Elected officials around Chautauqua Lake aren’t the only ones concerned about changes to freshwater wetlands proposed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Rebecca Brumagin, Mina town supervisor, told The Post-Journal recently that there are questions about what the regulations will mean for Findley Lake as well.

In 2022 Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law revisions to the Freshwater Wetlands Act, which was originally enacted in 1975 to regulate activities near larger wetlands, greater than 12.4 acres, and smaller wetlands considered to be of unusual local importance. The new law eliminates the use of old and inaccurate maps and says that all wetland areas greater than 12.4 acres will be subject to Article 24 regulations and will be monitored by the state DEC.

“The regulations will impact Findley Lake,” Brumagin said. “We have heard some concerns and there was a brief discussion at our last town board meeting. There are some concerns about the impact these regulations may have on what people are allowed to do on the lake and on residents with properties on the lake.”

Brumagin added that all concerns are preliminary at this point in time without knowing what the direct impact on town residents will be. A time of public comment was open by the DEC to hear concerns about this subject at the beginning of September, but Brumagin said the town missed the opportunity to formulate a response voicing their concerns.

“We will see if the DEC makes any changes to these regulations following the responses they received,” Brumagin said.

Property owners and elected officials from several municipalities around Chautauqua Lake have been speaking out with their concerns over the past several months. The Village of Cassadaga and town of Stockton reported hearing no concerns on this topic.

In a letter earlier this month to Sean Mahar, interim state DEC commissioner, state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, reiterated their call to exempt navigable waters from Article 24 regulation by the DEC. They say state Environmental Conservation Law defines freshwater wetlands as lands and submerged lands commonly called marshes, swamps, sloughs, bogs and flats” that support designated plant species. Another paragraph in the Environmental Conservation Law says freshwater wetlands include land and water substantially enclosed by designated plant species. They called on the proposed regulations to include a sentence saying, “Navigable waters in an inland lake shall not be considered wetlands.” The language has also been proposed by Andrew Molitor, Republican candidate for the state Assembly, in his comments to the DEC.

“Navigable lakes, however, would never be commonly called ‘marshes, swamps, sloughs, bogs and flats’ and waters ‘substantially enclosed’ by aquatic plants would not be navigable,” Goodell and Borrello wrote.

In addition to how the south basin of Chautauqua Lake will be managed, Borrello and Goodell raised their concerns with Mahar about the way the proposed regulations could expand the DEC’s authority throughout the rest of the Chautauqua Lake watershed and watersheds throughout the county.

Goodell and Borrello said they are concerned the proposed regulations change the definition of a class 1 wetland that can be regulated regardless of size to include any wetland that is contiguous to fresh surface waters.

“Chautauqua Lake, Cassadaga Lake, Findley Lake, Lake Erie and Bear Lake are all Class A lakes, which means that the new regulations would extend DEC jurisdiction over affected areas of submerged vegetation regardless of size,” Goodell and Borrello wrote. “To avoid that situation (and consistent with your letter and longstanding prior regulations), the DEC should continue the current definition of a class A wetland as those ‘adjacent or contiguous to a reservoir or other body of water that is used primarily for public water supply or is hydraulically connected to an aquifer which is used for public water supply.'”

John Whittaker contributed to this report.