Too much evening swimming at Shepard Park in Lake George Village pushed the village board to approve a permanent fence for the beach.
At their meeting yesterday afternoon, Mayor Robert Blais said that the state Department of Health has approached the village and said they are at risk.
"We have been warned by the health department that we need to do whatever we can to eliminate that practice," the mayor said. “This seems like the most logical and safe thing we can do to protect the village in the future.”
The mayor added that the peace officer who patrolled the beach had a hard time keeping people out of the water. The village no long has a police department and relies on the Warren County Sheriff's office, so that option is gone anyway.
Trustee Raymond Perry did not love the idea.
"I hate the looks of it,” he said. “I hate all about it."
In the end, however, seeing few options, the trustees approved it unanimously.
Sienna Fence Co won the bid, about $25,000, for materials and installation of a five-foot-tall, commercial grade fence with three gates.
Only the beach area itself will be fenced. The rest of Shepard Park which includes a grassy slope and an amphitheater will be open.
“We already had a problem with people swimming until 8:30, 9 p.m.,” the mayor said in an interview this morning. Ropes and signs did little to stop people from swimming after the beach closed at 6.
“It was just uncontrollable,” he said. The trustees voted for a fence, he said, “reluctantly.”
It should be installed when the beach opens the final weekend of June. There is no entry fee.