Susan McClure, a long standing member of our Lake Association is speaking out about her feelings for the weed treatment plan. Click the link to read her letter:
I am Susan McClure. My husband and I have owned 2779 Van Dyke St. since July 10, 1963. am here to speak in favor of continuing having the weed removal in Crockery Lake managed professionally. And I am in favor of having the cost assessed to each lake front property owner under the auspices of the Chester Township Tax Collector, a practice that needs to be renewed in 2019.
In the 60s our mud bottom lake supported many weeds, in particular weeds with ferny, scratchy leaves we swam though to get to the drop off. Those weeds sheltered lots of little crabs. In 1973 or '74 algae covered our end of the lake. Up until that time people raked and threw whatever chemicals the promotion literature or ads said would work into the lake. Some people spent a lot of money and threw a lot of herbicides into the lake. Others of us raked and raked.
At some point the Crockery Lake Association was able to assess every lake front owner yearly for professional weed control. Not everyone was happy about controlling weeds with chemicals, but I suspect everyone was happy with having a beach with few or no weeds. Today we will have the opportunity .to continue having professionals who know what herbicides kill what weeds. The professionals identify the kinds of weeds that live in the lake and specifically treat the weeds with the appropriate weed killer. If we have a weed like eel grass which can not be killed by a chemical application or only with a herbicide that is deadly to humans too, the trained and licensed professionals will not apply it. The people at Professional Lake Management are trained to identify weeds and to apply the appropriate chemicals. They do not buy from the pool management people who treat water that is subject to other, non-lake problems. They also apply the chemicals under the right weather conditions, they post notices before applying chemicals, and they protect themselves with appropriate clothing.
How do we pay for professional services? The fairest way is to assess every owner of lake front property, through the tax assessor's rolls, as is done now. The current practice will expire in 2019 and will have to be renewed with the consent of the property owners. I don't pretend to know the numbers-the cost, the past costs, and no body knows the future costs, no more than the people who set up our present rate cap. To have weed control done by weed control professionals rather than willy-nilly by our neighbors or by ourselves is the safest choice, for people and for the lake we love.
