Latour Park, the Saranac Lake village beach, a state boat launch, an Environmental Protection Camp run by DEC and six private properties are all situated on Lake Colby.

“Over 90-percent shoreline is public use,” Keet said.

“Kids get duck itch fever down at the beach. It’s not certain that it’s directly related to this runoff,” he said.

Lake Colby Association is not party to the lawsuit, though its ongoing water-quality research is very much the center of concern.

Murphy said the village has been looking to move the salt pile to a shared sand/salt shed.

“This is the discussion that prompted the applications for funding to build a joint sand/salt shed. What happened is the village obtained a $175,000 grant toward their portion, and the town (Harrietstown) was contemplating a bond for their portion but concluded bonding rates were too high. The town is in the process now of pursuing grants.”

Bids for the new shed exceeded $700,000.

The shed would be built at a site off John Munn Road, which also abuts Lake Colby.

“The town and the village would both very much like to get our salt piles covered,” Murphy said. “We could cover them with tarps, but we’re looking for a more permanent solution. Neither the town nor the village has all the funding in place. It certainly wouldn’t be done in 60 days.”

Saranac Lake is not under DEC or state Department of Health consent order to address water-quality impact from runoff on Lake Colby, he added.

“We’re under no consent order to cover our salt piles. We can’t just build a salt shed on a whim, nor have we refused to do that.”

Keet said Lake Colby Association helped secure grant funds to build the shed.

But the grant has been in place for four years.

“The thing is in complete limbo,” Keet said.