Canaan Lake gets refilled

The stories revealed at the sluice gate kept coming. The president of MGM had a house here, a gangster set up a residence there. A car was found in the lake in the 1960s. A couple from Florida, who lived in the area for years, revealed that Canaan Lake had been sand mined at one time. They related that one to one of the engineers working on its restoration.

Canaan Lake has had a lot of anecdotal tales like that.

On Tuesday, after over a decade of planning, unexpected conundrums, stops, starts, southern pine beetle infestation, Department of Environmental Conservation approvals and COVID-related delaying issues, Legis. Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) closed the sluice off Traction Boulevard, enabling the lake’s refilling—a victory lap of sorts, after additional efforts to remove invasive species that made the lake look more like a lawn in the summer. The water flow lowering process down to four to six feet was suggested in 2016 to kill the cabomba and milfoil in the fall, then scraping sediment from the bottom with heavy machinery. The culvert was erected in 2017. Not enough water, no life.

Calarco has been doggedly overseeing the project, which had its ups and downs, for over 10 years. A feasibility study was actually started in 2007.

“We did that in conjunction with Yaphank Lake,” said Calarco’s chief of staff Eva Greguski, who worked for the town at that time.

The total project cost came in at $4.15 million.

The 26-acre body of freshwater is part of the Patchogue River system. “It was dammed up in the 1920s for a lake resort and Traction Boulevard provided a way to get to it,” explained Calarco. Summer bungalows eventually evolved into full-time residences.

William Hillman, chief engineer, Suffolk County Department of Public Works, attended the sluice cutoff with Mario Carrera, resident engineer, and Justin Hipperling, director of construction.

“There were multiple phases,” he said of the project that just kept evolving, with its consternations including rainy seasons where work had to stop. It’s always hopeful a project will go smoothly. But there were frustrations. Still, they kept slogging. “It was interesting to work through the problems and figure them out,” he said of their determination to see it through.

The last lap was conducted over the last three years.

Carrera said the lake would be up to its 6-foot capacity by the weekend.

Calarco had taken a walk earlier along Canaan Lake’s eastern shore to illustrate the buildout: an area outlined with carefully placed rocks. “We had the entire bottom material scraped down and didn’t have a place to put it,” he said. “Brookhaven offered the landfill at a lower cost, but it was still too expensive for us to use. So the Department of [Environmental] Conservation allowed us to move the material onto the shoreline.”

He was looking at the newly planted trees. Native grasses would be added.

“Once the plants establish themselves, it will create a great habitat for birds,” he added.

He’d like to initiate an access route off Woodside Avenue. “These woods go to Woodside,” he said, pointing to the forested area.

Carol Dubin, former president of the now defunct Canaan Lake Restoration Association, which was onboard with restoration efforts over a decade ago, said her group participated for well over 10 years in the New York State Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program. “It’s a volunteer monitoring program run by the DEC and the New York State Federation of Lakes Association,” she said. “We did water testing, we recommended and facilitated the purchase of an undeveloped northwest parcel under the open space program; it was a multimillion purchase.”

“The entire shoreline has changed dramatically,” she added. “Am I sad the town couldn’t find a way to remove some of the compost and bring it to the landfill? Yes. But I feel very confident this has been thoughtfully addressed by experts in many levels of government and believe it will make a difference in use of the lake for recreational purposes.”