and some that are no longer applicable, such as for junk dealers and amusement parks, will be removed. Some fees have not changed since 2010, White said.
Council members will consider a request from the developer of the Edgewater apartment complex for a two-year extension to the special-use permit issued for the project in 2018. Phase 2 of the 246-unit development is underway; three of seven residential buildings have been completed.
Ben Swanson, the mayor's assistant, will be appointed Beacon's deputy city administrator, a new position. Since he was hired in 2021, Swanson's duties "went from being primarily clerical to really being supervisory and much more executive," White said. His new responsibilities will include coordinating housing and food resources and filling in if White is unavailable.
The council will vote on a 10-year renewal of the city's franchise agreement with Optimum, aka Cablevision of Wappingers Falls. The non-exclusive agreement allows Optimum to provide cable and internet service in Beacon in exchange for a franchise fee equal to 5 percent of its gross revenue from the previous year. In 2024, Optimum paid the city $172,393.
As in years past, the council will consider $10,000 spending proposals from students in the Participation in Government class at Beacon High School. Emilio Guerra an...