SENECA COUNTY(WENY)-- A petition with well over 2,000 signatures is currently circulating the internet asking that the 138-acre lakefront property known as Camp Barton be preserved by the New York State Office of Parks. 

The 2,200 feet of shoreline property located on Cayuga Lake is currently owned by the Baden-Powell Boy Scout Council and  Assemblywoman Dr. Anna Kelles said the scouts plan to sell the camp in coming weeks. According to an article from the Ithaca Journal the land is being sold to help the Boy Scouts of America to help them exit bankruptcy.  In August a U.S.  judge ruled that $850 million was to be payed to over 80,000 victims who filed sexual abuse claims against the national organization. 

The Camp Barton property is located in the Town of Covert in Seneca County and it features 2,200 feet of shoreline property on Cayuga Lake and it also provides fifty percent of the water needs for the Village of Trumansburg public water system. 

Assemblywoman DR. Anna Kelles worries that if this land is sold to the highest bidder, instead of being preserved it will not only be harmful to a main water source for the Town of Trumansburg but also increase the danger of Harmful Algal Blooms on the lake. 

 “ If the land is sold and developed it's really important [to note] that there is no formal zoning laws in that area,” said Kelles. “ There is no municipal water and sewer so all of the houses that are built would have to be on individual septic systems or one septic system and that is as I said earlier  one of the greatest risks for HABS for a lake that already has the greatest number of harmful algal bloom outbreaks in the state.”

Kelles said it would be difficult for the state parks department to manage this land because they are spread very thin but leadership from the Village of Trumansburg, the Town of Covert and the Town of Ulysses have formed a memorandum of understanding that would take the burden off of the state parks department. 

“They have collectively proposed to the state that if the state purchases the land to be held as part of the state park system that they will manage that land locally as a recreation partnership,” said Kelles. “ All the pieces are there, we just need Governor Hochul and the state to agree to purchase the land and keep it as preserved parkland.” 

Kelles is asking that community members not only sign the petition but also reach out to the mayor of Trumansburg, Rordan Hart, and Governor Hochul, urging them to stop this land from being sold for the purposes of private development. 

The petition can be accessed by following this link. 

Rordan Hart can be contacted here: [email protected] 

Gov. Kathy Hochul can be contacted here: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form