City Sale of Canadice and Hemlock Lakes on Track

By Rachel Ward

Rochester, NY – The state comptroller has signed off on the purchase of Hemlock and Canadice lakes. Those members of the Finger Lakes chain provide drinking water to the city of Rochester, which has sought to sell them to the state.

That deal would keep the lakes forever wild, and provide about $13.6 million to the city. The money is earmarked for the creation of a marina, and other redevelopments at the port of Charlotte.

The comptroller's approval of the deal is the next in a series of procedural moves to making the purchase final. City council has already signed off on the deal, and the attorney general has given his go-ahead.

A spokesman for the Department of Conservation, which is buying the lakes, says there's no set timeline for when the deal will close. But he says as far as the department knows, the deal is "proceeding along towards closure."