Lake George adopts water-protection rules
Commission is adding regulations to oversee and maintain quality
The Lake George Park Commission unanimously adopted stormwater management and stream corridor regulations last week to protect the water quality of Lake George.
The updated regulations, which took four years to create, were said by Lake George Park Commission officials to have the support of a wide array of groups, including municipal officials, environmental groups, design engineers and the business community.
Under the new regulations, fertilizer applications are now prohibited within 50 feet of any body of water at Lake George; development and vegetation cutting restrictions are being imposed within 35 feet of streams regulated by the De
partment of Environmental Conservation; and all land development activities in the Lake George Park that require a stormwater permit must now address stormwater from existing on “impervious” surfaces, which allow little or no stormwater infiltration into the ground.
In addition, all timber harvest activities need to have submitted a “notice of intent” or “conservation plan form” in advance of logging activities; all stormwater infiltration devices must be located more than 35 feet from any waterbody; and the setback for stormwater devices for “major” projects has been reduced from 100 feet down to 35 feet to better align with building setback standards.
“As Lake George goes, so goes our tourism sector and tax base,” Bolton Town Supervisor Ron Conover said in a prepared statement. “The commission worked with us from the beginning to craft reasonable protections for the lake that find a good middle ground between protections and property rights.”
Bruce Young, chairman of the Lake George Park Commission, added that: “We followed the science, but just as importantly, we found consensus. It is our charge to work together to get things done.”
More information about the new rules can be found on the commission’s website.