NORTHVILLE - Residents questioned Tuesday whether land bordering the Great Sacandaga Lake should be considered forest preserve land and asked the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District to communicate better with the lake community.
Tuesday's regulating district board meeting wasn't as contentious as at last month's meeting in Inlet, Hamilton County, when more than 30 people angrily spoke out against proposed changes to the district's access permit system.
The proposed changes - which would have made all land surrounding the lake akin to a public park - were quashed by Gov. David Paterson's office last month.
About 10 people spoke at Tuesday's meeting, including Sacandaga Protection Committee co-Chairman Joe Sullivan, who invited members of the regulating district to attend a meeting July 27 at Broadalbin-Perth High School at which the committee will brief the lake community on its activity. The committee formed last month to address lake issues and to hire a lawyer to represent permit holders.
Great Sacandaga Lake Association President Peter Byron asked that Board Chairman Philip Klein meet with members of the association, as well as with elected officials from communities surrounding the lake, to discuss ways the community and the regulating district can improve communication.
He also asked the regulating district to consider establishing a lakewide council that would advise it on issues pertaining to the lake. He said the GSLA originally had made that suggestion in 2004, but the suggestion was especially timely now, as the lake community and the regulating district have largely been at odds over the past month.
"The cost for such a council is minimal and the potential is great," Byron said. "The district would benefit from lake community insight prior to public announcement."
Others said they did not feel land surrounding the lake should be considered forest preserve. Lake activists Guy Poulin and Thomas Shearer said the lands should be considered the domain of the regulating district, not the state.
Sacandaga Protection Committee members have said the group's law firm, Hodgson Russ, will look into the matter and determine whether the lands should indeed be classified as they are now.
Zach Subar covers rural Fulton County news. He can be reached at ruralnews@leaderherald.com
