This site was originally set up to fight 3 of 5 zoning variances proposed by the FBC development at Sagamore Trail and Mohegan Ave that eliminates two single family homes while nearly quadrupling the parking and occupancy loads of the old Lakeland Jewish Center. That effort failed and the application is currently before the Planning Board.
While Save Mohegan Lake will continue to update you on that issue, we are moving on to all issues affecting the lake, such as Mohegan Lake Improvement District (MLID) meetings, agenda and budget. This site is not an official mouthpiece for MLID, but some updates will be provided on this site;the official site is located here.
Wow. It sure is special when the lake freezes and--even if for just a few brief days--we have a very different and intimate experience of Mohegan Lake; from ice fishing to skating, it's a beautiful asset for the whole lake community.
Alone with his thoughts, and some frozen fishes. In the distance, the Holland Sporting Club property.
It's important that the Shrub Oak Lake Estates (SOLE) home owners are cognizant that, in addition to the parking at the SOLE beach, they have a permanent deeded right to park on another lakefront lot "at all times" and "at no cost." When SOLE sold this parcel to the Lakeland Jewish Center (now Faith Bible Church [FBC]), it stipulated 5 permanent terms and conditions when they sold it to Lakeland Jewish, and those terms still carry the weight of law. I only mention it because some of the legally required signage indicating the SOLE member parking seems to have gone missing. The deed restrictions clearly state such signage should be present; just be aware it is available for SOLE members to use in addition to FBC members. You can read the history of that parcel here. [Click "read more" below to continue reading]
Can't get enough of the frozen lake. Skating, for me, is very therapeutic and serene. That is all for today. Again, this is not an endorsement of the lake's safety. Attempt fun activities on the frozen lake at your own peril.
I had tried to upload this earlier, but I did it all wrong. This post is not an endorsement as to the safety of skating on Mohegan Lake; but for the record, I think it's safe through tomorrow. That said, you may die or be seriously injured if you attempt to emulate what you see in the video below. It sure is fun though.
I got a good 30 minutes of skating in this morn. Ice is perfect. A bit thin(3"), but perfect. Just a reminder: you take your own life into your hands when you step out there so know what you're doing and, it's a private lake--trespassing is bad.
It's surely been cold enough to make some nice clean ice. We just broached 32 degrees today (about 35) for the first time in over a week, I believe. Last week, the Mohegan Highlands Property Owners Association (MHPOA) made a last minute effort to retrieve our floating dock. We were too late and are now left to ponder how badly the ice will chew it up this winter.
The ice had just decended past the dock overnight. We did note the new dock that seems to be dating ours. If you're missing your dock, let us know, it's frozen next to our and we'll return it this spring. Oh by the way, are you missing a boat?
Looking North. You can see the ice descends from the north. I sure love watchingDeadliest Catch, and am reminded of the icepack in the arctic descending down and wreaking havoc on the crews' pots. But I digress. (photo credit: Abby Luby)
We sure have a beautiful lake. (photo credit: Abby Luby)
Just to the right of the Tulip Tree, and just below that first branch--above the two wires--you can see a couple wild and crazy guys ice fishing on Thursday. A bit premature? Possibly. I'm going to take some ice cores tomorrow and report back. Will probably break out my skates to do it.
In summary, don't go out on the ice unless you, a) have a legal right to be there--it is a private lake after all and, b) are prepared to die; it's a dangerous thing walking on ice. It's not just the thickness of ice, but how it formed and many weather factors--not just temperature, plus the thermodynamics of the lake, vegetation, lake flow, blah, blah, blah. Read up on New York State DEC guidelines on ice fishing safety here. Let's pray for more, consistently frozen temps and we should have an awesome winter!
Over the holidays, I found myself home alone for a couple days. No kids. No wife. I took the opportunity to patronize a couple local eateries: Wild Fusion Asian Sushi Grill and Bar (winner of the 2012 award for longest restaurant name, ever), and Brodie's. The Winerywas closed. I found out after I trudged through the snow for a snifter of wine. [note: all of the following photos below were taken well past the 12 hour completion of this "precipitation event"; note the dry roads]
Which brings me to my main point: snow removal is your friend. It's a
friend of business because if walking to your establishment is an
option, that's a good thing. As a consumer, I sure like that option too.
Especially if parking is tight (route 6, I'm looking at you) and you can
walk to a couple nearby businesses without moving your car. Yorktown
wisely, it would seem, put a local law on the books at the end of 2011.
You can read the whole thing here on the Yorktown website. You can also see a map of the snow removal districts. A couple small, out of the way ones that appear in areas you wouldn't suspect, like camp Nabby.
There is a sidewalk under there. I promise.
Apparently these are some of the snow removal districts. Pffffft. Doesn't mean anything if you don't enforce the law.
The law reads, in part:
In a Snow Removal District within twelve 12 hours after a precipitation
event has concluded, the owner and or occupant of premises abutting or
bordering on paved sidewalks along a town street shall remove all snow
and ice from such sidewalks or in the cases where the snow and ice on
the sidewalks cannot be removed without injury to the sidewalks shall
thoroughly cover the sidewalk with sand salt or other suitable material
so as to make the sidewalk safe for public use.
To be clear, Yorktown put the onus of compliance on the property owner. In most cases, the business
occupying the commercial space is simply renting from a landlord and is
not responsible--nor should they be(unless clearly spelled out in the lease)--for the snow removal.
Lexington and Mohegan.
