Rowing Feast and Garage Sale Reminder


It's Back...The Annual Duane Lake Rowing Feast!


The 2025 Duane Lake Rowing Feast will be held on Saturday, August 9th starting at noon. Everyone is invited to join in, bring a dish to share, enjoy the water and just visit with your neighbors. The Rowing Feast is basically a progressive lunch by way of sailing, rowing, kayaking, walking or driving from one host location on the lake to the next for each course.

The day starts off with refreshments and a meet & greet, then we shift over for appetizers, next is your salad course, followed by the main course and finally a dessert stop. Each stop is hosted by one of your neighbors who will provide one or two refreshments and everyone is requested to contribute a dish to supplement one of the courses. Please call our party planner Kim Roberts to let him know of your planned dish as he will coordinate the day and make sure there are sufficient munchies at each host stop. Kim's number is 518-522-6811.

Since this was quite fun and successful last year - for those that would like to participate, a 50/50 poker row game. It will work like this: each entry will pay $20; the player will pick a card at each stop and at the end of the afternoon, whoever has the best hand will win the 50/50 pot with the winner taking home 50% of the funds and the remaining 50% donated to the Lake Association.

Your hosts for this year's Rowing Feast are as follows:


#1 Sue & Bob Bollentin, 604 Duane Lake Rd 
12:00 Refreshments / Meet & Greet and 1st card dealt to poker row participants

#2 Dave & Ann Vincent, 558 North Mansion Rd 
1:45 for Appetizers and 2nd card of poker row

#3 Tom & Carol McClenahan, 491 West Duane Lake Rd
3:15 for Salad and 3rd card of poker row

#4 Dennis Decelli & Ian Colgan, 382 Duane Lake Rd
4:45 the Main Course and 4th card of poker row

#5 Vicki & Jay Tanzman, 1143 West Duane Lake Rd
6:30 the Dessert stop and last card / 50/50 poker row winner announced


Lake Wide Garage Sale 


Also - don't forget to set aside your items for the Duane Lake Neighborhood Garage Sale which is set for Friday and Saturday, August 22 & 23. The lake wide garage sale will be advertised in the Times Union, the Schenectady Gazette, the Altamont Enterprise and on several digital sites. The advertised hours will be from 9 - 4. There will be corner signs placed in strategic locations as well. If you have any specific items for sale that you think will draw people in for the garage sale, please reach out to Pat Huff by August 15 at 518-469-0153.

Duanesburg Summer Concert Series

For those interested and not on Facebook, the Town of Duanesburg has posted the line-up for the Summer Concert Series at Shafer Park.  Maybe we will see you there?!


DLA Annual Meeting and Picnic

In preparation for the Duane Lake Association annual meeting, your DLA Board of Directors recommends reviewing the June 2024 Annual Meeting Minutes and the 2024 Financial Review. These two items will be voted on at Saturday's Annual Picnic and Meeting. 

Three Duane Lake Association Board positions are opening up. They are President, Vice President and Secretary. If you would like to serve in any of these positions for the three year term or if you would like to nominate someone who you feel would be an asset to the community in one of these capacities, please notify the DLA by e-mail. Please note, all persons interested in serving or being nominated to serve must be present at Saturday's Annual Picnic and Meeting.

Also, the DLA Board is proposing three changes to our By-Laws:

The first one has to do with voting rights. Our current By-Laws state, in effect, one vote per household. But it does not contemplate having two or more directors serving on the Board of Directors at the same time. The proposed change keeps it at "one vote per member household" for votes at general membership meetings, but would afford one vote per director (even if a second member of the family) at Board meetings. The rationale is that occasionally it is difficult to find members willing to serve on the Board of Directors. This could help deal with that situation.

A second one is intended to clear up a contradiction that neither our attorney nor we caught at the time of incorporation. It has to do with more clearly stating our mission to include a valid public purpose (not merely association members) and

A third that would clarify our IRS tax-exempt status in relation to that public purpose.

You can find our By-Laws by clicking here. There you'll find where and how each of these proposed amendments fits and the rationale for each proposed change.



THE ANNUAL DUANE LAKE ASSOCIATION 
PICNIC AND MEETING 
AT THE VAN PATTEN MILL PARK 
IS THIS COMING SATURDAY!

The Annual Duane Lake Association Picnic and Meeting is on Saturday, the 21st starting at noon. The meeting will begin with a neighborhood picnic at the park pavilion. Hamburgers, hotdogs, all the 'fixins and beverages will be provided. 

Everyone is invited to bring a dish and if you have any questions including "What should I bring?", please reach-out by text message or call our bar-be-que master chef and party coordinator, Kim Roberts.

 


Van Patten Mill Park is located on Depot Road, just a two-minute drive from Stewart's in the hamlet of Duanesburg. It's a fun gathering with bar-be-que favorites and lots of really tasty dishes to share along with our neighborhood camaraderie and celebration of all things summer! Please plan to join us!

We hope to see you all on Saturday!

Septic Replacement Program update


What’s up with the Septic Replacement Program?
Is Duane Lake going to be allowed in?


June 9—Thursday June 12th is the last scheduled date for the NY State Assembly to convene. That means there are only four more days for it to consider and possibly pass a bill that would require DEC to admit Duane Lake into the Septic Replacement Program. The bill was introduced jointly by our Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara and our State Senator Patricia Fahy.

Brendan Savage, a senior legislative assistant to Assemblyman Santabarbara, had already been heavily supplied with documents pertaining to the history of the Duane Lake Association’s efforts to gain entry into the program. This past Thursday the DLA received an email from Mr. Savage, asking for additional documentary evidence of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s rejection of our application and its disinclination to respond to fact-based refutations of the DEC’s reasons. “Can't promise a result here,” he wrote, “but that documentation could potentially be very helpful to us, if you can send as soon as practicable.”

A report was drafted and sent from the DLA to Mr. Savage on Friday the 6th and a collection of actual documents and correspondence was sent late Saturday night, the 7th. For further information, you can read the report sent to Mr. Savage here.

I agree with the sentiments expressed by Holly Vellano, a Schenectady County Legislator most instrumental in advancing our cause: “Thank you so much for the invitation to your picnic, unfortunately, I’ll be out of town. BTW, the legislative session ends soon, but Angelo’s office is pushing to get his resolution passed making Duane Lake eligible for the Septic Replacement Program. Fingers crossed.”

                                                                                                            - Alan Knight   

Who woulda guessed?

Photo by Alan Knight

"Apparently snapping turtles approve of the new silt barriers! The one on top is the biggest one I have ever seen in Duane Lake."  - Alan Knight

There's been a lot of turtle sightings all around Duane Lake lately.  We shared a story from the May 12th, 2025 E-edition of The Daily Gazette titled, How to help turtles in the road: DEC, advocates share tips during spring egg season in a post last month.  Click here to read it!

DLA responds to letters to the editor in the Times Union

Here is a compilation of letters-to-the-editor of the Times Union in response to Lucy Hodgman's front-page article about the DLA's struggle to gain admission to the NY State Septic Replacement Program - previously published on the DLA website.  Link to article here

Times Union, 5/14/2025


Times Union, 5/19/2025


Times Union, 6/2/2025