Applications for Article 24 herbicide permits are under review by the DEC after positive jurisdictional determinations have been declared in Ellery, Ellicott and Busti.

In an email to The Post-Journal received after the paper’s press deadline on Friday, DEC officials provided additional background that answered some of the questions the paper had asked regarding the jurisdictional determination process, how on-lake determinations may affect property owners’ land on the shoreline of Chautauqua Lake and the future use of Article 24 permits.

A jurisdictional requirement is needed to process herbicide permit applications, so the DEC made the jurisdictional determination for herbicides on Chautauqua Lake this year in order to process the permits. Those remote determinations were made in accordance with the new Freshwater Wetland Act.

According to the DEC’s website, it can take between 60 and 90 days to receive an Article 24 permit once the application has been completed depending. Treatments for curly leaf pondweed take place in April or early May, roughly 42 days from the receipt of the DEC’s March 14 letters to municipalities saying they needed to file Article 24 permits, though DEC officials said they are on track to have treatment for curly leaf pondweed this year.

Chad Staniszewski, assistant DEC Region 9 director, said the process should be more standard in future years.

“So I’m hoping this year is the most concerning year since it’s all relatively new and it becomes more standard procedure. But we have been anticipating this and discussing it as early as October-November last year. Hopefully we’re in a good position. I think from the Article 15 standpoint, that’s the herbicide application standpoint, we’re pretty good. We are just working through the remainder of the Article 24 wetland permit.

I just read an email we do have a couple of questions about the wetland permit and I will be getting those over to Glenn Sullivan and CLP and the municipalities next Monday, most likely. But we should be on track to hopefully effectuate treatment at the end of April.”

Article 24 permits may be required in future years if a project or regulated activity is proposed in a parcel determined to contain regulated freshwater wetlands or adjacent areas, according to the DEC.

DEC officials also clarified the status of lake permits that have been discussed for the past year by DEC officials, including in February when state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, questioned Sean Mahar, who was then the interim commissioner of the DEC. Public comments on a Lakes and Shorelines General Permit (GP-0-25-007) and Management of Invasive Species (GP-0-25-008) are accepting public comments until March 31 by visiting https://dec.ny.gov/regulatory/permits-licenses/general-permits/proposed-general-permits. Once the DEC reviews the comments, a decision will be announced in the Environmental Notice Bulletin on the DEC’s website.

By that timeline, the two permits wouldn’t be ready for the 2025 season, but should be in place for the 2026 season.

The positive jurisdictional determinations may affect landowners, but it depends on the specific area of the lake where landowners live. Each case is site-specific and depends on the conditions present on the parcel being evaluated – so landowners may not have yet received a determination for their property. Offshore positive jurisdictional determinations may extend onshore if weed beds being proposed for treatment are contiguous to the wetlands on the property or if the regulated adjacent area surrounding those specifically identified weed beds extends onshore.

Jurisdictional determination requests are being reviewed in the order they are received by the DEC. Someone requesting a jurisdictional determination will receive the determination within 90 days of submitting a request. Only a landowner who has requested and received a positive jurisdictional determination has the right to request an appeal – so landowners whose property meets the criteria above would need to submit a parcel jurisdictional request in order to file an appeal.