We are left with a hot mess that is--ironically--cold and icy and
incredibly hard to get rid of after--say--a 12 hour period. There is no
foreseeable let up in the freezing temps. You might think that I'm
just a whiner, but I'm reminded of my mother who was taken too soon by
cancer; she spent the last yeqr or so in a wheelchair. ADA accessibility
is poor to begin with and snow and ice can make sidewalks impassable. I
can't imagine my pregnant wife traversing some of these areas with our 3
maniac beautiful children.
Hold on Grandma, it may be a bumpy ride to the tea house.
What would I do to fix the problem, you ask? I would start by enforcing the law. Issue a violation to a property owner for non-compliance accompanied by a civil penalty. Not a bad source of revenue either. Maybe owners just consider the fines the cost of doing business. Maybe they actually shovel and salt their walks. Landlord doesn't pay the fine? That's easy, the civil penalty becomes a judgement lien and sits on the title of the property. It's not rocket science. We could even go further and hire companies to clear the sidewalks of deadbeat owners and bill them back for this service. Let's be reasonable and start small though. Baby steps. If only Yorktown had an employee(s) responsible for enforcing our laws. If only.
While the town has been incredibly helpful and responsive to the concerns of residents, and despite a short term period where Mohegan Ave was nearly water free--we're back to historically high levels. Hopefully our partnership with the town will result in a permanent solution for this chronic condition. Below, a few photos from Christmas morning, 2012.
Looking west toward rte 6.
This is the backside of the possibly beaver fallen tree we discussed here.
Despite it's flaws, Mohegan Lake sure is beautiful.
I would hate to see another car and a pedestrian all fighting for space at this choke point. Someone's getting wet, at a minimum--if not seriously/gravely injured.
The level of Mohegan Lake is at an all-time high. The Yorktown highway department has been incredibly helpful in addressing some of the underlying issues, but there's still work to be done. I wanted to share a few photos provided by reader Abby Luby 2 months ago in October. They help illustrate the outflow issues. With no further ado.
Gross. Our blue-green algaeis decidedly on the green end of the spectrum. This is the lake side of the Mohegan Avenue culvert. Please note that you can't see the culvert opening on this side.
The Mohegan Lake Improvement District's fearless leader, Ken Belfer, risking life and limb and a dip in some gross algae water to take measurements at the Mohegan Avenue culvert(outflow side). You can see a separation on this side between the lake level and the culvert. This indicates we've got a blockage under the road itself.
Man at work: Ken Belfer.
This interesting steel structure is the grating that keeps crap--for lack of a better word--like branches and trash from clogging up the first in a series of pipes circulate the waters of Mohegan lake. This is just south of the Winery.
This is across the road (see Winery in background).
Word on the street is that this junction of the pipes was completely cemented shut by the State Department of Transportation. Thankfully, Yorktown stepped in and fixed this part of the problem. Unfortunately, our drainage issue persists. As I type this, I can see half of Mohegan Ave covered in water, snow and ice.
Are you not on the MLID listserv? Oh, you should be if you care about our dear Mohegan Lake. You would be getting informative emails about MLID, like the one below. Hope to see you there.
"Our December meeting of the Mohegan Lake Improvement District will be
this Thursday December 20 at 7:30 P.M. In the kitchen of the Mohegan
Colony schoolhouse at 99 Baron de Hirsch Road in Crompond. Hope you can
join us as we plan for what we will do in 2013 to try to avoid another
summer lost to blue green algae blooms."
Sure, it is the middle of the holiday season, but you can always find an excuse not to attend an MLID meeting. Come on, you know you want to be more active in this vital issue that we all pay taxes to fund. You can actually have a say in how that money gets spent, if you show up this Thursday! :-)
I was playing hookie today cause my father's in town. We stopped by The Dew Drop Inn Antique Center of Rte. 9 in Phillipstown. Very nice shop with many quality vendors. I was delighted to find two of the same historic maps of Yorktown. They are pricey: $65. I didn't by one (I would at $40), but I did take this quick photo detail. It shows all the old property owners. You can see where John C. Hart's property is that was donated to town and became our very own John C. Hart Memorial Library. If I ever get rich, I'm going to become a map collector.
Arguably the most important issue facing the future of Mohegan Lake? The Holland Sporting Club. The fate of this beautiful acreage, which is supposed to end up as passive recreation for the surrounding residential community (and all of Yorktown residents), is still up in the air.
Unsure where the Holland Sporting Club is? Below is a map with a pin showing you the entrance. It's basically the peninsula structure jutting out into Mohegan Lake.
View Larger Map
Yorktown recently demolished about 11 buildings which comprised the original Holland Sporting. There was some controversy, as there always is with anything in this town.
If anyone thinks this issue is settled is mistaken. It's quite possible, especially under the current administration, we may see a "private-public partnership" that sees us giving it all, or a portion, away to a private developer.
Nothing is certain. This is an issue that every Mohegan Laker ought to concern themselves with. No definitively plans have been put forth, and it's all napkin sketches at this point. Keep your eye on the ball.
I'm not sure who is running for Commissioner of the Mohegan Lake Fire District (5 year term) but you can view the legal notice at the Yorktown website here. I assume it's probably an uncontested position since I haven't heard of any news of a contest, but could be wrong cause I have no clue. Feel free to fill in the numerous blanks in the comment section, if you're in the know. Regardless, get out and vote, cause it's the democratic thing to do.
The vote will take place at the Jefferson Valley Fire Station at 500 Lee Boulevard in Jefferson Valley.
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