SMALLWOOD, NY — Tensions at the public access in the Toronto Reservoir are rising again, as someone called in a trespassing complaint to Bethel Constables regarding a person or persons who were on a marked-off area of the access.

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) has placed signs saying the area is now considered a public bathing area, and without amenities such as a lifeguard and access to potable water, the public may not use it.

Members of Friends of the Toronto disagree with the DOH interpretation of the law, and everyone agrees that Eagle Creek operates a hydropower plant under license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the license requires that a public access area be maintained by Eagle Creek at that location.

Town of Bethel Supervisor Dan Sturm said constables responded to a complaint on August 14 when someone put a chair on part of the access that was blocked off. But Sturm said constables will not be removing people from the water. He said the constables are not the enforcement arm of the DOH, and he does not necessarily agree with the DOH decision to post the signs.

Sturm said “everything was great down there for a couple of years,” but the posting of the signs has brought the issue to the surface again.

The Friends of Toronto Reservoir have scheduled a demonstration at the reservoir on Sunday, August 21, at 12 noon.

Bob Barrett, a resident who has closely followed this issue for at least 13 years wrote in an email that the public has a right to use the access and the water for “fishing, boating, hiking, and sunbathing with or without a chair.”

A representative of Eagle Creek did not return a call seeking comment.