Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District

The grants are through the State Department of Environmental Conservation‘s Water Quality Improvement program and Non-Agricultural Nonpoint Source Planning and Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Mapping Grant program.

Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District received $432,555 for streambank stabilization. This project will reduce erosion, sediment, and nutrients in the Chautauqua Lake Watershed.

A $105,000 grant will go toward implementing a county-wide roadside stabilization and hydroseeding program. This program will decrease roadside erosion to reduce the amount of sediment and nutrients in tributaries to Lake Erie.

The town of Chautauqua received a $30,000 grant to assess road and stream culvert crossings in the Chautauqua Lake watershed using the North American Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative framework and produce a culvert engineering design report for projects to address erosion caused by failing or inadequately sized culverts.

The Village of Lakewood received a $30,000 grant to complete a stormwater engineering study for the Chautauqua Mall Boulevard commercial corridor to reduce excessive stormwater runoff in the study area and to improve water quality entering Chautauqua Lake.

The town of North Harmony will receive a $30,000 grant to work with an engineer to develop a streambank stabilization engineering study of approximately 2,640 linear feet of stream corridor along Ball Creek. The engineering design report will identify areas of erosion and stream instability and identify potential management actions to reduce sediment and nutrient loading to Chautauqua Lake.

The town of Mina will receive a total of $90,000 for three projects. One will be to complete a stormwater retrofit engineering report to evaluate existing stormwater infrastructure and recommend stormwater retrofit practices. The project will reduce nutrient loading to Findley Lake.

They also will complete a comprehensive assessment of culverts in the Findley Lake watershed to identify any stream culverts that are undersized or failing. The project will reduce nutrients from erosion in tributaries to Findley Lake.

And the third project will be to complete an engineering study to assess the benefits of using in-waterbody controls for nutrients in Findley Lake. The report will evaluate existing nutrient loading conditions and recommend in-waterbody controls to reduce nutrient pollution.

The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office reports a car driven by 29-year old Tori Carlson of Jamestown went into the intersection of Bly Hill Road and Route 394 where she collided with a Jamestown School Bus.

Deputies say road conditions combined with speed were the cause.

Carlson and a passenger on the school bus were sent to UPMC for treatment of injuries. The two students on the bus were not injured.

Carlson has been charged with Failure to Yield Right of Way, Speed Unreasonable, Suspended Registration, Unregistered Motor Vehicle, and Operating without Insurance.

Map showing expansion of South Chautauqua Lake Sewer District

Phase Two of the Westside Sewer Extension project has been awarded $6 million in Water Infrastructure Improvement Grants from New York State.

The funding is coming from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation and is part of $300 million announced by Governor Kathy Hochul for water infrastructure improvements across the state.

The South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer Districts approved the second phase of the project in June with the maximum cost of it being $24 million.

Construction of Phase 1 of the project started in 2021 and will extend the district to the Hamlet of Stow. It is anticipated to be complete in 2023.

Phase 2 will extend the Districts from the Hamlet of Stow to the North Chautauqua Lake Sewer District border, near Prendergast Creek.

The Phase 2 Extension will be comprised of properties on the western shore of the Lake in the Towns of North Harmony and Chautauqua, generally along New York State Route 394. The wastewater collection and conveyance facilities will extend the public sewer and provide direct benefit to the estimated 350 developed parcels. The area is currently serviced by private septic systems and individually maintained by the corresponding property owner.

Also receiving $4.02 million in State Environmental Facilities Corporation grant funds is the town of Chautauqua for the Chautauqua Water District No. 2 Water Supply. Chautauqua is also receiving a $50,000 engineering planning grant for the extension of South Sewer District No. 1.

The Town of Chautauqua is also receiving over $1.8 million in interest-free financing from the Environmental Facilities Corporation Board to decommission the Chautauqua Heights Sewer District Treatment Plant. The town will also construct a pump station and force main.

Other municipalities receiving engineering planning grants include the town of Hanover with $36,000 for the Route 5 & 20 Sewer Line Engineering Planning Study; the town of Pomfret receiving $30,000 for a Public Sewer System Extension Study, and the Village of Westfield will receive $40,000 for an Engineering Planning Grant.

Heather Capell

A Brunswick, Georgia woman has been found guilty for causing a fatal car crash on I-86 in the town of North Harmony in July 2021

51-year old Bradley Wakefield of New Albion, Cattaraugus County died in that crash.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said 33-year old Heather Capell was convicted of 2nd Degree Vehicular Manslaughter, Criminally Negligent Homicide, and Driving while Ability Impaired by Drugs.

