During a Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association meeting held Saturday, at the Lawson Center, located at 73 Lakeside Drive, Bemus Point, it was announced that the CLPOA will file a lawsuit against the New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), regarding the state’s wetlands legislation and its implementation. P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee

By Chrisotpehr Blakeslee

cblakeslee@post-journal.com

BEMUS POINT – A group of Chautauqua Lake Property Owners is eyeing a lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Conservation to stop implementation of the state’s new freshwater wetlands regulations.

Jim Wehfritz, Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association director, said during a public meeting Saturday that the CLPOA will file a lawsuit challenging the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Regulation that went into effect Jan. 1.

“The Wetlands Regulations are not appropriate for a 13,000-acre lake with 150-plus years of shoreline development and hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment,” Wehrfritz said.

Wehrfritz said the state Department of Environmental Conservation has misinterpreted the language of the regulations and mismanaged the implementation of the intent of the act. Additionally, DEC officials have issued statements, created social media posts and wrote blogs, which all point to an overriding sense of ineptitude and governmental overreach.

“The DEC has made statements such as ‘we’re building the plane as we’re flying it;’ ‘just one piece of a five-hundred-piece puzzle;’ ‘be patient with us, there will be growing pains’; and “use judgment, don’t request JD’s for all parcels – it will overwhelm us,'” Wehrfritz said.

Wehrfritz explained that some of the foundational basis for the CLPOA’s suite is based upon the facts that the Freshwater Wetlands Act, in the CLPOA’s view, is arbitrary, capricious, irrational, and or contrary to lawful procedure while the DEC has an overbreadth regarding the implementation of the wetlands act. Wehfritz also said the DEC uses unreliable methodology it its determinations; there are insufficient rulemaking records that include an incomplete regulatory impact statement, job impact statement, cost-benefit analysis, and State Administrative Procedure Act requirements as well as the DEC not being ready to implement the wetlands regulations three months after they are to have become effective.

Wehrfritz said the CPLOA is prepared to ask the courts for a declaratory judgment regarding the Wetlands regulations, as it is being implemented and administered by the DEC as irrational, arbitrary, and or unconstitutional. The suit will include affidavits and amicus briefs from individuals/organizations and they may assist with additional DEC action-specific claims, or class action suits, later and in support of other such legal actions.

“By the DEC’s own admission, property owners should seek to have their properties reassessed,” Wehrfritz said. “The DEC acknowledges property value loss may guide owners to seek reassessment. I mean, the government’s operating budget is what it is.”

In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law revisions to New York’s Freshwater Wetlands Act. New York’s original Freshwater Wetlands Act was enacted in 1975 to regulate activities near larger wetlands, greater than 12.4 acres starting in 2025 with the threshold decreasing to 7.4 acres in 2028. The regulations also affect smaller wetlands considered to be of unusual local importance – which Wehfritz said includes Chautauqua Lake and its watershed. “DEC Region 9, now interprets the regulations such that Chautauqua Lake areas meet the ‘freshwater wetlands’ definition,” Wehfritz said Saturday. “An additional 100 feet of area adjacent to the wetlands will be regulated as well. Chautauqua Lake wetlands will be designated as a Class I wetlands area – the most restrictive designation given. The lake is classified as one of ‘unusual importance,’ meaning there is no size limit to define it.”

The wetlands regulations have been opposed by County Executive PJ Wendel, state Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor while the towns of Ellery, Ellicott, Busti and North Harmony have passed resolutions opposing the regulations. The villages of Bemus Point, Celoron, Lakewood and Mayville have also expressed reservations.