Sandy Pond Channel Maintenance Association Continues Search For Permanent Solution

SANDY CREEK, NY – As another brilliant summer on North Sandy Pond gets into full swing, the Sandy Pond Channel Maintenance Association continues to search for a permanent solution to the ongoing challenges to navigation that face the narrow passage to Lake Ontario.

According to SPCMA President Cathy Goodnough, dredging was performed in the spring, but the channel is not marked with navigational buoys, creating a hazardous situation for boaters.

“New York State Marine Services pulled the navigational aids marking the channel, and we have been working with New York State Senate Minority Leader Will Barclay to try to get the buoys back and to get the rock pile marked… People are out there hitting the channel,” Goodnough said.

The rock pile was marked just before the recent holiday weekend.

The SPCMA was forced to perform the spring dredging with borrowed funds, Goodnough stated, with the work being completed before the Piping Plover nesting season began. The performance of this dredging has placed the SPCMA close to $130,000 in debt.

In a letter received by the SPCMA from the New York State Marine Services, dated April 25, 2022, the state agency declared that due to the likelihood of the sand shifting caused by the forces of nature, the channel might close, and therefore the navigational aids would be misleading. Markers that have been in place for close to 30 years that mark the location of Greene Point Marina were also removed.

Goodnough said that her family’s business has purchased some buoys to mark the channel into the marina, and that private individuals have placed makeshift buoys to mark the areas of deep water and shoals in the passage between Sandy Pond and Lake Ontario, in an effort to prevent a tragedy.

Recently taken aerial photos are available on the Friends of Sandy Pond Uncensored Facebook page, but Goodnough said that it will take more than that to allow visiting boaters to know where the channel currently lies.

“If you didn’t know…there are literally thousands of boaters out there,” Goodnough said. “You can’t tell me that it is not worth getting the channel marked.”

Goodnough said that it is common for business owners around Sandy Pond to hear complaints for customers regarding the state of the channel, and that she is often approached by people and asked “where are the buoys?” The SPCMA does not own the equipment to mark the channel or the needed buoys and anchoring systems, and the organization counts on New York state to handle these items.

“It is the state’s responsibility,” Goodnough said

The SPCMA is awaiting word from the New York State Sandy Island Beach Department, as to where to place the sand that must be removed from the channel. According to Goodnough, 35 private landowners on the south side of the channel have offered to accept sand, but New York state has raised concerns about the beach traffic that moving the sand would create.

Under the tireless leadership of Cathy Goodnough, the SPCMA continues to work toward a permanent solution to this problem. Seemingly contradicting dictates from several state agencies, along with the slow movement of the political process continue to make a difficult struggle drag on for years.

The SPCMA will hold its annual meeting at 10 a.m. on Sunday, July 17 , at the Sandy Pond Sportsmen’s Club.

A chicken barbecue will be held immediately after to help raise funds and to help alleviate the organization’s debt. Goodnough said that the SPCMA has applied to Oswego County for funding to put in place a five year program that would allow for spring and fall dredging. Anyone with an interest in the dilemma is encouraged to attend and get involved with the organization.

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