A right to farm and fish

LINDA DROLLINGER
Posted 1/17/18

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Public roads, a semiprivate lake, and the people who share them occupied the better part of the January 10 Cochecton Town Board meeting. “Who put those tractor signs …

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A right to farm and fish

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LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Public roads, a semiprivate lake, and the people who share them occupied the better part of the January 10 Cochecton Town Board meeting. “Who put those tractor signs up?” asked Supervisor Gary Maas. “I don’t remember authorizing them. Where did they come from and how much did they cost?” “My crew put them up,” said highway superintendent Kevin Esselman, referring to white roadside signs with green tractors pictured on them that say “Share the Road. A Right to Farm Community.” “A Cornell Cooperative Extension grant paid for them, so we put them up wherever tractor traffic is likely.”

One can be found at the intersection of Skipperene and Mohn Roads in Cochecton Center, about 500 feet from Michael Walters’ horse and cattle farm, where at any given time drivers might encounter a tractor and/or haymaking equipment on the move. Another stands on Route 97, just feet from the entrance to Swendsen’s dairy farm.

Four decades or more ago, when dairy farming vied with tourism for the area’s largest industry, tractors and other farm machinery were commonplace on all local roads. They are less so today; the signs remind drivers that slow-moving, wide-load farm vehicles require patience and caution from all drivers with whom they share a road.

On another topic, Lake Huntington lakefront property owner and town board member Paul Salzberg updated the board regarding the Lake Huntington Lake Association (LHLA), an organization of lakefront property owners dedicated to restoring, promoting and preserving the ecological health of a lake suffering from multi-year algae blooms. “We’ve elected officers, appointed a board of directors, and consulted experts about cleaning up the lake. We found out it’s going to be a costly project, so we’re seeking grants and donations as well as state and local funding.”

Maas said again what he has said before on that subject. “The lake is privately owned, so its upkeep and welfare are the sole responsibility of lakefront owners. By law, the town cannot provide funding for enhancement of private property at taxpayer expense.”

But Salzberg said again what he and other lakefront property owners have said before: There is one public access site (across from the Nutshell Arts Center) from which boats can be launched and the public can fish, and that might make the lake eligible for Department of Environmental Conservation or other state and local funding. If it does, the LHLA will pursue it.

The meeting recessed to January 23 at 6:30 p.m., when the board will continue refining its draft summer camp zoning ordinance. The one-year moratorium on summer camps will expire in July, but Maas is fairly confident the town will have an ordinance ready for presentation at a public hearing before the moratorium deadline.

lake huntington, roads

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