Welcome to our Chautauqua Lake blog. We want to provide you with informed information on Chautauqua Lake and Chautauqua Institution living and real estate. We will regularly post up to date comments and information on the activities and real estate market on and around Lake Chautauqua and Chautauqua County NY.
Please feel free to post your comments and questions.
As of January 1, 2025 New York State requires all motorized boaters to
carry a Safe Boating Certificate from their home state or New York
State while operating a boat. For those who do not already have a Safe
Boating Certificate, boaters can earn their certificate by taking a
classroom course with certified New York State instructors or through
several approved online course options including through their home
state. Additionally, certificates issued by the United States Coast
Guard Auxiliary, America's Boating Club, US Powerboating and other
NASBLA certified courses are recognized.
Persons may rent and operate a boat without obtaining a boating safety certificate. Boat
rental livery staff must provide basic instruction and safety
information prior to the renters leaving the dock. Visitors and NYS
residents who possess a valid state driver's license may rent motorized
boats, as well as certain non-motorized boats, at half-day, full-day, or
multi-day rates.
We urge area
businesses to let their customers know about these requirements. The
safe boating course certificate requirement has been phased-in over the
past few years so many boaters in (and visiting) New York are already
familiar with the requirement. However, now that all boat operators
(excluding renters) must possess a safe boating course certificate while
operating a boat, it will be important for us all to make sure that
folks are aware of this in advance of their time on New York waters.
A list of online
and classroom courses is available through the NYS Parks Boating
Education page, which is one of the links available on CCVB’s
Tourchautauqua page on Boating (link below). There is also information
on boat launches and boat rental liveries. Please consider providing a
link to this information to your guests and customers (where
applicable).
Legislation to exempt inland lakes from the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act has been reintroduced in the state Senate.
Sen.
George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, recently reintroduced his bill (S.3656)
in the Senate, while Assemblyman Andrew Molitor, R-Westfield, plans to
reintroduce the legislation in the state Assembly in the coming days.
The bill was introduced too late in the 2024 state legislative session
to gain much traction.
“I have re-introduced legislation in the Assembly that will exempt
all navigable lakes from the wetland regulatory scheme; I am committed
to striking the necessary balance so that wetland regulations do not
adversely affect businesses and residents around our inland lakes,”
Molitor said.
The bill would exempt inland lakes that are navigable waterways and
have an area of 150 acres or more from freshwater wetlands designations.
The bill will further exclude the Great Lakes from the definition of
“inland lake.”
“This piece of legislation is necessary to balance environmental
protection with economic and recreational interest. This approach allows
for targeted conservation efforts by focusing on areas where wetland
protections are most needed while also accommodating responsible land
and water use,” Borrello and Molitor wrote in their legislative
justification.
Early
in 2024, Borrello wasn’t sure if the Freshwater Wetlands Act would have
much affect on Chautauqua Lake. That changed as the year went on, with
Borrello and former Assemblyman Andrew Goodell calling for a delay.
Borrello and Goodell also wrote a letter to Sean Mahar, interim DEC
commissioner, expressing their concerns with the way proposed wetlands
regulations could affect Chautauqua Lake. They specifically asked that
the proposed DEC regulations not designate lakes as wetlands because
that designation would be inconsistent with both existing statutory
language and decades of precedent.
In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law revisions to New York’s
Freshwater Wetlands Act. New York’s original Freshwater Wetlands Act was
enacted in 1975 to regulate activities near larger wetlands, greater
than 12.4 acres, and smaller wetlands considered to be of unusual local
importance. The new wetlands law eliminates the use of the old,
inaccurate wetland maps and clarifies that all wetland areas greater
than 12.4 acres are subject to Article 24 regulations. Freshwater
wetlands are lands and submerged lands – commonly called marshes,
swamps, sloughs, bogs, and flats – that support aquatic or semi-aquatic
vegetation.
“In Chautauqua Lake, much of the south basin and other bays and
shoals with more than 12.4 contiguous acres of submergent vegetation
have been functioning as wetland for many decades,” Mahar wrote in his
response to Goodell and Borrello.
