YOU MIGHT WANT TO SHOW UP THURSDAY NIGHT: DEC's plan could cost you $8,500 a year for 30 years

The DEC presentation to the Town Board this week could cost you more than $8,000/year for 30 years. That's the price tag for a sewer plan they have advocated for Duane Lake.

So please attend the town board meeting to hear and comment on the presentation Thursday evening, 7:00 p.m., at the Duanesburg Town Hall, back door.

Why? The DEC has long taken the position that Duane Lake needs a municipal sewer system, priced at least $9.2 million (2023 dollars; well over $10 million now). This is based on a 2023 report produced by an engineering firm that specializes in designing and building sewer systems. You can read the report here.

A sewer district would be mandatory for every parcel in the district, even if you recently installed a state-of-the-art septic system, even if you only use your property a few weekends a year.

The engineering report projects the annual cost (including debt service, annual operations, and maintenance) to each shoreline homeowner to be $5,866 ($6,400 in 2026 dollars) but was based on 86 shoreline parcels sharing the cost. A review of County tax maps reveals only 64 parcels. That means the true cost would be about 1/3 more than Delaware Engineering Company forecasts, or in the vicinity of $8,500 per year for no fewer than the 30 years (as per the engineering report) to pay off the Town’s construction loan. And annual operations and maintenance costs will inevitably go up. These projections do not even include the price of digging up your yard to connect to the sewer system (whether you need it or not).

Do Delaware Engineering and DEC even know what is causing what their report calls “declining water quality in Duane Lake”? Or how severe? What is their evidence?

Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised. Maybe DEC will no longer advocate a sewer system and will consider a septic replacement program instead. Maybe we’ll find out.

Carpools will be arranged as needed. Contact DuaneLakeAssoc@gmail.com if you need a ride and to let us know that you will be attending, so we have a nose count.

THURSDAY NIGHT, 7:00 P.M. DUANESBURG TOWN HALL, BACK DOOR.

Roving Feast 2026 next Saturday!

Who's excited for Duane Lake Roving Feast 2026!  I know I am and we have some details ready to share with you...  

...but first, we still need your help!  

There are just two stops this year...yes, in winter we typically have appetizer, brandy social, soup, dinner, and dessert stops, but with so many snowbirds sunning in the south and some hosts simply unavailable, this year we have only 2 stops so far, Appetizers and Brandy Social. 

When:    Saturday, February 28th

Where:   Appetizers at 4pm, The Vincent's House

               Brandy Social 6pm, Jerry Evans House

               Dessert, TBD

We would really like to add a Dessert stop to round out the evening.  If you can host the final stop, Dessert, please let our event coordinator Kim Roberts know at hobiekim@aol.com.  He will gladly update the map if you raise your hand!!!

We have some new lake residents and members, so if you've never hosted before and would like more details, email Kim or ask the DLA at duanelakeassoc@gmail.com.

See you next Saturday!

The DLA

Thank you! Upcoming DEC/Town Board meeting attendance

 

Duane Lake neighbors,

We have received a fair amount of responses to the latest email/web post notifying you and encouraging your attendance at the DEC/Duanesburg Town Board meeting this coming Thursday evening, 7pm, at the Duanesburg Town Hall.

THANK YOU to all the households who sent a YES, I will be there message!

We hope we can count on you to be one of many representing our precious lake community! If you haven't seen the email or web post about this meeting, follow the link here to the Duane Lake Association website, An Appeal to the Duane Lake Community There's still time to plan to be in attendance - you don't have to speak, just show up! Drop us an email if you can attend.

See you there!!

The DLA

An Appeal to the Duane Lake Community

    Over the years you may have heard such exhortations as “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country,” or “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

    It’s time for an update.

    Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their neighborhood and the precious lake upon which so many of us depend.

    Or, the only thing necessary for the triumph of an unaccountable, unresponsive bureaucracy is that good citizens do nothing.

    We refer to the upcoming appearance of officials of the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (Division of Water Resources) at a Duanesburg Town Board meeting this coming Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

    While we do not know the precise content of the DEC remarks, we know how this meeting came to be. It’s about our water.

