Town sets meeting about Sepasco Lake
The town session deals with a plan to study whether Sepasco Lake should be declared a ‘critical’ area.
Town Board members have set an April 23 public information session on a proposal to study whether Sepasco Lake and surrounding properties should be declared a critical environmental area.
The topic will be discussed at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 80 E. Market St.
Concerns over the designation were raised during a meeting last week, with resident Carl Parris asking whether the change would affect efforts to keep invasive species such as the Eurasian water milfoil out of the lake.
“We, many years ago, formed the Sepasco Lake Preservation Association, which includes each of the property owners around the lake, for the purpose of trying to protect the lake from outside environmental impacts and also to improve the quality of the lake,” he said.
“We’ve been monitoring the lake for 20 years through the Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program and the New York State Federation of Lakes Association,” Parris said. “I have 20 years of data. Eight times a summer, I collect water samples and I send them up to Albany and I get an annual report on the quality of the lake.”
Sepasco Lake is about a half-mile long and about 400 feet wide, running parallel to state Route 308.
Town Board members last month agreed to pay $4,200 for Hudsonia to develop a report that would allow Sepasco Lake to be declared a critical environmental area.
Under the designation, any project that would ordinarily be considered an unlisted action under the state Environmental Quality Review Act would instead be reviewed as a Type 1 action that requires more questions to be answered.
“It adds heightened scrutiny to whatever action you’re taking at Sepasco Lake,” town attorney Warren Replansky said. “So I can see where it would be a concern to the homeowners around that lake.”
Planning Board Chairman Michael Trimble said the designation could help the property owners by having environmental information available when projects are reviewed.
“I don’t honestly think it could hurt you,” he said. “I think it can save money in the long run.”
Hudsonia in a preliminary report wrote that the review would involve three people conducting field surveys that involve canoe trips to review plants and animals at the lake. Included would be laboratory identification of specimens, mapping of habitats, and analysis of ecological sensitivities within 500 meters around the lake.
“Sepasco Lake... includes features of a circum-neutral bog lake, has the potential to support rare plants and animals, and Blanding’s turtles have been confirmed close to the lake,” Hudsonia officials wrote.