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

BEMUS POINT – The Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association will host two meetings this weekend to update property owners on what’s happening on Chautauqua Lake.

The CLPOA is one of two local organizations that have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the DEC from enforcing Freshwater Wetlands Act regulations that took effect Jan. 1. The Chautauqua Lake Partnership is the other, while there are also two additional non-local lawsuits pending.

CLPOA meetings, according to director Jim Wehfritz, will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Bemus Point Golf Course and Tap House, 72 Main St., Bemus Point, Saturday, and 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lawson Center Boat Museum, 73 Lakeside Dr., Bemus Point, on Sunday. The meetings will also be available via Zoom at Zoom ID# 634 650 3547, Password: clpoa.

“We will provide updates on our lawsuit as well as the two other lawsuits that the DEC is currently facing. We will discuss the immediate and direct impact the Wetlands Act is having on our area, along with the DEC’s assessment of the additional acres it is now considering as wetlands, and the implications for homeowners residing along the lake,” Wehfritz said.

Wehrfritz said the DEC has expanded its regulated wetlands territory by 1,000 acres, which includes private land on, near and around Chautauqua Lake.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Wehrfritz said. “There’s no conformity to how the DEC decides what is a wetland or not; there are constitutional issues with how they’re going about implementing the regulations, and there are issues with violating property owners’ rights. I mean by their (DEC) own admission – they’re building the plane as they’re flying it.”

In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed New York’s Freshwater Wetlands Act revisions. 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 of unusual local importance, which Wehfritz said include Chautauqua Lake and its watershed.

County Executive PJ Wendel, state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor, R- Westfield, have opposed the wetlands regulations. 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.

“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 expressed optimism regarding the CLPOA’s chances of success in state court. However, he emphasized that both he and the CLPOA are ready to make their case in a federal court.

“Like I said before, there are several issues with how the state went about this -there are constitutional issues with this; if we need to go the federal route to protect our members’ rights, we will.”