• DEC has “creatively” found ways for eight years to deny Duane Lake’s application to be admitted to the NY State Septic Replacement Program (up to $10,000 in reimbursement for replacing failing septic systems in approved watersheds). All of them reveal an inexplicable and willful denial of law, science, and reality.

• DEC has repeatedly insisted Duane Lake needed a $6 million sewer system (estimate in 2020 dollars; $7.6 million in 2026 dollars, as per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) that would then have been cut in half by a federal grant, leaving more than $4 million to be repaid by Duane Lake residents, about 15 of whom have already put in new septic systems, anyway. And this latest of three engineering proposals grossly exaggerated the number of property owners that would share that cost every year – 86 versus 75 at most and only 64 if only the shoreline properties, and about 14 of those do not even drain into the lake. Town and County officials have already rejected the sewer proposal as economically infeasible and unnecessary, given an at-hand effective alternative at a fraction of the price.

• Legislation proposed by our State Senator Pat Fahy that would direct DEC to admit Duane Lake into the program was approved by the NY State Senate. Similar legislation introduced by Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara to the State Assembly did not pass.

• Following these legislative actions, officials of the DEC Division of Water Resources promised to present to the Duane Lake community and Duanesburg Town Board a proposed management plan by late summer of 2025. It did not happen.

• Instead, those officials met with Town and County officials (the Duane Lake Association was neither informed of or invited to this meeting). We are informed that DEC was “shocked” to learn that Town and County officials in attendance fully supported the Duane Lake Association position and so retreated for about six months to re-think their recommendations.

• Now they’re back.

    That’s “where we’re at.”

    Where will you be Thursday night?

    Can you be there?

    Can you be there to show DEC and all the assembled local, county, and state officials that we care about water quality for Duane Lake and 50,000 downstream users of our water? That we care about fairness? About changing the “Gerrymandered” eligibility map that included the entire Normans Kill watershed, but carefully carved Duane Lake out of it?

    Or be there to listen and – perhaps? maybe? – be pleasantly surprised?

    So, please – even if you’ve never had the slightest interest in civic affairs, now is the time to help make an impact for your neighborhood. Grab your husband, your wife, your partner, your significant other, granny and grandpa and the neighbors, too, and make the short drive to the Town Hall. And please send us an email to let us know you will be there (and how many).

    This is what democracy looks like. It only works when people show up.

    Thursday, February 26, 7:00 p.m.

NYS DEC invited to next Duanesburg Town Board Meeting - PLEASE ATTEND

The NYSDEC has been invited to give a talk about Duane Lake to the Town of Duanesburg at the next Town Board meeting.

When: Thursday, February 26th, 7:00 PM

Where: Duanesburg Town Hall, basement rear entrance

Check your email for more details. 

Please plan to attend this important meeting.  

The DLA now accepts PayPal

Hey Duane Lake community and Association members...did you know that the DLA now accepts PayPal?

New for 2026, those wishing to join or renew membership for 2026 have an option to scan a QR code using your smartphone, automatically launching your PayPal app, and taking you to the Duane Lake Association, Inc. payment screen.

Our members asked and we listened...and we have all the details on the Membership tab of the website.

Not sure where to begin?  If you have the PayPal app on your smartphone and would like to try this payment method, please follow the directions below...

Click image above to enlarge

You may be prompted to answer a couple PayPal questions if you have never paid by QR code before.

Questions?  Email the webmaster at duanelakeassoc@gmail.com

2026 DLA membership campaign begins

The following email was shared with all Duane Lake Association members and non-members that comprise the Duane Lake community.  

If you aren't a member and ready to support the efforts of the DLA, please click the image below or go to the website Membership tab to join today!  Thank you!

We appreciate the generosity of our Community Members who continue to sustain the stewardship of Duane Lake through membership!  Thank you!

If you didn't receive the email message above, check your Spam or Junk folder.  

If your email changed or you received this message in error, email us at: duanelakeassoc@gmail.com.