Important Information About Shorefront Ice Damage Repair

Did your shoreline sustain damage from this winter’s ice? John Schweizer and other GA board members are working with the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to clarify requirements for repairs done to shorelines.

Several lakeshores in the Northeast Kingdom sustained ice damage this winter due to the warm winter and repeated expansion and contraction of ice. ANR has already begun visiting sites at other lakes in our region to review Lake Encroachment Permit Applications for properties on Maidstone Lake and Seymour Lake, both of which had severe ice push on shorelines. Damage was most severe where lawns run all the way to the lake.

ANR would like to visit sites on Caspian as well. Lakeshore Encroachment Permitting covers any work done in the water. They have clarified the requirements for seeking a permit for shoreline work in the information below:

“Any work that is to be done above the current mean water level (area jurisdictional under the Shoreland Protection Act) that does not involve creating new cleared area or impervious surface may take place at any time. Maintaining an existing beach above mean water level would be an exempt activity provided no new cleared area or impervious surface is involved with completing the project.

However, any work that proposes to add or remove fill at or below the current mean water level would require a Lake Encroachment permit. If you are looking to stabilize your existing shoreline through the use of adding any type of fill at or below mean water level, one may not reclaim lost land through placement of new fill beyond the location of the existing shoreline or create new land lakeward of the existing shoreline.

Review time for a Lake Encroachment permit applications take between 45 and 90 days. Any Lake Encroachment activities may not commence until after July 1 of a calendar year as a spring fish spawning protective measure.”

Keep our lakes beautiful. If you have questions about whether your shoreline project falls under the permitting guidelines, visit the ANR’s website at https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds.