This week’s Fig City News featured an interesting story by Martina Jackson about Crystal Lake.
As long as I’ve lived in Newton there have always been tensions between different groups’ visions for Crystal Lake. The last time I saw those tensions on full display was a few years ago when the City Council held a hearing about a proposal for legalizing “Swim at your Own Risk” at Levingston Cove on Crystal Lake. The turnout for the meeting was huge with lots of passionate speakers on both sides of the issue.
Many of the local homeowners were adamant about not allowing swimming there and many regular swimmers were equally adamant about allowing the swimming.
Now fast forward a few years. A construction project is currently underway at Levingston Cove to spruce up the lake front. From the reporting it sounds like the local home owners, represented by Friends of Crystal Lake, have pressed for the shore there to be lined with big irregular shaped natural stones and construction is underway. At the most recent Newton Highlands Area Council, many of the local councilors were alarmed that the construction of the design that is underway (i.e. with the big rocks) appears to be an effort to thwart swimmers by making it awkward and unsafe to get to the water from the shore.
It’s all beginning to sound like the same fight but this time waged via engineering design.
I have always had mixed emotions about swimmers outside the designated beach area at Crystal Lake. The libertarian in me cried, “Let the people decide!” but I myself pay the modest fees and swim in the roped-off area. Those season passes help defray the cost of the life guards, who protect both the young and old at the city-run beach.
One year, when the public area closed prematurely because of a lack of life guards, I waded into the lake at Lexington Cove: uggh! The bottom was muddy and the water discolored until I had swum well off shore. I also fear that the dogs chasing sticks in the lake there might pollute the water. After all, Crystal Lake lacks a robust inflow of water.
That being said, it seems to me preferable to look the other way rather than have the city police Cronin’s Cove and Levingston Cove. As for discouraging freelancers by placing stones on the beach…sneaky!
What was the outcome of the council discussion of a “swim at your own risk”?
Jane – Here’s the account of that City Council meeting. The upshot was that the Council had no legal authority on the matter.
The following spring, the Parks & Rec Committee took the matter up and voted unanimously to NOT allow swim-at-you-own-risk and recommended instituting new civil fines for violators. Here’s the account
I live in Newton on the Waltham town line. I see no need to allow anyone who wants to swim in Crystal Lake to be able to pull up, park , and jump in the lake. Reasons; most important, it’s not a question of IF someone will drown with unsupervised swimming but WHEN. Several years ago that’s just what happened when a person who didn’t live in Newton went swimming at night with friends. Also, why do citizens who abut Crystal Lake have to suffer a constant flow of persons parking on the streets in their neighborhood and using the lake as their own. I know I wouldn’t want this influx of persons at all hours disturbing my peace and quite just because I’ve purchased a home near a body of water. Allowing persons to swim in the lake has never been allowed so nobody can say that homeowners knew what they were getting into when they bought their homes. The police can’t just ignore complaints from neighbors of the lake and this just leads to a waste of officers time and the real potential of a dangerous confrontation with irate persons who don’t want to hear that they are not allowed to go swimming, especially during heat waves.
Finally. I think target hardening of the cove area is a great idea. While they’re at it, put in rose/thorn bushes at the areas where people swim. Greens up the area and you hopefully get flowers too. It’s sort of simple. Sometimes people have to live with hearing the word ” NO”. Like ; ” No. You can’t swim in Crystal Lake anywhere and anytime you want .”
Whoooooooooshhhhhh
You ask: …
why do citizens who abut Crystal Lake have to suffer a constant flow of persons parking on the streets in their neighborhood and using the lake as their own.
I might ask why the neighbors near Cabot’s (let’s say) have to put up with constant traffic and trash. The same might be asked of any neighborhood near a popular destination.
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.
“This Land Is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie
Not your land Pete. Everyone’s. Including the people who live around the lake.
Can someone tell me what kind of construction is happening at the grassy part of the public beach? There’s a fenced off square with some dirt and equipment.
The area on the park section near the Bathhouse is a staging area for the construction at Levinston Cove.
As someone who lives close to Crystal Lake I have mixed feelings. I have lived in the neighborhood for 20yrs. I have spent a lot of time at the legal area and have had a kid work there. Things have really changed in the last few years and not for the better.
The lack of respect from people who use the lake has increased dramatically. It used to be the far end closer to Beacon was where all the wild activity was. Neighbors dealt with a lot of crap including people disrobing in front of their homes. Now the rowdy behavior has spread to Levinston Cove and even the park abutting the bathhouse. It used to be Levinston Cove was used by some sunbathers and young families (the legal area should open earlier on the weekends for this crowd), some kayakers & paddleboards, the girl on a log,and full lake swimmers. Now the whole area is chaos.
There are preliminary plans which last I heard are on hold for the legal park and beach area. Most are trying to recreate other areas (Charles River and Denmark) that add boardwalks and don’t fit current uses very well. They want to make it more accessible which yes it should be easier for all people to use the lake but removing the fencing and making the edge of the docks the payment required part is a mistake, There needs to get better access for people with disabilities but this is not the way to go. Make the terrain easier but the fencing provides a bit of control. It was such a special place to take my kids and it’s important that it remains that way, removing the fencing will make it a free for all.
It is interesting that these large boulders are being put in place while the overall mantra is accessibility. Friends of Crystal is a small, vocal group whereas in my opinion the Crystal Lake Conservancy is much more representative of the local residents.
It is important to have a legal, safe area for people but I also have no problem with the respectful swimmers for regularly swim the full lake,
Are these plans you mention documented anywhere?
