Happy New Year!
Your Chautauqua Lake Partnership’s (Partnership) all-volunteer Officers, Board Members, Advisors
and others have been working hard during this snowy holiday season. Progress is being made on all
Partnership Projects. We’d like to bring you up to date on a very important one, development of a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for herbicide use offshore ten Chautauqua Lake
communities.
The SEIS is progressing on schedule for 2018.
The Town of Ellery (Town) has been designated Lead Agency, and the Town, with Partnership
assistance, has issued several significant documents beginning the SEIS process. Municipality leaders
in the four Towns and three Villages representing ten communities voted unanimously in November
and December to support Town of Ellery leadership in this $250k privately-funded endeavor.
Jane Conroe, wife of the Chautauqua Lake Association (CLA) Executive Director and mother of the
CLA Treasurer, is leading a small group of Maple Springs and Chautauqua Institution residents which
filed suit against the Town, the County, and the DEC challenging the Town’s Lead Agency
designation. The suit, of no merit in our opinion, will be heard later this month. SEIS development
continues…
The Town decided to conduct optional public SEIS scoping to ensure all interested parties could
participate and provide input on topics proposed to be included in the SEIS. The Town issued a Draft
SEIS Scoping Document on December 11, 2017, held a Public Scoping Meeting on December 28,
2017, and is accepting written comments through this Friday, January 5, 2018, at 4:00 pm.
Although ~75 people attended the Public Scoping Meeting with Town Board members, legal counsel,
consultants and Partnership Officers, Board Members and Advisors present, only 8 offered comments.
Prior to the meeting, Jane Conroe via an email from the “Conroe Residence,” recommended sending
comments electronically at the end of the comment time (between 3:30 and 3:45 PM on January 5)
which forces the authors to use more time after their deadline to do review and research. SEIS
development continues…
The Draft SEIS is being prepared by the Town, with Partnership assistance, based on the Draft SEIS
Scope and will be adjusted to include additional substantive Scope upgrades which warrant inclusion.
The Draft SEIS is planned to be issued in February.
Also, attached are two articles from the December 24, 2017, edition of the Jamestown Post-Journal.
We expect you’ll be especially interested in Partnership comments on (1) the history and potential for
County leadership of near term Chautauqua Lake improvement and (2) the insufficiency
of current nutrient (phosphorus) reduction efforts necessary to address the Lake’s algae problems.
- The first, a front-page article, is the result of interviews with Partnership Officers and Advisors, our
new County Executive George Borrello and CLA Executive Director Doug Conroe. To view the article, click here. - The second is an OpEd providing the Partnership’s perspectives on several aspects of another’s OpEd which was published in the Post-Journal on December 10. To view the article, click here.
Lastly, Sara DeMink and her Fundraising Team organized letters from Partnership Officers and
lakeside community leaders seeking financial support for the Partnership’s 2018 projects. In contrast to
other lake organizations, 100% of your Partnership contribution goes directly to lake improvement
projects. Partnership Officers, Advisors, Board Members, Project Leaders and others are volunteers
who receive no compensation.
Please consider a generous gift to support our efforts for lake improvement alternatives to the
unsuccessful “status quo”. Return the donation card included in the letter from Sara’s Team, use
PayPal on our website, www.chqlake.org, or use the website e-mail for further instructions.
Onward!
CLP Officers, Board Members and Advisors