Crescent Trail Hiking Association

Excerpts from past CTHA Newsletters and interviews of founding members allow us to share the rich history of the Crescent Trail which includes several years and countless hours of hard work put forth by concerned residents who advocated for the preservation of open and undeveloped land, as well as partnering with the Town of Perinton.

Many years before the Crescent Trail was a footpath, and almost a decade before the founding of the Crescent Trail Hiking Association, the idea for the trail was "blazed" by a series of circumstances, decisions, and actions.

The Town of Perinton experienced phenomenal development and population growth in the 1960s with more than 15,000 residents moving into the area. If the Town did not have a way to control growth and development, Perinton could become an environmental mess.

With changes in NYS law, in 1971, Perinton appointed 9 resident volunteers to serve on an Environmental Conservation Committee. They conducted an inventory of all undeveloped land and also recommended programs for the preservation of critical environmental areas. By Sept of 1971, they completed their inventory and began to serve in an official role known as the Perinton Environmental Conservation Board.

In 1973, the Environmental Conservation Board received a Ford Foundation Grant which allowed them to commission a study by Ecoplans, Inc, an environmental planning company based in Saratoga Springs, NY. The study, completed in 1974 and known as "Perinton Open Space Plan" urged the Town to "act now to set aside key open space lands which will enhance and sustain both the urban and rural character of the community, and protect areas of ecological function and value."

In 1972, even before the Perinton Open Space Plan was developed, the Conservation Board recommended the Town adopt a Conservation Easement law that would provide tax incentives to landowners if they agreed to NOT develop their property for an extended period. Then in 1974, the Conservation Board along with the Town Planning Board jointly recommended establishing Limited Development Districts (LDD) based on natural factors. These LDDs restrictions help determine the type and density of permitted uses based on the character of the land itself, in particular steep slopes and wet soils.

The large blocks of undeveloped land in the Ecoplans report were mostly clustered in an arc extending between the southwestern and northeastern quadrants of Perinton. As members of the Conservation Board talked with landowners about Easements and LDDs, they came up with the idea of preserving the land -- in a way that would inter-connect many of the open spaces. The arc became the "crescent" and the objective was to create a footpath "trail" that would enable public access to, and appreciation of, Perinton's environmental legacy.