Orleans lakeshore towns will be focus of revitalization plan next year

File photos by Tom Rivers – A full moon was out, opposite of the setting sun on May 3 at Point Breeze. This photo was taken at the shoreline in front of the lighthouse, looking east.

CARLTON – The state is giving $40,000 to update a plan for about 25 miles of waterfront in Orleans County, the Lake Ontario shoreline towns of Kendall, Carlton and Yates.

The three towns worked together on a waterfront revitalization plan in 2002. Some big projects have happened since then including the sale of a former Salvation Army Camp in Kendall and its new use as the Cottages of Troutburg, a 126-acre site with seasonal homes.

The Oak Orchard Lighthouse Committee also formed in 2003 to rebuild a replica of a historic lighthouse at the Oak Orchard Harbor. The project was completed in 2010.

In Yates, The Town Board also developed a new town park on Morrison Road on land that was once owned by New York State Electric and Gas. Apex Clean Energy also wants to build large-scale wind turbines in Yates.

The three towns have expanded public water lines since the last revitalization plan.

The Orleans County Planning Department will lead the efforts to update the Kendall-Yates-Carlton Local Waterfront Revitalization Program. The funds will go towards updating the waterfront plan for the three towns, providing new data on current conditions, policies, and implementation tools and projects.

This photo of the Oak Orchard Lighthouse was taken in early December. Construction of the lighthouse was completed in 2010. It is a replica of one from 1876. That lighthouse toppled over (it used to be at the end of the pier) in a windstorm in 1916. The lighthouse is a new addition to the shoreline since the last plan in 2002 for the Kendall-Yates-Carlton Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.

There will be several public meetings for residents to comment on the amended development plan, said Jim Bensley, the county’s Planning Department director.

He said the first plan developed by the three towns is a “true example of intermunicipal cooperation.”

Issues to be addressed include community revitalization, erosion, transportation infrastructure, water quality, and harbor management.

About 12.5 miles of the Lake Ontario State Parkway stretch into the towns of Kendall and Carlton. The three towns all have popular fishing tributaries, including Johnson Creek, the Oak Orchard River and Sandy Creek.

“Next year we will start working on this in earnest,” Bensley told the Orleans County Planning Board last week. “There will be a huge public participation component for the three towns.”

Orleans County Legislator Ken DeRoller, R-Kendall, was chairman of the first three-county plan.

“This will be an opportunity to revisit the plan and make some enhancements,” said DeRoller, who pushed for the new grant to update the plan.

To see the existing plan from 2002, visit www.ny.gov.