WARREN, Conn.—In a special meeting held Friday evening, June 6, in the Warren Town Hall, the Lake Waramaug Authority unanimously approved a draft ordinance governing the use of wake boats on Lake Waramaug.
The draft ordinance will now be forwarded for discussion to the selectmen of Warren, Kent and Washington, the three towns that border the body of water. In Kent, a Selectmen’s meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 10, at 5 p.m.
The ordinance, which must be approved by all three towns to be enacted, will go to public hearings and town meetings in each community.
Wake surfing, a sport in which participants surf on the wake of a heavy boat, is growing in popularity across the country. Boats fill ballasts with water to push the stern deeper into the water or use hydrofoils and other methods to produce larger waves.
The ordinance proclaims that motor-powered vessels with ballasts and hull designs that produce “harmful wakes” create serious safety hazards for other long-established uses of the lake, including kayaks, fishing boats, rowing shells, paddle boards, swimmers and dock facilities. It further states that the wakes cause destructive erosion of the lake’s shoreline and upset the balance of native vegetation as well as disturbing the lake bottom and impairing water quality.
Thus, the ordinance states that no person at any time shall operate on Lake Waramaug a vessel with “one or more ballast tanks, weight loading, hydrofoils or wake shapers to artificially enhance or increase wakes.”
Prior to launching, all power vessels shall be inspected and the owner asked to confirm in writing that ballast tanks and other devices have been rendered inoperable and that the vessel will not be operated in a manner to produce enhanced wakes.
Any person violating the provisions of the ordinance will be fined $250 for each occurrence in accordance with state statute. Any continuing violation will be deemed a separate occurrence. Enforcement actions can be appealed in court.
The ordinance does not preclude enforcement actions by other town, state or federal agencies, and it declares that it is the intention of the towns that “any phrase, clause, sentence or paragraph is severable.” If any section is declared unlawful it will not affect the entire body of the ordinance.
During the meeting, authority members suppressed public comment from volatile audience members, most of whom seemed to advocate for the presentation of options for the public vote.
The meeting had been advertised as not being open for public comment, but audience members objected, demanding to know why they could not be heard. They were advised that there will be chances to speak during public meetings in each town and that the authority’s recommendation will be subjected to “a complete and transparent vote.”
That did little to mollify the spectators who erupted into angry discussion as soon as the meeting was closed.
Discussion about the increasing presence of wake boats has been simmering for the past two years as the towns, the Lake Authority and the Lake Waramaug Task Force have weighed options.
Local officials hope to take the issue to a public vote before summer really gets underway.
