GENEVA — If and when the city decides to dredge the north end of Seneca Lake in order to construct an upgraded, expanded marina, Daniel Gildea is urging caution.
Gildea, project manager of vertical construction services for a Watertown company, says there are a number of sunken canal boats at the north end of the lake dating back many years — and he doesn’t want to see dredging destroy or damage them. He has marked the location of one sunken boat with a milk jug masquerading as a buoy.
While he is not opposed to the dredging, Gildea said he wants to ensure that New York state artifacts are preserved in the process of preparing for and executing the work.
In June, Gildea said a group of divers discovered four canal boats in the immediate area of the existing marina that are in jeopardy of being damaged or destroyed by dredging activity. He has contacted city officials about his concerns.
In a June email to the Times, Gildea said that “for the most part, everyone from the city of Geneva has turned a blind eye to the recent discovery.” He said he has email traffic between himself and the city to back up his claim that city officials are overlooking the sunken-boat issue. He also attached a video of a dive that discovered some of the boats and items that were on board.
“Why would they overlook such an amazing opportunity to study shallow-water shipwrecks when they’re spending all this money and time locating deep-water wrecks that they can’t even get to?” Gildea wrote. “Why wouldn’t the city care enough to ensure these wrecks are preserved so that visitors to the (Finger Lakes) Welcome Center can snorkel over them and see a beautiful part of history close up and personal instead of through photos and videos?”
City Director of Public Works Joe Venuti said he is not aware of sunken boats of any kind in the potential dredging area.
“To my knowledge, nothing of the kind was found during our dredge sampling or geo-technical investigators,’’ Venuti said. “We will review Mr. Gildea’s concerns with our consultants to determine if there was any State Historic Preservation Office’s review of this area during the early permitting process that I may not be aware of.”
Venuti said the permit phase of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative marina project is ongoing and involves the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of General Services, and Department of State. Those agencies all need time to review and cross-reference all applications — “which can take some time,” Venuti noted.
“The current proposed marina designs include a dredge area that has been greatly reduced from earlier conversations to only a small corner of the southwest portion of the marina near the existing Long Pier.”
Venuti later said that after talking with the city’s consultant, the Army Corps of Engineers received a letter from the State Historic Preservation Office indicating no effect on Oct. 11, 2019, after their review of the site and proposed project areas.
“In short, if there is a shipwreck or any other significant historic properties or archaeological and or historic resources in the area, SHPO is not aware of it,’’ he said.
Gildea said for years various divers from around the state have used the north end of Seneca Lake as an early-season site to collect old bottle fragments, pottery shards, and other remnants. The site is popular because of lack of vegetation, shallow depths, and extremely clear water conditions. Gildea said the lake shifts sediment from deeper parts to the north end, but a sifter could be used in the dredging process to clear any artifact remains from the sediment before it is hauled off.
The canal boats are in the area between the two jetties or breakwaters, Gildea noted, and in no deeper than 15 feet of water.
“I just hope that all efforts are made prior to the start of dredging for the sake of the artifacts and the preservation of history for the people of Geneva,” Gildea said.
In October 2021, the city applied for a permit from the DEC to dredge an estimated 410 cubic yards of sediment from an 11,500-square-foot area of lake bottom. That would allow the city to improve and expand the city’s marina in Lakefront Park to about 71 dedicated boat slips, plus space for up to four shallow-draft boats along the interior edge of the west dock.