Here are the proposed plans for the park area abutting the bathhouse
https://www.newtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/90704/637988735994870000
There would then be subsequent plans for the bathhouse and parking. Some people stated at the zoom I attended that a plan should be created for the bathhouse and Parkin at the same time even if they could not be executed at the same time. That it would be a better approach to plan for the whole area even if the projects are done in phases.
Love that^
As someone new to being informed on Crystal lake… how fresh is the water exactly for swimming? I’ve only heard rumors… what is this cove people speak of as well as the bathhouse? Never seen….
I agree with this opinion that it is to be used by families with the young children, water sport activities, sunbathers, and experienced swimmers.
Welcome Giselle.
The best area to swim in season is the legal area as there is an aqualator (ok this may not be the correct name but it is a device that keep the water circulating to help prevent some of the neg things that can occur with sedentary water ie bacteris and other growth). The City tests the water for bacteria in that area on a regular basis to confirm that the water is safe for swimming. The rest of the lake is not tested by the City, I have heard other groups have tested outside of the legal area and determined that the water quality is not always great close to shore but improves once you get 20-30 ft out into the lake. Many people swim the full lake in a daily basis.
The only time to definitely not swim is when the algae blooms typically late summer and after a hot stretch. Visually you can tell when the algae is blooming by a greasy looking coating on the lake and it is unnaturally army green color. If the legal area is still in season when the algae blooms, they will close. In recent years there was some preventative treatment done vs the algae bloom. I did not see signs up this year for that treatment but I may have missed them due to the Cove being closed or maybe the treatment works for multiple years,
I understand the focus on access. I have a different concern, and it appears to have gone unnoticed or at least unacknowledged by city officials for many years.
There’s a gas station on Centre Street just a stones throw from Crystal Lake. Its a good business run by very nice people. But its fuel storage tanks are upgradient from the lake. If those tanks should ever leak [a common problem with gas stations] the issue would quickly shift from access to environmental disaster.
I believe the City should either attempt to acquire this property, close it and eliminate any potential environmental threat, or facilitate a sale to a third party who would clean and redevelop the property.
Mike While you are at it you might as well close down the dry cleaner across the street too since the chemicals that they use are much more toxic and harder to clean up than a gas station
I have not swam or taken my family to swim at the “legal beach” at Crystal Lake because the swimming area is so tiny, and I do not wish to be constantly kicked in the face while swimming. I actually can’t even call it swimming – it is torture. Money is not the issue – I will happily pay for a pleasant experience, however, time at the designated swim area can hardly be described as enjoyable. To minimize swimming at the Lexington Cove, we could remove the roped-in area and let people swim as far as they wish, and have lifeguards nearby. Newton can’t close of the Lexington Cove, and then claim that Crystal Lake is a public resource for everyone – it is not. Swimming there will continue, though, even with the “improvements”.
I just had my first swim of the season in Newton’s (much) lesser used swimming hole …. the Charles River in Hemlock Gorge.
It was delightful.
Wow! I never even considered swimming in Hemlock gorge but, now that you mention it, that would be a great spot if the water is clean. I doubt I will live to see the day but if they ever get the Charles in Watertown/Nonantum clean, I could walk to the beach. That would be so great!
But is it safe or polluted, Jerry? As for Crystal Lake, the deep water area is extensive and rarely crowded except, perhaps, on weekends. I have never been kicked in the face myself. The kids’ area? That’s another story.
I’ve been swimming most days all summer long for the last three years in hemlock gorge.
The water doesn’t look terribly enticing because it’s a brownish tint due to leaves but they do regular testing up and down the river. The water quality at Hemlock Gorge is always fine.
If we get a heavy rainstorm I usually skip the next day because that’s when stuff can wash into the river.
A side note to the “Dry Cleaner” across the street. Holly does not use harsh chemicals. It uses K4 which is biodegradable, hazardous free and made from corn. It’s also has the US distinction as a bio fuel and Holly was one of the first three cleaners in the US to start using this over 1o years ago to clean clothes
Thanks for following up on that point, Jeff. Good to know that Holly has proactively addressed the concern raised by Jackson Joe. Of course Holly is more than 100 yards further away from the lake and appears to be down gradient from the gas station that I expressed concerns about.
Again, that gas station is a fine business run by very nice people. But no municipality would allow a fueling station to be built in such close proximity to a lake in this day and age. The underground fuel storage tanks pose a potential environmental disaster, should they ever leak. I have no confidence that anyone from city government is monitoring [or even aware of] the situation.
It’s good to hear that that site has no issue with hazardous chemicals and would pass any environmental assessment?
Jerry, I am glad you enjoy swimming at the Gorge. I walk there often and I am always struck by the current and the knowledge that the river has two dangerous waterfalls that swimmers can easily be swept towards. Not for kids or unaware swimmers.
Yes, definitely not for kids.
I never go downstream of Echo Bridge – i.e. no where near the next waterfall
The wealthy and vocal property owners along the lake shore do not own the lake itself. Nobody is demanding that they give up what they already own. They, on the other hand, are agitating to take something away from the rest of us: access and enjoyment of a public lake, one that has been enjoyed according to custom (if not the letter of the law) for decade upon decade.
That is appropriation.
It’s particularly shameless to reduce public use of a public lake while cynically deploying the language of accessibility.
Again: they don’t own the lake. If they are so concerned about being too near the dirty public, they could live just anywhere else. Maybe a gated a community would serve them better.
I’m not sure if its by mistake or by intention but generally the “ improvements” at Livingston Cove place the spectator much more apart from the water ( 5- 6 feet higher ) and much closer to Lake Avenue traffic.