The jury acquitted Capell on the more serious charge, 2nd Degree Manslaughter: Recklessly Causes Death. The decision Monday came after a two-week long trial.

Capell will be sentenced December 19. She faces a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison.

William Reynolds III

Jamestown City Council will hold a special voting session tonight to appoint the new Ward 5 Council member.

City Council President Tony Dolce and Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist announced that William Reynolds III will replace Republican Grant Olson.

Reynolds had previously served as the North Harmony Town Supervisor from 1989 to 2004. He also was the Bemus Point‘s DPW Streets Superintendent from 2011 to 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Reynolds served as a Jamestown Police Detective form 1984 until his retirement in 2004.

He also has been the Director of the American Legion, Post 1286; Vice President and Trustee of the Lakeview Cemetery Association, and was previously a past President the Fenton Historical Society.

Reynolds lives in Jamestown with his wife, Deborah, and has four adult children.

The voting session will be held at 6:30 p.m. tonight in Council Chambers.

The Jamestown Post-Journal is reporting that that the Town of Ellery won’t sign be signing the MOA presented by Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello last month. The unwillingness to sign the document is primarily due to it restricting herbicide treatment to only the southern basin of the lake during the next two years. A portion of the Town borders the northern basin of the lake and Ellery officials say residents may want to treat that area with herbicide if weeds get bad during the summer months.

Of the 16 agencies and municipalities that were requested to sign the MOA, Ellery is the only one that will not. Even the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, which voiced reservations earlier this month, eventually signed off on the document.

Borrello has already said that the MOA will not be altered or changed for at least the first two years it is in place. But he did say it could be changed in 2021 following a review by stakeholders and the county.

Ellery’s unwillingness to sign the MOA also jeopardizes their chances of receiving outside funding for lake management efforts they endorse. That’s because Borrello had said that organizations should sign off on the MOA if they wish to qualify for funding.

“Any funding from the county, and from many of the local foundations, for efforts dealing with in-lake projects will flow through the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance. The executive board of the Alliance has preliminary agreed to only fund those organizations who participate in the Consensus Strategy by the signing the Memorandum of Understanding,” Borrello said during his State of the County Address in February.

The consensus strategy was developed through a collaboration of the County Executive’s Office, Chautauqua County Department of Planning & Development, representatives from the Chautauqua Lake & Watershed Management Alliance, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), and the consulting firm, Ecology and Environment, Inc. (E&E).

A copy of the MOA, along with the 24 tenets, is available on the County Executive’s website.

Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill poses on Thursday with Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello, moments after Hill signed the memorandum of agreement for the Chautauqua Lake Weed Management Consensus Strategy on the Institution’s behalf.

CHAUTAUQUA – Chautauqua Institution has signed on to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the Chautauqua Lake Weed Management Consensus Strategy.

The MOA is a document that was finalized and put forward by Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello last week. It was unanimously approved by the Chautauqua County Legislature on the same day it was made public.  The document seeks to bring together lake stakeholders so they can more effectively work together to manage invasive aquatic plants, nuisance native vegetation, and hazardous algal blooms in the lake.

Chautauqua Institution President Michael Hill said the MOA represents a comprehensive and scientifically sound approach for Chautauqua Lake conservation.

“I proudly signed this memorandum on behalf of Chautauqua Institution because it represents the comprehensive and scientifically sound approach for Chautauqua Lake conservation that we’ve been advocating for many years,” Hill said. “We are hopeful that all other agencies and municipalities will join us in signing the MOA and supporting this incredibly important strategy. We thank County Executive Borrello for his resolute leadership on this crucial issue. While Chautauqua Lake faces many challenges, we’re confident that with an independently sourced, science-based comprehensive approach and the support and leadership of a consensus of stakeholders, we will save and preserve Chautauqua Lake as the source of so much of our livelihood in Chautauqua County.”

The consensus strategy was developed through a collaboration of the County Executive’s Office, Chautauqua County Department of Planning & Development, representatives from the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), and the consulting firm Ecology and Environment, Inc. (E&E). E&E, which is headquartered in Lancaster, New York, facilitated three meetings earlier this year, where it met with key lake stakeholders to discuss their most pressing issues and concerns surrounding the management of weeds and harmful algal blooms in Chautauqua Lake. These stakeholders included representatives from Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua Fishing Alliance, Chautauqua Lake Association, Chautauqua Lake Fishing Association, Chautauqua Lake Partnership, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, Town of Busti, Town of Chautauqua, Town of Ellery, Town of Ellicott, Town of North Harmony, Village of Celoron, and Village of Lakewood. Other input, which was also considered in the development of the MOA, was communicated to the county executive during informal meetings and in written form.

