TO: Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Members
FROM: Peter VanAvery
DATE: October 6, 2004
After making itself scarce during the peak summer months, the Regulating District's board is returning to Johnstown on Tuesday, October 12. Meeting location: the Loyal Order of the Moose, Lodge #1185, 109 South Comrie Avenue, Route 30A. Starting time: 9:00 a.m. There will be an opportunity for public statements, along with a Q&A session.
The next meeting after that will be on Monday, November 8, at the Town of Colonie, Public Operations Center, 347 Old Niskayuna Road, in Latham.
The Office of the State Comptroller informs me that when its audit of the Regulating District becomes available, it will be posted on the Comptroller's website: www.osc.state.ny.us.
My wife and I made the 95-mile drive to attend the District's September board meeting at Big Moose Lake. Although the meeting focused mainly on Black River/Stillwater Reservoir issues, here are some highlights that impact us:
- The independent performance audit of the access permit system is still
hanging fire. Although I expected the board to select a finalist from
the two audit firms still in the running, the decision was deferred.
Apparently, the board is still trying to determine if state law allows
it to pick the better qualified firm, or if it has to select the lower
bidder.
- Because of low water, the District's workboat was pulled out on August
27. The crew remediated shoreline erosion on a grand total of 49 permit
areas this season ... with only a zillion to go.
- As I have mentioned before, downstream hydroelectric plant operators (Niagara Mohawk and Reliant Energy, Inc.) are unhappy with the size of their annual assessments for operation/maintenance of the reservoir and are suing for refunds. This time around, I asked the obvious question: What's the District's total liability if the energy firms win everything they ask for? The shocking answer: $10 million. By comparison, the District's total annual budget is $6 million.
The energy firms are multibillion-dollar corporations that can field a battalion of lawyers. The District has one staff attorney aided by an outside legal firm. Why the District doesn't draw upon the state's powerful legal resources for backup is yet another mystery of life.
I have been asked if the two episodes of extremely high water that ravaged shorelines and damaged more than $175,000 worth of private property in 2003 was an anomaly. Only Mother Nature can answer that one, and she isn't answering my phone calls. As I write this, the lake's level is at 760.9 feet above sea level. On this date a year ago, the level stood at 762.28. By the end of last October, the level was at 768.78 and headed higher. The smart thing to do is assume the worst and act accordingly. In my case, I have a high bank separating my beach from land. It'd take a dozen people to lift my floating dock up onto the bank.
The District is working on getting an issue of its "Waterline" newsletter into the mail. It skipped last year (few noticed). The last I heard, it'll have a pull-out centerfold showing approved dock configurations.
Assume your Great Aunt Matilda died and left you a pile of money. To celebrate, you decide to hire a professional fireworks firm to set up its pyrotechnics on your access permit segment and put on a show your neighbors will never forget. As a good citizen, you go to your town office and ask for a permit. "Not in our jurisdiction," comes the reply. "The buffer zone around the lake is owned by the state and is part of the forever-wild Forest Preserve. Go see the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation."
But you get the same reception at ENCON. There, you're told that oversight for the buffer zone has been assigned to the Regulating District. But when you drag yourself over to the Regulating District, you learn that issuing permits for fireworks displays and policing the results is not their responsibility. At this point, you feel like sticking an M-60 between your teeth and lighting it.
Don't laugh. Something very similar to this scenario is now playing out at the lake. Some of our neighbors in Sacandaga Park are questioning the legality of the fireworks displays that the Sport Island Pub is sponsoring. As these folks interpret state law, such displays must be kept at least 200 feet from people/structures. They claim this is not happening and that, among other things, a large gasoline storage tank owned by an adjacent marina falls within the 200-foot zone. But they got a "Not our problem" response from the Town of Northampton, ENCON, and the Regulating District when they complained.
The Sacandaga Park crew is a persistent bunch. They have bombarded the District with telephone calls and letters, and have raised the issue at several board meetings. Finally, the District agreed to ask the NYS Attorney General for an opinion. When issued, I'll pass it along. Whatever the merits of the case, I am delighted to see aggrieved citizens stick up for their perceived rights. Not so long ago, the tendency at Great Sacandaga was to suffer in silence.
Finally, if there are any attorneys out there interested in doing pro bono work on some Great Sacandaga issues, please let me hear from you.