Assemblyman Kevin Byrne (R, C, Ref-Mahopac) is pleased to report that on June 10th, 2020, his legislation (A10061) passed the Assembly to add three more lakes in Town of Carmel (Lake Casse, Gilead Lake, and Kirk Lake), as designated inland waterways in the state of New York. By designating these lakes as an inland waterways, the Town of Carmel can now pursue additional grant opportunities for the purposes of waterfront revitalization. Localities with designated inland waterways are eligible to apply for grants through the Department of State and the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. This designation can help better enable the town to address some of the local needs within its lake communities.
“Since first elected, we’ve been able to successfully pass numerous pieces of legislation that add our local waterbodies as designated inland waterways in our state,” said Byrne. “Clean water is vital to every community, and this important designation will help enable our local governments to apply and compete for additional state funding to support our lake communities and revitalize their waterfronts. I thank my colleagues for their support of this common-sense, bipartisan legislation.”
Prior to this legislation, Assemblyman Byrne had already passed five pieces of legislation designating various water bodies as inland waterways, including Lake Baldwin and Lake Ossi in the Town of Carmel. Same as legislation was also introduced in the Senate by Sen. Harckham and recently passed the Senate.
Learn more about the state’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) and the potential benefits it provides at the New York State Department of State’s Division of Planning & Development website HERE