As part of the information-gathering phase for the consensus strategy, Hill and Chautauqua Vice President of Campus Planning and Operations John Shedd accompanied Borrello and several other county officials and leaders on an October trip to Lake George, New York, to learn about a successful model for lake conservation. In just five years, Lake George stakeholders have united behind a consensus strategy that uses sound, validated science to spur decisions, greatly and demonstrably improving the health and water quality of a lake with challenges similar to Chautauqua Lake.

Last year Chautauqua Institution led an effort to sue the state, saying it didn’t follow proper procedure when approving an application to use herbicides in certain areas of the lake. That challenge took place in Erie County Supreme court and was dismissed near the end of December.
But the lawsuit was just one example of the infighting that has taken place in regards to lake Management and it lead to Borrello to call for a “cease fire” amongst the various stakeholders, via the consensus document.

The Institution is one of the first stakeholders to sign off on the MOA for the consensus. The deadline to sign on to the MOA is April 17.

Those that do not are in jeopardy of missing out on funding for projects they support to battle the weeds and algal blooms that have been occurring more frequently on the lake in recent years.

Pictured above from left to right: Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development; George Borrello, Chautauqua County Executive; Dave McCoy, County Watershed Coordinator; Pierre Chagnon, County Legislator and Chairman of the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance; and Tom Heins, P.E., Principal of Ecology & Environment, Inc. (Image courtesy of the County Executive’s Office, Chautauqua County).

MAYVILLE – An effort to get all Chautauqua Lake stakeholders literally on the same page when it comes to managing invasive weeds and other nuisances has taken a major step forward.

On Wednesday morning Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello unveiled a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the Chautauqua Lake Weed Management Consensus Strategy.

According to Borrello, the MOA brings together lake agencies and organizations, as well as the municipalities located around Chautauqua Lake, so they can more effectively work together to manage invasive aquatic plants, nuisance native vegetation, and hazardous algal blooms on the lake while being considerate of man’s uses and the environment.

“There are many agencies and stakeholders around Chautauqua Lake that are committed to improving the quality and usability of the lake,” said Borrello. “The differences of opinion regarding how this should be done have resulted in a contentious environment where little forward progress can be made. This consensus strategy will help bring everyone together as we work toward our common goals of addressing and controlling the weeds in Chautauqua Lake while protecting its ecology.”

Borrello says the consensus strategy was developed through a collaboration of the County Executive’s Office, Chautauqua County Department of Planning & Development, representatives from the Chautauqua Lake & Watershed Management Alliance, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), and the consulting firm, Ecology and Environment, Inc. (E&E).

“Working closely with E&E, we were able to identify essential issues and concerns of the primary stakeholders associated with weed management in Chautauqua Lake,” said Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development. “With this input, we identified key topics, as well as consensus positions for each of these themes, which are important to these stakeholders. These essentially became the 24 tenets of the strategy’s MOA, which will help guide future weed management initiatives.”

Borrello said the plan will involve all of Chautauqua Lake but will immediately address concerns in the lower end of the lake near the Burtis Bay area between Lakewood and Celoron. He said it will call for a multifaceted approach to dealing with the weed problem that has plagued that area of the lake the past few years.

“This is going to be the first opportunity for us to combine the use of herbicides along with creating some strategic buffer zones, essentially. Using the natural weeds that are there to trap  a lot of the fragments while having channels through those weeds to help with navigation. I believe that over the long-run we’ll be able to do this and use this as a model for other areas as well,” Borrello said during a Wednesday morning press conference.

Key lake stakeholders also offered input. They included the Chautauqua Fishing Alliance, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua Lake Association, Chautauqua Lake Fishing Association, Chautauqua Lake Partnership, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, Town of Busti, Town of Chautauqua, Town of Ellery, Town of Ellicott, Town of North Harmony, Village of Celoron, and Village of Lakewood.
The MOA was approved by the county legislature in an emergency resolution last night and other stakeholders are expected to sign off on it in the coming days.

A copy of the MOA, along with the 24 tenets, is available on the County Executive’s website.