Sandy Pond Channel Maintenance Association
P.O. Box 686
Sandy Creek, NY 13145
www.spcma.homestead.com
Sandy Pond Channel Maintenance Assoc. Facebook Page is regularly updated!
GO FUND ME PAGE: https://gofund.me/f91d282b
May 5, 2023
Dear Membership, Past, Present and future, we are excited for the 2023 Season…
In the spring of 2022 we removed 13,000 cubic yards of material and placed it on the north side. We are very happy with the results. Even though the water levels were low last year, we were still able to use the channel. The funding from Oswego County was not in place yet, so we dredged on a promissory note with the contractor. If the water is over 4’ deep throughout the channel, we are hoping to get the NYS Navigational department to bring back the buoys that mark the channel. After the funding and chicken BBQ, we still owe $85,000.00 for this project. We are currently still working on getting the buoys back to mark the channel. We received 4 bids to dredge in the fall on the south side and went with the lowest bid. We dredged 16,000 cubic yards of material and received $100,000.00 from the County. We still owe $16,883.00 on this project. We dredged again this spring after getting 3 bids to dredge the channel and we dredged the South side removing almost 13,000 cubic yards of material. We received $100,000.00 from Oswego County and owe $28,950.00 to the contractor. We had to stop dredging due to lack of funding. We have almost 40 private land owners that will allow us to place the sand that is removed from the channel, including the Sandy Island State Park Beach property. The dredge project was successfully completed before the return of the piping plover. This year the DEC added monitoring one week prior to dredging and then daily after April 1st to monitor for the Piping Plover and the Common Tern. In the 5 year dredge permit that we received this spring, we are allowed to remove 36,000 cubic yards of material a year. With the lowest bid coming in at $10.00 a cubic yard for removal it is still $360,000.00. The more sand removed from the channel the better chance the natural current will maintain itself. There is a proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary that will encompass south of Oswego to Sackets Harbor. This is great news for this area. With 40 shipwrecks and 2 airplane wrecks out in the Lake this should generate tourism into this area. We also are working on having Sandy Pond become a safe harbor. If Sandy Pond becomes a safe harbor we believe the Army Corps of Engineers will maintain the channel. This is a long term goal. We have worked closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife and NYS Historic Preservation, DEC and the Department of State to get these permits done. Hart Environmental was instrumental in getting these permits approved.We all want to continue to enjoy the peace and beauty of the beach and Sandy Pond!We sincerely appreciate any and all donations from the users of the Channel.
Mechanical dredge operations cost more, but remove more sand in a less period of time!
5 cent Can Returns have raised $ 19,999.65 to date - Sandy Creek Redemption center will take them or Greene Point has a can boat where they can be dropped off.
Annual Meeting Date June 4th at the Sandy Pond Sportsman’s Club at 10 AM
SPCMA –
Board of Directors: Cathy Goodnough, Tom Crosby, Dave Catania, Margaret Kastler, Ralph Leber, Pete Backus, Harold Golden, Deb Kelly
Name: _____________________________________ _________$25 Bronze level Donor
Address:___________________________________ ________ $50 Silver level Donor
Phone:_____________________________________ _________$100 Gold Level Donor
e-mail:_____________________________________ _________Other Platinum
Donations/Checks can be made to: SPCMA 2023 Stickers Available
P.O. Box 686
Sandy Creek, NY 13145 