Lake level plan could spell 'water woes' ahead for some

Stephanie Aldersley remembers when Lake Ontario was “up around the houses” on the residential stretch of lakeside homes in the Sea Breeze neighborhood of Irondequoit.

“I used to live at 4929 Culver Road and at one time we had a beach about the size of two football fields,” Aldersley recalls. “And we had sand banks with willows and cottonwoods on top.”

Then came the flooding of the early 1970s. That’s when the lake’s water level was at a consistent high, she said. The trees and sand banks are gone, though today there is a beach in front of the same homes.

She and others fear waterfront residents not only in Irondequoit but all along Lake Ontario’s south (U.S.) shore — including the towns of Webster, Greece and beyond, may have to contend with similar flooding if an international plan for lake levels is adopted as it stands now.

The International Joint Commission (IJC), a body of United States and Canadian officials that oversees Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, has proposed radical changes in the manner that the water levels of the lake are regulated. The current plan is called BV7, which means Plan B, version 7. It is one of three plans that came out of a Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River study from 2000 to 2006.

Some say the changes will result in drastically increased erosion damage to shoreline and riparian (waterfront) property along Lake Ontario’s south (including Monroe County) shore as well as to local sewer systems, roads and public parks.

“If they fluctuate the (lake) levels, it will probably wipe me out,” said Betty Perkins Carpenter, who lives in the “Oklahoma beach” neighborhood off Lake Road in Webster, just east of the Irondequoit Bay outlet.

“And I lived all my life to have one little place on the water,” Perkins Carpenter said, noting that her steel retaining wall is already buckling so that “it looks like a roller coaster.”

The biggest difference between BV7 and an earlier plan (B+) is that the earlier plan had damages to the lower river area in Quebec, said Dr. Dan Barletta, a waterfront resident in Greece and a director of the Lake Ontario Riparian Alliance, and BV7 shifts those damages to Ontario.

"Supposedly, this is a balanced approach,” Barletta said. “They're calling this a balanced plan ... saying that it's good for everybody, and it's not. It's not good for people on the lake — either homeowners or recreational boaters."

The IJC announced Plan BV7 in late January.

Some said is represented “an innovative approach to water level regulation in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River,” and that it would deliver environmental improvements along with substantial benefits for the regional economy and property owners.

Aldersley says, “It’s basically a taking of the south shore.”

She says Plan BV7 would be a huge benefit to the power and shipping industries, and is “particularly friendly to the city of Montreal,” but predicted that if it goes into effect, those in Monroe County “will see a bigger loss than they’ve ever seen before.”

"They want to have higher highs — and they’re only saying a couple inches higher than what we currently experience — and lower lows,” Barletta said. “(But) what this new plan is calling for is being able to go to even higher highs than we experienced in 1993 or 1973, when we had millions of dollars of damages along the shoreline.”

On the flip side, lower water levels could pose a problem for recreational boaters or even dry up the inlet to Sodus Bay, Barletta said.

“Probably the same would go for Irondequoit Bay,” Barletta said, “(And) Braddocks Bay would be dry ... If they get down to the bottom end of BV7, Braddocks Bay becomes landlocked."

The Town of Irondequoit has already adopted a more than two-page resolution, officially requesting that the IJC present a more balanced plan “with no disproportional damages and no unmitigated damages.”

The town of Hamlin has taken similar action. Webster Supervisor Ron Nesbitt said he and the Town Board there are aware of the issue, but have not had any requests to take action.

Aldersley predicted that higher water levels would threaten not only Sea Breeze homes, but also those on Irondequoit’s Rock Beach Road and what is called “the Gold Coast,” the Bay Village condominium complex on Irondequoit Bay and homes in the German Village area on the bay.

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and State Senator Mike Nozzolio, whose district includes Webster, have also come out against BV7.

Nozzolio and Assemblyman Bob Oaks, joined by nine of their State Senate and Assembly colleagues, wrote to Governor Andrew Cuomo to request his help in urging the IJC to halt any action on its current plan for Lake Ontario.

In late March, a growing international group of 25 environmental, conservation and sportsmen organizations, led by Save The River and The Nature Conservancy, did urge the adoption of Plan BV7, however, saying it would provide “substantial benefits for the regional economy and property owners.”

Jim Howe, The Nature Conservancy’s Central and Western New York Chapter executive director, remarked, “This plan strikes a balance between people and nature.” He also called it “a common sense proposal.”

By way of background, Barletta explained that Lake Ontario and Lake Superior are the only Great Lakes that have control structures: Dams or seaways. Since 1960, for Lake Ontario, there has been a dam in Messina that bridges Canada and the United States and that can control Lake Ontario.

Barletta says, “Every inch they lower Lake Ontario raises the Montreal area by about 10 inches, so it helps the shipping there."

Plan BV7 does estimate that it could cause $4.5 million in damages just to the south shore of Lake Ontario.

“But the plan also says we’ve had a benefit (with the current levels) and just won’t have it anymore,” Aldersley said.

“That’s ‘sleight of hand,’” Aldersley contends. “It would be similar to saying that, as you have had 10 fingers your whole life, cutting off three of them would not be a problem ... but just a reduction in the ‘benefit’ you had when you had 10 fingers!”

Barletta was part of past studies.

“One of the guidelines was no disproportionate amount of damages for any particular interest, and also, if there are going to be damages, mitigation had to be in place prior to that plan being implemented,” Barletta said.

Barletta says he doesn’t know the exact numbers, but he thinks hydropower benefits just a little over $5 million if BV7 is enacted, and commercial navigation benefits by close to $2 million.

“The little guys are going to be the damaged ones, not the big guys," Barletta said.

"You go out to Kendall, there's a number of beaches right now where the houses are already damaged under the current plan. Those will be exacerbated by the new plan,” Barletta said.

He added that there’s a definite risk that houses would be lost if BV7 is enacted.

“Webster might be more prone,” Barletta said. “In Greece, the shoreline is hardened. It has breakwalls, but the breakwalls can be damaged, and there’s a cost to replace those. You get east or west of Greece, where there’s not as much shore protection, and you can lose houses."

It isn’t yet known if or when BV7 could be enacted or implemented.

“I'm hearing now it'll be maybe this fall, but most likely next spring before the commissioners will have another public meeting,” Barletta said, “and then maybe the implementation, if this plan stays the way it is — which we're hoping it doesn't — could be next summer."

The IJC isn’t officially still accepting comments on the plan, “but I'm sure the commissioners will still listen to people if they voice their concerns,” Barletta said.

“All we can do is hope and pray,” Aldersley said.