Braddock Bay - Public Hearing Oct. 22, 2014 @ Greece NY Town Hall

Public is encouraged to attend: Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014, 6:30 pm Town Hall, Greece, Long Pond Rd. -- US. Army Corps/Town of Greece want to permanently block half the mouth of Braddock Bay. Be there!!  Don't underestimate the importance of the Bay and any major alterations to its hydrology. Braddock Bay is a freshwater estuary . . . defined as a 'semi-enclosed area where combinations of river/creek and lake water mix and are storm-driven.' In the Great Lakes, the water level changes due to a seiche ['sloshing about' of Great Lakes] which also mixes water from inflow and lake.

My opinion: The Bay is much more fragile than the Town of Greece and the Army Corps are giving it credit for. The Bay can and will turn into a muck hole if a permanent breakwall barrier is placed at its mouth. The Bay is 10,000 years old and it is the only one of the five water features in the DEC Management Area with two major incoming watersheds that drain directly into the bay: Salmon Creek and Buttonwood Creek. It is the only water feature in the WMA with an incredible hydrologic feature, the west spit, which dives underwater and is reinforced by the 100-year old Manitou Trolley foundation which extends across the entire mouth of the bay. It is this old underwater foundation that is working positively for the bay's health. The wave action from storms coming in from all directions combined with the creek inflow make it a rich bay and yet, still quite fragile. Fisherpeople on the Bay tell me to 'keep the channel dredged' -- 'don't obstruct the mouth with a cement barrier.' I am knowledgeable of almost every different kind of beach and man-made barrier, pier, jetty, break wall, etc. that can be built as I have surfed and dove off the coast of California and Mexico. I will predict that this permanent barrier will destroy the bay. Water has the last say. Water flow and wave action actually are our greatest asset in protecting the continued existence of the Bay. There is not one reason to mess with this natural hydrology unless you 'want to play god' and cause an increased level of silt, sand and encroaching vegetation to kill the bay as we know it. - Barbara Carder, 330 Manitou Beach Rd., Hilton, NY 14468