NEWS

Opposition wants to sink Lake Ontario water-level plan

Meaghan M. McDermott
@meagmc
Sunset over Braddock Bay, 2007. The bay is part of a large wetlands complex on the Lake Ontario shoreline in Monroe County.

With a decision likely on the horizon for proposed changes to the regulatory guidelines that govern the water levels of Lake Ontario, opponents of the plan spoke out in Rochester on Monday.

"Such a shift in lake level targets will cause significant damage to family homes, businesses and municipal infrastructure on the shoreline," said Gates Town Supervisor Mark Assini. "As a result of this damage, dreams will be lost, assessed value will be lost and property values will fall, forcing all taxpayers in Monroe County to make up the difference."

The plan, called the Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Plan 2014, was adopted in mid-2014 by the U.S.- Canada International Joint Commission, which oversees Great Lakes issues. Adoption of the plan came after more than a decade of study and updating the existing 1950s-era regulatory plan. To be enacted, Plan 2014 must be approved by the federal governments of both the United States and Cananda.  Deliberations have been going on for nearly two years.

Lake Ontario water level deliberations nearly done

Plan 2014 allows for higher highs and lower lows than the current water-level plan. The plan has been lauded by environmentalists, who say the variations more closely mimic natural ebbs and flows and would help restore vital shoreline habitats destroyed by the current guidelines. Lake levels are regulated, but not fully controlled, via a dam on the St. Lawrence River.

Assini, a Republican running against long-time Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, in this year's elections for the 25th Congressional District, said a decision from the U.S. State Department on the plan is imminent.

He was joined in opposition during a press event on Monday at the Roger Robach Community Center in Ontario Beach Park by officials from the town of Greece, the Monroe County Legislature, as well as the Niagara and Orleans county legislatures.

Of primary concern is the potential for damage to lakefront properties and municipal infrastructure they say could come if the changes are approved.

"This is our last-ditch effort to sink this plan," said Assini, who called on his opponent to also come out against the plan.

Slaughter said her concern has been ensuring all stakeholders have their views aired regarding the plan.

"As I have for many years, I remain focused on ensuring that all local voices are heard throughout this process as deliberations move forward," she said. "I look forward to reviewing feedback on this plan from the appropriate state and federal authorities."

Lynne Johnson, vice-chairwoman of the Orleans County Legislature noted that there are nearly 10,000 parcels of land with a total assessed value of $3.7 billion dollars along the waterfront of the six southshore counties bordering the lake.

"If 10 percent of these properties are damaged due to Plan 2014, this will equal damages amounting to $370 million," she said. "The role of government should not be to harm the very citizens it is elected to support, to protect and to care for."

IJC members and conservationists say the existing regulatory guidelines have had a devastating effect on the environment — allowing non-native species to take over marshlands and ruining spawning grounds for fish and fowl. Supporters include the Nature Conservancy, Audubon New York, Ducks Unlimited, National Resources Defense Council and Save the River. Also among the supporters are numerous officials and business owners from waterfront communities in the state's North Country.

Jim Howe, director of the Nature Conservancy in Central and Western New York, said the plan is an overall benefit to the entirety of Lake Ontario.

"Plan 2014 produces a huge return in the health of the lake for a slight reduction in benefits to shoreline properties," he said, noting that the plan maintains 92 percent of the annual economic benefit afforded shoreline property owners under the current guidelines. "To put that into perspective, it is our understanding that it will nominally increase erosion, meaning that an owner who maintains his or her breakwall every 15 years will now have to maintain that breakwall every 13 years. And, flooding and erosion will still happen under any plan. But it is very clear this is the right choice of the health of Lake Ontario."

MCDERMOT@Gannett.com

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