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Victory for Toronto Reservoir

Patricio Robayo - Staff Writer
Posted 6/18/18

BETHEL — With summer close at hand, residents and tourists will soon be heading to local lakes and reservoirs to get away from the heat and to enjoy what the Catskills has to offer.

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Victory for Toronto Reservoir

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BETHEL — With summer close at hand, residents and tourists will soon be heading to local lakes and reservoirs to get away from the heat and to enjoy what the Catskills has to offer.

The Friends of Toronto Reservoir (FTR) are fighting to keep the Toronto Reservoir south of White Lake open to the public and were upset that Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC were not keeping up with their end of the bargain.

According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license that was granted to the energy company, the access road to the reservoir must be maintained so the public and emergency vehicles can use the road leading to the reservoir.

“Three miles of road from Pine Grove to the recreation area is the worst road I have ever seen,” said concerned resident and member of the Friends of Toronto Reservoir group Bob Barrett. “It's filled with potholes, I don't think FERC cares.”

After many phone calls, letters and emails to FERC, Eagle Creek and the Town of Bethel, the east access road to the reservoir has been graveled over by E. Tetz & Sons and is now passable.

“We are very pleased with this,” said Co-Chair of FTR Nino Nannarone. “This happened because of the efforts of hundreds of people on our mailing list, making phone calls and emailing Eagle Creek, FERC and the Town of Bethel.”

A deadline was given to Eagle Creek by FTR that the road must be fixed by June 12 or else the members would hold a press conference and stage a rally on June 23, demanding that Eagle Creek maintain the road as per their license agreement.

According the Executive Vice President for Operations at Eagle Creek Renewable Energy Robert Gates, “We had two violet storms in the Mongaup Valley which blocked roads to the system,” said Gates. “We have been spending weeks clearing roadways and access points. It was a matter of priority, first was to clear the road way, than do the surface. It was not just filling in potholes.”

Equally important, FERC denied the request from the Department of Health (DOH) to designate the reservoir as a bathing beach.

Around 2012, Steve Dubrovsky, a developer for Woodstone Toronto Development, LLC dubbed the Catskills Cowboy, began building a gated community of multi-million dollar homes along the reservoir. According to the FERC, the public must be allowed two access points to the reservoir. The developer at one point, in an effort to keep people off the reservoir, created a barrier blocking the east access area.

But FERC demanded the wall be taken down and removed the designation of a “bathing beach” to the boat launch off of Pine Grove Road.

The area is now opened to the public for boating, fishing and swimming. “There's no problem now and it should be a really good summer,” said Town Supervisor Dan Sturm. “And if the road becomes bad again, please let us know, otherwise we are hoping for a good summer.”

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