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Essex County is hoping the DEC will be able to make several repairs and improvements to a number of state-owned boat launches within the county boundaries.
ELIZABETHTOWN | The Essex County Board of Supervisors is asking the regional office of the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for help in upgrading and maintaining several state-owned boat launches throughout the county.
“I have been working very hard with DEC to get them to increase their attention toward our boat launches on Lake Champlain,” Willsboro Supervisor Shaun Gillilland said last Monday.
The lack of maintenance is presenting numerous issues at sites across the region, including those in Crown Point, Westport, Chesterfield, Ticonderoga and Willsboro.
“Westport can’t get boats up, ours are damaging trailers and boats because of the lack of maintenance on it,” Gillilland said. “I know Chesterfield has problems with the road approaching it. Ticonderoga needs maintenance on the road, outhouses and stuff. I know in Willsboro, they removed our outhouses, the garbage pickup and things like that. They just keep removing all these things.”
The boat launches are an important recreational and economic component of the county, lawmakers said.
Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava said he was concerned the launches were no longer priorities for the DEC, and that amenities had been “stripped down to the bone.”
“They just don’t have the staffing that they once had,” Scozzafava said.
“I had a meeting with DEC on our boat launch facility and all we have there is tanks for toilets and it is a very, very busy boat launch.”
Scozzafava cited a recent meeting in which the town hashed out a shared services agreement with the state agency.
“We agreed to and we are going to do a shared service agreement where the town, now that the village is dissolved, we’ll provide them with water and onsite municipal sewage and they’ve agreed to come in to replace the stations to retrofit that facility so that we’ll now have flush toilets and running water there,” Scozzafava said.
Schroon Supervisor Michael Marnell said the boat launch on Paradox Lake could also use improvements.
“There’s only one launch site on the lake. Three years ago the state built a new road to the launch site but the launch is impossible,” Marnell said. “There’s no private launch sites and if you don’t own property there, you can’t enter the lake. Brand new road, but the launch is in terrible shape.”
With a resolution from the board, Gillilland said he was hoping to keep this issue on the front burner for the DEC.
“I’ve had two or three personal discussions with (DEC regional director) Bob Stegemann and I’ve written a letter and I’m just trying to back this up,” he said. “Stegemann did call me on Friday and responded to the letter saying he is working on doing that but I believe this is an area that’s been neglected and it’s causing economic impact to lake towns and we’re watching.”
Gillilland asked for a resolution appealing to the DEC Commissioner to place maintenance and upgrades of the boat launches on Lake Champlain and Essex County to the top of the priority.”
North Hudson Supervisor Ron Moore said he would also bring the matter up before the Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages.
