From left Lakewood Village Trustee John Shedd, Mayor Randy Holcomb, Trustee Ellen Barnes, and Trustee Nancy Jones discuss business Tuesday. Trustee Ben Troche was absent from the meeting. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

LAKEWOOD — Pros and cons regarding the Long Term Management Plan for Submersed Aquatic Vegetation in Chautauqua Lake were tossed around Monday during the Village Board meeting.

And after all the comments had been aired, trustees voted to table the resolution to adopt the plan until a future meeting.

“As you know there’s been a lot going on with the lake, and there is a comprehensive five-year plan done by North Carolina State University,” Trustee Ellen Barnes said. “We as municipalities are requested to do comprehensive plans. It’s a way to plan for the future which our needs are going to be, and a long term plan, I believe, is the right way to go forward with the lake. It’s something that we actually really have not had that’s like this. And during the last almost 10 years, there’s been concerted effort from Chautauqua Lake stakeholders and organizations to improve the health of the lake.”

Barnes noted the goal was to improve the water quality, reduce the number of invasive species in the lake and to make the lake more usable.

“Chautauqua Lake is a Class A impaired water body. Despite the hard work of the lake agencies and the amount of money that has been spent in the last almost 10 years, there has been little to no discernible improvement to the quality of the water and usability of the lake, the invasive species are still there in record numbers, and it is not a balanced ecosystem for a lake,” Barnes added.

Barnes, who is in favor of the plan, said that within the last 10 years, there have been the same outcomes, and there has been no improvement to lake conditions.

The Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance, chautauquaalliance.org, has a link to the North Carolina State University plan while the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, chqlake.org, has a link to the alliance page.

Trustee John Shedd did not want to adopt the plan because he said although the plan from North Carolina State University has good information, it is no different than other plans that have been published. He said the position of the alliance was to accept the plan but not adopt it because it allows flexibility to utilize other reports as well as components from different research and reports that are published on a regular basis.

“I think we should stay the course with the way the county wants us to handle the lake management,” Shedd added.

Shedd said he is a member of a lake management committee that enacts project work including weed harvesting, herbicide applications, and other projects that prevent storm water from bringing nutrients into the lake.

“I don’t see the need to adopt it, and I believe adopting it reduces our amount of flexibility to try to accomplish other things that might become apparent in the future, Shedd said of the plan.

President of The Chautauqua Property Owners Association Jim Wehrfritz urged trustees to adopt the plan.

“Thanks to the Chautauqua Lake Partnership and (Chautauqua) Lake and Watershed Management Alliance, we now have an excellent lake management plan. This is a plan of a quality that we’ve never seen here before. It’s ready to improve our lake right now. … We hope you will adopt the plan that will allow its use in 2025,” Wehrfritz said

Wehrfritz outlined what the plan is. The plan is encouraged by the state Department of Environmental Conservation; is conceived and was proposed by the CLP, and funded by the WMA; and is a balanced, and science-, and technology-based plan.

Wehrfritz added that the goal of the five-year plan is to achieve a balanced and sustainable aquatic ecosystem in the lake.

Lakewood resident John Jablonski, town of Ellery property owner, said public input is needed before the plan can be adopted.

“This plan was done by one organization,” he said. “Unlike every other plan that was produced for Chautauqua Lake, there was no public input process. There was no stakeholder process. It was unilaterally done by one entity.”

Jablonski is calling for the alliance to not adopt the plan, and to have the alliance gain input from the public as well as have other scientists to view the plan and make their recommendations.

“I hope that you will not act on this tonight, and get more input from the public, and see where the lake alliance goes with getting input from stakeholder groups,” Jablonski said.

Another Lakewood resident, Ruth Wall, said it is premature to adopt the plan as she, too, wants the public to comment on the plan.

Trustees did not specify a date to take up the discussion, but trustees said the meeting will be after Jan. 1.