We talk a lot about Chautauqua Lake these days, but we don’t talk much about the canals that can often be found winding their way inland from the lake’s shores.

One such set of canals in an area of the town of Busti known as Vukote is generating conversation – and it’s a topic worth more conversation.

Earlier this year Busti Town Board members discussed the problem town officials are having getting some property owners in Vukote to repair the concrete canal walls. There are roughly 14 sections of the canal structure that need repairs, according to those March 2025 discussions. It had been difficult to get ahold of some of the property owners while some others had told the town’s code enforcement officer to go away. At the board’s December meeting, a property owner said he is trying to repair the canal on his property but the costs are getting out of hand in part due to the states’ freshwater wetlands regulations.

“And I’ve gotten a few quotes, but couldn’t get anybody to actually come do it. Just to give you an idea, my quotes ranged anywhere from $85,000 to $250,000,” homeowner Nick Bradish told Busti Town Board members.

Much like sidewalks, canal repair is the obligation of the property owner – but how many property owners can absorb an $85,000 to $250,000 repair?

And, while it’s not necessarily happening in Vukote, don’t forget the issues Lakewood resident Kenneth Wray is having with the Chautauqua Lake retaining wall of his home. Wray has been fighting the DEC for the past four years after installing a vertical breakwall instead of the slanted riprap stonewall the DEC prefers. Wray has been fined $2,500 for doing the work based on an Army Corps of Engineers permit rather than a DEC permit. If he loses a lawsuit he has filed over the matter, Wray will have to take out the breakwall he installed and install a new breakwall.

There are a couple of things happening here that merit intervention by elected officials. If word spreads that repairing these breakwalls is such an expensive and frustrating experience for those who undertake the projects willingly, good luck getting holdouts to undertake the property. They’d be better off selling their property rather than try to repair the canal breakwall.

Of course, the second issue is getting someone to buy those small, but expensive, lakefront properties. It likely won’t be easy to sell a project that includes a $85,000 to $250,000 breakwall repair on top of the sale price of the property. And, don’t forget, the canal ends up in the south basin of Chautauqua Lake where weeds make it difficult to enjoy the lake anyway.

Property owners along Chautauqua Lake’s canals knew they were signing up for repairs – but we’re not sure anyone thought they were signing up for the headache being described by Nick Bradish and Kenneth Wray, either. If Busti – and by extension Chautauqua County – officials want these breakwalls repaired they may have to step in and help figure out a way to help these property owners get the projects done without breaking the bank. That may mean a batch permit for the entire area, a coordinated project that helps bring the cost of the breakwall repairs down or other ideas to bring the cost down for these projects.