by Gina Greco
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) held a public informational meeting at the Town of Webb Municipal Offices to present an Alger Island Public Campground and Fourth Lake Day Use Area Draft Unit Management Plan, a proposed $856,000 investment in the two facilities.
The informational meeting took place on Wednesday, April 15.
Campground Manager Michael Buzzelli described the upgrades and repairs involved in the five-year plan.
The DEC is looking to replace the two smaller visitor docks at the Fourth Lake Day Use Area (DUA) in the third year of the plan, according to Buzzelli.
“We would like to make it conform to Adirondack Park Agency’s (APA) definition of docks being no wider than eight feet, but possibly making them longer to twenty-five feet,” he said.
This will accommodate larger boats and make the docks more accessible and stable for the visitors, he said.
The estimated cost to replace the dock is $6,000.
Another project for the plan’s third year involves upgrading the access road and parking lot at Fourth Lake DUA.
The current crushed-stone road and 25-car parking lot require yearly addressing of potholes and drainage issues.
The upgrade would pave both.
Upgrades will also include drainage improvements, reducing maintenance costs, dust and runoff.
Additionally, marked slots will assist with parking, Buzzelli said.
The estimated cost for this project is $500,000.
A land classification error will be corrected for the Fourth Lake DUA in the plan’s first year.
“[The area] had the intentsion of being intensive use. It was purchased after being a YMCA facility and camp, but it was never corrected when it was originally classified in the Adirondack State Master Plan,” Buzzelli said.
“We’re looking for APA to make that correction, to realize it was always an intensive use area and to continue classifying it as such.”
One-third of the wood and stone cribbing (500 feet) on Alger Island is to be repaired in the fourth year of the plan.
Cribbing will need replacing due to damage from erosion, wave action and water control draw-downs, he said.
The estimated cost of the replacement is $300,000
Addressing the waste management on Alger Island will occur throughout the entire five-year plan, according to Buzzelli.
Currently, there are twenty pit privies on the island. Seventeen don’t comply with the shoreline setback requirement of 150 feet.
“But there are also problems related to being an island. Soil conditions are not necessarily suited to digging privies where we would like them located,” Buzzelli said.
The DEC plan considers two different solutions.
Option One is to construct two composting toilets that will service campsites four through thirteen and the island day-use area.
This option will result in the removal of eleven pit privies based on current configuration and capacity.
It is estimated that fifty trees will need removing also.
Option Two is to replace non-conforming pit privies with self-contained units.
This option will require periodic pumping via work barge.
The cost of this proposed project is unknown.
In the first year, the docks on Alger Island’s east end are to be repaired.
Currently, two of the three are floating docks for boats tie-up and day use access.
“One of the floating docks will be replaced due to age. The larger dock will be repaired to retain back stabilization and access to the day use area,” Buzzelli said.
The estimated cost of this project is $30,000.
Throughout the five-year plan, there will be numerous campsite improvements. Some address erosion issues on sites 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10; hardening of paths to sites, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15; and planting of vegetation on sites 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.
“We would like to improve the appearance of a lot of the facilities,” Buzzelli said.
The estimated cost for these improvements is $20,000.
The caretaker’s and assistant caretaker’s cabins on the island are currently not in use.
“They haven’t been used in over twenty years,” Buzzelli said.
Future use of the cabins will be considered before any decisions are made, especially one that’s in great ill-repair.
“We are looking into repairing it or possibly bringing it down,” he said.
If the structures are to be removed, DEC will look into adding new campsites.
The estimated cost and the time of this project is unknown.
“The state brings in just under $19,000 in revenue for Alger and just over $1,350 for Day Use revenue,” Buzzelli said.
“Part of our objective for the campground, and mission statement for recreation in the forest preserve, is to have our revenue offset our operating costs.”
“Sometimes that’s difficult in small facilities like this, but program-wide that is one of the objectives—not necessarily to run a profit, but to put whatever we do make into the facilities,” he concluded.
The draft Alger Island Camp-ground UMP can be found on the DEC’s website at: http://www
.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24451.html.
Public comments will be accepted through April 30 and can be addressed to NYS DEC Bureau of Recreation; 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-5253.
Comments can also be emailed to campinfo@dec.ny.gov.