Annual Meeting Media Release

May 24, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LAKEFRONT GROUP TO HOST ANNUAL MEETING MAY 30th

Formal Meeting to include extensive discussion of water levels and water quality

Sheffield Lake: The Ohio Lakefront Group (OLG) will hold its Annual Meeting at the Catawba Island Club (CIC) in Port Clinton on Thursday May 30, 2019.  Registration will begin at 6:30 with the meeting to begin promptly at 7:00 PM. Following a short business meeting, attendees will hear several presentations including two from the Buffalo Office of the Army Corps of Engineers addressing high water levels and techniques to develop effective shoreline protection.  There will also be a policy update regarding water quality. A question and answer period will follow.

The meeting comes as lakefront property owners are experiencing water levels that have approached historic highs, with many property owners experiencing significant damages. It also quickly follows after the release of a very concerning report from OSU’s Stone Laboratory outlining a new toxic threat in the central basin of Lake Erie.

One representative from the Buffalo Office of the Army Corps of Engineers will address the historic high water levels.  Another representative from the Buffalo Office of the Army Corps of Engineers will address techniques for installing adequate shoreline protection and the Army Corps’ simple permitting process.  Tony Yankel, organization president observes, “The Army Corps’ permitting process is far simpler than that required by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.”

Jim Stouffer, President of the Lake Erie Foundation, will speak about the collaborative efforts his group has promoted to address the Green Algae problem.  Tony Yankel and the OLG have been working with the Lake Erie Foundation in an effort to reduce this problem that impacts virtually all Ohioans.

Mr. Yankel will speak about OLG’s efforts to simplify the Ohio Department of Resource’s (ODNR) permitting process with both the previous and the newly elected administration.  Mr. Yankel stated: “Although we have been talking about ODNR’s onerous permitting process, those talks have not yet yielded any change on the part of the State.  We have historic high waters accompanied by erosion and destruction of the existing structures along the shore. ODNR’s policies appear to turn a deaf ear to the loss of property and property values that is occurring along the entire lake shore.  We are not at the peak of this year’s water levels, so things will only get worse.”  Yankel added, “We are closely reviewing the Stone Lab report, which indicates that the muddier waters of the central basin are an underlying cause of this new toxin. This is a strong argument for reducing sediment. In this time of extremely high water, shoreline protection is being destroyed, resulting in unprecedented amounts of land and sediment going into the lake. If ODNR continues to frustrate efforts to permit shoreline protection, nothing will stop the massive amounts of land loss and sedimentation taking place.”

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