KENT, Conn.—In a short special meeting Tuesday night, June 10, the Board of Selectmen unanimously endorsed a draft ordinance approved Friday, June 7, by the Lake Waramaug Authority that would prohibit wake boating.
The sport of wake surfing has increased steadily on the lake over the past decade and has become a hotly contested issue among the sports’ enthusiasts, environmentalists and residents who say it intrudes on their more tranquil sports and their enjoyment of their properties.
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.”
Fines of $250 per incident will be imposed on those operating boats that enhance wakes.
First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer said Kent’s town counsel has reviewed the ordinance and Lindenmayer said it is time for it to be taken to a public hearing and town meeting.
The lake is surrounded by three towns—Washington, Warren and Kent—and all three must approve identical ordinances for it to be enacted.
A public hearing was set for Tuesday, June 17, and the town meeting for Friday, June 27, both at 7 p.m. at Kent Town Hall.
“We’ve heard numerous appeals, presentations, exhortations pro and con for this activity of wake board surfing,” said Lindenmayer. “It’s time for the townspeople to weigh in. At the public hearing they can share their testimony and presentations. It’s time for the people of Kent to be more involved.”
Residents in Warren and Washington, towns with much more shoreline than Kent, are more engaged in the debate. Kent’s exposure to the lake is mostly along shoreline in the state park that lies within its borders.
“I think it is important for people to consider the health of the lake in deciding whether to support this ordinance,” said Selectman Lynn Mellis Worthington. “There has been so much energy put into the health of that lake, and we need to be good stewards [of it].”
She urged that the town publicize the issues surrounding the ordinance in advance of the hearing and town meeting. “We’re all a part of this and I am worried about the people who have not paid attention,” she said.
Selectman Glenn Sanchez agreed, saying he has been speaking to people about the issue and that it is “new to a lot of people.”
Lindenmayer promised that the all the information received up to the time of the public hearing will be posted on the town’s website.
The residents around the lake are fighting with eachother about a non-issue. 0 documented injuries documented in relation to wake boarding there. No state boat launch, just a restrictive town launch with only a few spots. It’s a shame that CT’s second largest natural body of water is managed with only a few special interests in mind. I know several interested parties that will immediately file an injunction with the state if this passes. The citizen group pushing for this very well may see lawsuits from there actions, from Wake Boating companies and even from neighbors who will claim loss of use/enjoyment.
Eventually there will be lobbying to disband private lake associations from trying to change policy on natural resources they do not own.
I will personally seek legal action against the lake association, and the citizen group pushing for this restriction on a public resource.