BETHEL, NY — After 20 years of struggle, the Toronto Reservoir access remains open to the public.

The Friends of the Toronto Reservoir (FOTR) held its 20th anniversary celebration on August 24, celebrating the success of that struggle and that the reservoir remains open.

The reservoir is one of five in the Mongaup River system. It is licensed to an electric utility company, currently Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, for the purpose of generating hydroelectric power. As part of the condition of the lease, Eagle Creek has to maintain a pair of access points allowing the public to use the reservoir for swimming, fishing and kayaking.

Over the 20 years that FOTR has watched over the reservoir, it has fended off a number of attempts to curtail public access.

Woodstone Development, which built the nearby gated community Chapin Estates, advertised the reservoir as a private lake attached to its development, said Nino Nannarone, FOTR chair; “This is talk about private gain. They wanted to eliminate this water and make it their water, not the public’s water.”

Woodstone placed boulders and walls across the access points, and petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commision (FERC) to change the license attached to the reservoir, petitioning for one required access point instead of two. Despite acquiring support from multiple levels of government, Woodstone failed in its attempts, causing it to remain a public access, according to FOTR.

Later on, a Chapin Estates resident asked the state Department of Health (DoH) to declare the access area a beach that would require lifeguards and supervision, and to close it because it lacked those qualities, per coverage in the River Reporter. Following an administrative hearing, the DoH appeals court declared that the federal license for the access superseded state requirements and the DoH could not close it.

“To encapsulize it, it has been a long, drawn-out, needless fight, because when you know that you have the law on your side, you’re supposed to know that the law’s going to prevail,” said Bob Barrett, one of the most longstanding members of FOTR. “But it does not prevail when you do not get the support of those who are supposed to enforce the law.”

While FOTR has succeeded in keeping the reservoir open, the group is still working to improve access in the area.

The road that leads to the public access has a number of potholes and is poorly maintained; FOTR has kept pressure on Eagle Creek to properly inspect and maintain the road. In addition, FOTR wants Eagle Creek to put in a walking path by the reservoir itself.

Eagle Creek is seeking a 30-year renewal license from FERC, allowing it to continue using the reservoir for hydroelectric power generation. FOTR wants to petition FERC to include both maintenance of the access road and installation of a walking path in the terms of the license, thus requiring Eagle Creek to comply.

Preserving public access to the natural resource of the Toronto Reservoir is important going forward, FOTR believes.

There aren’t many free options for public swimming anymore, said Cissy Goldfarb, a longstanding member of FOTR. “I feel that there’s a big fear that younger people are not going to become involved. People are having to spend so much time and money to support themselves, and they don’t recognize the wolf at the door, what’s going to happen in the future.”

“Everybody [in FOTR] is getting older, and I don’t know who’s going to carry a fight forward against the powers [that be]—they’re going to live a wonderful life, and the other people are not going to have that much,” said Goldfarb.