The drawdown of Greenwood Lake is upon us. The NYSDEC has issued a general permit for the fall/winter drawdown of Greenwood Lake as part of a “Water Level Management Plan” for multi- purposes including aquatic nuisance vegetation control and shoreline maintenance and repair activities. Greenwood Lake is an impounded water body located within Passaic County, New Jersey and Orange County, New York. The state of New Jersey owns the dam and is responsible for the drawdown. Implementation of the management plan is a collaborative effort by the Greenwood Lake Commission and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The project will result in a drawdown of a maximum of five feet and is scheduled to commence in October 2021 with refilling of the lake starting on or around January 1, 2022, subject to public water supply considerations. The drawdown will affect NYS regulated wetland GR-5 (class 2) located at the head of the northeast arm of the lake and will result in exposure of the lake bottom in this arm and also the northwest arm as well as areas along the entire shoreline extending out 25-30 feet. The management plan calls for a four year interval for drawdowns. Drawdowns of Greenwood Lake have been conducted periodically since the early 1990`s and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) has previously conducted a coordinated SEQR review and made a determination of non-significance for this project in 2005 which remains in effect because there have been no changes to this project since the 2005 significance determination.
Town residents wishing to conduct work at the shoreline and within the exposed lake bottom in New York waters will require permit approval from the NYS DEC. An expedited permit process for routine maintenance work can be accessed here https://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/79144.html. We also ask that you fill out a minor building department permit, at no charge, so we are aware of the location of your work. That permit can be accessed here https://www.townofwarwick.org/building-department-forms/ . Please attach a copy of your DEC permit when filing the minor building permit. Thank you for your cooperation.