Archive: Opinions

Letters to the EditorDuring the years that I have lived in Lansing, much of the farm land remained the same, farn fields with hedgerows dividing them and providing a natural barrier to runoff water.

Over the past few years, much of that land has been bought up by Belltown Dairy, is under new management or just changed by modernization and a need for space to use the new bigger equipment.

Hedgerows have been systematiclly removed leaving open fields with no water barriers.

When the soil gets saturated with winter melt and spring rain the water just runs off.  If the rains are heavy enough it causes the ditches to overtop and roads to flood.

I have at times had 3 - 4" of water running across my back yard, and the drainage ditch that runs between my property and my neighbor floods over the banks, and much of my front yard can be under water.

I feel sympathy for the Ludlowville residents who are suffering from much the same thing.  The fields on Lansingville road have been opened up over the years and no longer provide adequate natural barriers.

In the past the answer has seemed to be "dig the ditches deeper".  Well, the water still has to end up somewhere.

I can't mow my ditch anymore - can't see over the top if I stand in it.  When I moved here years ago I could mow it with a push mower.  I get next to no runoff there and that ditch has never flooded or come close to flooding but they continue to dig it deeper.

I do believe that at some point the Town of Lansing must take the responsibility for permitting or ignoring the topography changes that are causing these problems and put a stop to them.  Some of the changes could and should be reversed and the natural barriers restored.

Bigger and better is not always good for everyone it impacts.



From: Gail Van Wicklen
Lansing, NY  14882