Glimmerglass State Park’s Fate Uncertain Until Budget Passes

3-26-10

COOPERSTOWN

It has surfaced that Glimmerglass State Park, which escaped the list of 55 state parks targeted for closure this year, is on a second hit list of 33 at-risk properties.
The closure would also impact Hyde Hall, the adjoining National Historic Landmark on Hyde Bay, which is leased from the state Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation and depends in part on campers for its clientele.
Diane Elliot, Hyde Hall executive director, said Tuesday, March 23, that state Sen. Jim Seward’s office had assured her Glimmerglass was secure.
However, OPR spokesman Dan Keefe said, until the state budget passes, his department’s position is that Glimmerglass is still at risk.
Governor Paterson’s original budget called for shifting $4 million out of the state’s Environmental Protection Fund to forestall the 33 closures on the second list.
That shift has not occurred, and until it does, Keefe said, no one can be assured that Glimmerglass and the other 32 properties won’t be effected.