From left Busti Town Board Members Doug Brown, Jim Andrews, Town Supervisor Jessie Robbins, Todd Hanson, Paul Gustafson and Town Attorney Joel Seachrist conduct town business. P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee

BUSTI – No fishing allowed signs will soon be posted around Vukote Canal and bridges near the Drainage District.

The Busti Town Board on Monday voted unanimously to pass Local Law 8 of 2024, entitled Fishing in the Vukote Drainage District.

For homeowners within the drainage district, a point of contention has revolved around the perceived notion of the rights of way or easement rights along an area known as the Spoils.

According to Busti Town Code Section 392-11, when the Vukote Allotment was first established in the 1920s, the developer retained title to property running generally between the designated building lots and the Vukote Canal, which the allotment plans called the Spoils Area. The purpose of the Spoils Area was to provide access to the canal for maintenance, including dredging. Title to the Spoils Area remained with the developer’s heirs until 1998, when it was purchased by the Town of Busti on behalf of the Vukote Canal Drainage District to facilitate a dredging project.

Property owners have decried people using their private property to fish in the canal and along the waterfront, citing perceived easement and right of way issues as the main culprit.

As reported in an Oct. 10 Post-Journal article, Barbra Ray wrote to the town board, “My husband and I purchased a cottage on Vukote Road in 1989. In 2007, we moved here full time and purchased property. We’ve never had the term right of way explained to us. “Strangers not from this community camp out and fish from before daylight and after sunset.”

Ray also submitted several photos of people fishing along the canal, leaving trash, smoking, and playing loud music.

Town Board members approved the signs and local law to support homeowner rights and to empower law enforcement officials. No fishing signs will be placed along bridges near or on Vukote Road and no fishing and no trespassing signage will be posted along the spoils area.

“This should allow our police department to issue citations to those who violate fishing from bridges,” said Jessie M. Robbins, town supervisor. “For those who fish from the canal I assume trespassing tickets will be issued.”

Lakewood/ Busti Police Chief Christopher A. DePonceau said that his department would start issuing tickets.

According to Town Attorney Joel Seachrist the town’s attorney Local Law Eight will read, in part:

ARTICLE IV. Fishing and Trespassing, 392-16. Posting of No Fishing / No Trespassing Signs. The Superintendent of Highways shall be authorized to post on any bridge within the Vukote Drainage District and on any land therein within the Spoils Area, as defined in Section 392-12, signs prohibiting fishing from the bridges or trespassing on the Spoils Area in general. The Superintendent shall post and maintain such signs as needed and at his discretion.

392-17. Prohibited Areas. It shall be unlawful for any person to:

A. Fish, by any means whatsoever, from any bridge within the Vukote Drainage District where a sign prohibiting such conduct has been posted.

B. Enter or use land in the Spoils Area without permission from an adjacent landowner where a sign prohibiting such conduct is posted. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, walking, hiking, fishing, and loitering. § 392-18.

Residents are exempt when utilizing their individual property, and offenders may be fined between $30 and $50 for each violation.