From left Lakewood Trustee John Shedd, Trustee Ben Troche, Mayor Randy Holcomb, Trustee Ellen Barnes, and Trustee Nancy Jones, discuss business Monday. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

LAKEWOOD – Lakewood Village trustees Monday plan to draft an amicus brief that will be filed with ongoing lawsuits over state wetlands regulations that took effect this year.

Trustee Ellen Barnes said four separate lawsuits from across the state were filed in April.

“Two of these lawsuits are from Chautauqua County organizations, the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association (CLPOA) and the Chautauqua Lake Partnership (CLP). … These lawsuits are challenging the legality of freshwater wetlands act, and its recently amended implementing regulations. These legal challenges are separate article 78 declaratory judgment actions brought against the New York State DEC the Business Council of New York State has filed joining lawsuits challenging the regulations, arguing that the regulations negatively impact economic development and property rights.”

Barnes added that The Business Council of New York State, and the National Federation of Independent Business have filed lawsuits challenging the DEC’s new wetlands regulations. The CLP in its lawsuit, Barnes said, argues that the DEC’s expansion of its jurisdiction is arbitrary and violates the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA) and violates the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

“As an elected official, I believe it is my duty to do everything that I can do that is in the best interest of our property owners and business owners in Lakewood, I am proposing that the village of Lakewood file an amicus brief with the current lawsuits filed in Albany against the new wetlands regulations,” Barnes added.

Amicus, she noted, means friend of the court and is a legal document submitted to a court by a third party, not directly involved in a case, but has a vested interest in the outcome.

“Filing an amicus brief could bolster the current lawsuits cases and give our municipality some advantages,” she said. “An amicus brief can influence legal interpretation that may be potentially that may potentially influence the judicial decisions by stressing the unique insights and local expertise of how the regulations are impacting Chautauqua County and Chautauqua Lake as a result of joining the legal conversation, we can protect our local interests in Lakewood by advocating for the things that are important, like economic development and conservation and protecting the property of our residents and businesses.”

She said with the new regs, the majority of the lake’s shoreline is now a wetlands, so property owners in Lakewood would have to apply for and receive permits from the DEC to do anything to their properties.

Trustee Ben Troche is not against an amicus brief, but wants to see a draft of the document.

“I just would like to see it written, so I can read it prior to me voting,” Troche said.

Trustee John Shedd added that the lake is important to many different groups of people, and he is for protecting wetlands, but he is opposed to the overreach and the ambiguity of the state DEC and its implementation of the regulations.

“It’s very difficult to support it (DEC regs implementation) in the form that it’s in, and I would prefer they paused it until they figure all of this out and have more hearings about what people are being impacted by. So I am in line with saying yes to drafting something,” Shedd said.

Shedd also would like to see the draft before he casts his vote.

Lakewood resident John Jablonski cautioned the board about drafting a brief. Jablonski, former Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s executive director, noted that there needs to be more clarification and less ambiguity by the DEC, but the health of the lake would be better protected by the current DEC regs.

Barnes added that she will contact town of Busti officials seeking their input on the brief.

In other business:

– the board approved hiring Jacob Swan as a full-time police officer with an annual salary of $80,333.

– The board approved hiring Shaunah Pilling as a full-time deputy treasurer with an annual salary of $41,600.