***Update***: Despite the Casella website stating a 1 day delay for trash pickup New Years week, a text message states pickup will be operating on the NORMAL schedule tomorrow. Please be prepared to place your bins out for pickup this Wednesday January 1st, 2025. Happy New Year!
Update: Where things stand on canal and culvert maintenance
Is the Town of Duanesburg going to accept responsibility for maintaining the outlet canal and culvert?
It remains to be seen.
Representatives of the DLA made further presentations to the Town Board in late October and early November on the matter of repair and maintenance of the culvert and canal through which Duane Lake drains. It’s their culvert and much of the canal is within the Town’s right-of-way.
The DLA is petitioning the Town to recognize its responsibility and take action before it is too late.
It might seem odd to press the matter right now, with lake water at or near an all-time low due to drought (something everyone who relies on lake water should start thinking about), but it all has to due with the threat posed to the dam by big storms that over-fill the lake and send water over the top of the dam. We’ve been nagging the Town for at least ten years on this.
We know of three instances when the lake water has risen that high. Each time it eroded a little more soil off the top and back side of the dam. At some point it can cause a dam blow-out, as it has elsewhere.
This is not an emergency. Not yet. This is about doing proper maintenance before it’s too late.
The canal is plugged with 70 years-worth of road sand (and brush growing in it).
The Town’s large culvert is also sagging. As recently as five years ago DLA volunteers used to be able to walk through it in a bent-over posture to clean out debris. Now you’d have to crawl.
And—just to repeat what we’ve been saying for years—the culvert was inserted a foot too high, overriding the function of the spillway built by NY State, pushing up stormwater to an elevation NY State says is an unsafe level, threatening the dam.
The DLA has notified the NY State Dam Safety Section (of DEC) at least three times over the years. After all, they directed that it be built to these specifications as a replacement for one they deemed too high.
So far 68 Duane Lake property owners have signed the petition. But we can do better.
Please know that we need not settle for one signature per household. Spouses and adult children with an ownership interest (or future ownership interest) can sign it, too.
So . . . if you want to support this effort by the DLA, please make sure every adult in your family signs this online petition.
It can only help.
Thanks for your support!
Your DLA Board of Directors,
It remains to be seen.
Representatives of the DLA made further presentations to the Town Board in late October and early November on the matter of repair and maintenance of the culvert and canal through which Duane Lake drains. It’s their culvert and much of the canal is within the Town’s right-of-way.
The DLA is petitioning the Town to recognize its responsibility and take action before it is too late.
It might seem odd to press the matter right now, with lake water at or near an all-time low due to drought (something everyone who relies on lake water should start thinking about), but it all has to due with the threat posed to the dam by big storms that over-fill the lake and send water over the top of the dam. We’ve been nagging the Town for at least ten years on this.
We know of three instances when the lake water has risen that high. Each time it eroded a little more soil off the top and back side of the dam. At some point it can cause a dam blow-out, as it has elsewhere.
This is not an emergency. Not yet. This is about doing proper maintenance before it’s too late.
The canal is plugged with 70 years-worth of road sand (and brush growing in it).
 |
| This is the canal, now grown full of purple loosestrife, goldenrod, and woody brush. Every cubic inch of vegetation is a cubic inch less capacity for storm water. |
The Town’s large culvert is also sagging. As recently as five years ago DLA volunteers used to be able to walk through it in a bent-over posture to clean out debris. Now you’d have to crawl.
 |
| The exit end of the culvert that drains Duane Lake. Note the flattening of the top inside. This degree of severity is quite new. |
And—just to repeat what we’ve been saying for years—the culvert was inserted a foot too high, overriding the function of the spillway built by NY State, pushing up stormwater to an elevation NY State says is an unsafe level, threatening the dam.
The DLA has notified the NY State Dam Safety Section (of DEC) at least three times over the years. After all, they directed that it be built to these specifications as a replacement for one they deemed too high.
So far 68 Duane Lake property owners have signed the petition. But we can do better.
Please know that we need not settle for one signature per household. Spouses and adult children with an ownership interest (or future ownership interest) can sign it, too.
So . . . if you want to support this effort by the DLA, please make sure every adult in your family signs this online petition.
It can only help.
Thanks for your support!
Your DLA Board of Directors,
Pat Huff Chris Miller Norm Stewart Kathy Hotaling
Alan Knight Kim Roberts Dirk Felton Ian Colgan Tom McGrath
Requesting your signature to the Town
For many years various members of the Duane Lake community and the DLA Board have tried to convince the Duanesburg Town Board that it is the Town's responsibility to maintain the canal through which Duane Lake drains into the Bozenkill.
Over the past six years the DLA Board has asked the Town Highway Superintendent and Town Board to respect the lake and adopt practices that do not harm it. We have repeatedly been brushed off.
Recent reports of horrible hurricane damage in Florida and North Carolina remind us what can happen when we fail to accommodate the reality of inevitable storm water.
In our case, storm water has overtopped the dam at least three times that we know of, each time eroding a bit of the top and the back side of the dam.
The inability of excess storm water to get out of the lake efficiently through a clogged outlet canal--a Town-created problem--poses real risks to the dam.
We need the Town to recognize its responsibility and act accordingly.
Once again we ask for your support by completing an online petition.
To demonstrate community support (also known as voting strength) we need your name and Duane Lake address added to the petition by midnight, October 31. We will present the petition to the Town Board at its November meeting.
Thanks for your loyal support. It is very much recognized and appreciated.
Your DLA Board of Directors,
Thanks for your loyal support. It is very much recognized and appreciated.
Your DLA Board of Directors,
Pat Huff Chris Miller Norm Stewart Kathy Hotaling
Alan Knight Kim Roberts Dirk Felton Ian Colgan Tom McGrath
Thank You lake community volunteers!
Thank you to Jay Tanzman who recently took it upon himself to replace the roof on our Duane Lake sign located at the corner of West Duane and North Mansion. Now that should last another 30 years!
"Story of Duane Lake" video link
Did you miss David Vincent's presentation on the Story of Duane Lake on September 16th? You can follow this link Story of Duane Lake (YouTube) to watch the recorded presentation.
Also, you can find the permanent link to the video in the sidebar under The History of Duane Lake.
Thank you to the Duanesburg Historical Society for hosting the link to this video on their website.
To learn more about the Duanesburg Historical Society, the upcoming programs, and the fantastic work they do, click here Duanesburg Historical Society.
SAVE THE DATE!
Our very own Carl Wiedemann will present The Big Swindle on November 18th, 2024. More details to follow.
I 🧡 NY Fall Foliage Report
Fall is upon us. Click the image below to see the current I 🧡 NY Fall Foliage Report.
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