Borrello and Goodell called on the proposed regulations to include a
sentence saying, “Navigable waters in an inland lake shall not be
considered wetlands.” That language was proposed by Molitor in his
comments to the DEC. “Navigable lakes, however, would never be commonly
called ‘marshes, swamps, sloughs, bogs and flats’ and waters
‘substantially enclosed’ by aquatic plants would not be navigable,”
Goodell and Borrello wrote in 2024.
During an informative meeting hosted by CLPOA Saturday, which was
held at the Lawson Center, 73 Lakeside Drive, jurisdictional
determination was a subject that seemed to draw particular interest for
event goers. Wehrfritz explained that jurisdictional determination is
the legal process with how the state’s Department of Environmental
Conservation determines if an area meets the regulatory statute as a
wetlands.
“Anyone can request a JD on any property, and the DEC will process the request without the owner’s knowledge,” Wehrfitz said.
The following steps regarding the DEC jurisdictional determination process are:
– Jurisdictional Determination is requested by an individual.
– The DEC must respond within 90 days with a 10 day extension granted
as needed with positive or negative determination if an area is a
wetland – which is valid for five years from issue date. However, only
positive determinations can be appealed.
– The DEC must respond to an appeal within 120 days, with a 30 day
extension granted as needed. Additionally, all appeals must include a
DEC consultation and wetlands delineation by the applicant.
– The DEC acknowledges property value loss may guide owners to seek reassessment.
Additionally, Wehrfritz, briefed the meeting attendees on which
activities in a designated wetlands area would now require a permit to
conduct.
The following activities will or may require a general permit to do
now, he said. Repair, reconstruction, and or replacement of existing
functional structures and facilities or septic systems; construction and
or modification of (listed) residential, commercial, industrial, or
public structures, (utility, sewer, water, and telecommunication lines,
hydrants, etc.); construction and/or modification of (listed)
residential, commercial, industrial, or public structures (parking,
driveways, pools, water wells, fences, renewable energy,); temporary
access roads and/or laydown areas; selective cutting, hazardous tree
removal, and/or removal of dead ash trees, cutting of trees and other
vegetation; drilling test wells; routine beach replenishment –
regrading, and or cleaning; removal of debris and existing structures.
LAKE PLAN STALLS
Another point that Wehrfritz discussed at the meeting was the
implementation of a study that was conducted by representatives from
North Carolina State University (NCSU) entitled Long Term Management
Plan for Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in Chautauqua Lake.
“The North Carolina State’s Aquatic Management Plan was contracted by
the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, with funding appropriated by the
Chautauqua Lake Watershed and Management Alliance,” he said. “This was
after the CLP officials said discussions with state DEC officials and
others showed a need to clarify the goals for herbicide applications in
the lake and to articulate a long-range plan to achieve those goals.”
Chautauqua Lake Partnership officials have said in the past that
state DEC officials requested the creation of a plan to help address the
management of invasive aquatic vegetation in the lake. Mike LaTone,
treasurer of the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, told The Post-Journal
recently the CLP reached out to the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed
Management Alliance to secure funding for an independent, third party,
science-based lake management plan.
However, the lack of support for the NCSU plan has Wehfritz shaking his head.
“The county leadership has deferred management of the lake to the
nonprofit sector,” he said. “However, the study that they (non-profits)
paid for has largely gone to the wayside, and they have all refused to
state or declare a position that their organizations will take, or has
taken, regarding NCSU recommendations.”
Bemus Point and Ellery are the only town and village governments to
show any support for the NC State lake plan, while discussion in
December at county legislature meetings showed there are still
unanswered questions among county officials and various lake groups.
County Executive PJ Wendel, responding to a request for comment by
The Post-Journal, said it’s important to overcome divisions among lake
agencies.
Additionally, Wendel said, “Chautauqua Lake is one of our county’s
most cherished resources, vital to our environment, economy, and way of
life. However, for too long, we’ve seen divisions among stakeholders
that only serve to hold us back — like the infamous Hatfields and
McCoys. It’s time to put that infighting to rest. By working together
with municipal leaders, scientists, and community organizations, we can
create lasting solutions that preserve and protect this lake for
generations to come. Our shared goal must be to unify. Collaboration,
not conflict, will uphold Chautauqua Lake as a legacy we’re proud to
pass on to our children and grandchildren.”
