“It looks like a sewage plant,” Thurber said.

This isn’t the first time the weeds have been a problem. Thurber, who resides at 2504 Lakeside Drive, which is adjacent to the canal entrance, said the waves and the winds pushed the weeds and debris to the canal entrance during the end of October and with the weather patterns in November, the weeds and debris have gotten very bad.

“It (the wind) comes in out of the north, and we take a beating,” Thurber said of the weeds and debris.

Busti Town Supervisor Jesse Robbins agreed. Robbins added that crews can clean out the weeds and debris one day, and the next day, because of wind patterns, the weeds and debris build up again.

he weather has pushed leaves, weeds, and other debris to the other side of Lakeside Drive bridge over the Vukote Canal. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

“It’s hard to clean,” Robbins said of the entrance. “For some reason it (weeds and debris) collect right under the bridge.”

Thurber said crews have harvested weeds in the past.

“Not as much as they should,” Thurber added.

Robbins said previously, with the help of the Chautauqua Lake Association, and the use of Mobitracs, crews have removed weeds and debris from the entrance.

Robbins said he has asked lake officials many questions regarding the weeds and debris buildup in the canal entrance, but has not received any answers.

“It’s the craziest thing I have seen,” Robbins said of the buildup. “It gets bad.”

Robbins said he will contact Town Highway Superintendent Greg Johnson about the matter to see where crews can begin with the cleanup.

In a related matter, in a March 5 Post-Journal article, Busti Town Board Members were briefed on the varying conditions of the Vukote Canal, and the trouble officials are having spurring various homeowners along the canal to take action to repair dilapidated sections of the canal walls.

Town Attorney Joel Seachrist said that while he believes there are no New York state codes that deal with canals, the town does have a code which does address the issues along the canal.

Seachrist said at the town’s March meeting that Chapter 392 of the Town of Busti Code: Article II, Retaining Walls, addresses the wall issue.

“Much like a homeowner whose property has a sidewalk running alongside it is responsible for the sidewalk maintenance- the same for canal property owners in the town,” Seachrist said then.

Seachrist was to have drafted a letter explaining to town property owners their individual obligations under law to repair their assigned sections, along with the next steps the town would seek utilizing all legal actions at their disposal to remedy the situation.

Thurber said he did receive the letter, and repaired the canal wall on his property.

At the March meeting then Busti Code Enforcement Officer Greg Sykes explained to the board that because of the current wetlands regulations that contractors would have to come in by barge or waterside to repair the canal walls and it could cost anywhere between $25,000 to $40,000-plus.

In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law revisions to New York’s Freshwater Wetlands Act. New York’s original Freshwater Wetlands Act was enacted in 1975 to regulate activities near larger wetlands, greater than 12.4 acres, and smaller wetlands considered to be of unusual local importance. The new wetlands law eliminates the use of the old, inaccurate wetland maps and clarifies that all wetland areas greater than 12.4 acres are subject to Article 24 regulations. Freshwater wetlands are lands and submerged lands – commonly called marshes, swamps, sloughs, bogs, and flats – that support aquatic or semi-aquatic vegetation.