Wakeboard Boat Ban

[BOARDPIMP]

Not trying to come off as a drama queen... but it seems like we have some real problems.

To be short....the city is in the process of constructing solid verbage changes to the present lake ordinance to completely ban "WAKEBOARD BOATS" from the lake.

This info comes directly to me from the cheif of police of Williamstown.

The club is planning a meeting at Elwardo's in Williamtown on Wednesday at 6:30.....we have the outdoor patio area reserved to discuss our options.

Rick

[Alteczen]

The Williamstown City Councel is drafting a proposal to ban ALL wakeboard boats from Williamstown Lake.

We are meeting Wednesday, May 28th at 6:30PM at Eduardo's Pizzaria to discuss how we want to fight this. Please forward this information to anyone that might be affected by this and attend this meeting.

I'll refrain from ranting for the time being...

I've attached the USA Water Ski manual - it includes some great resources on the issues of erosion...

[Matt Plapp]

I've made a few phone calls to manufacturers reps to see if they have seen this anywhere else. So far none of them have seen this, they were blown away. They said there have been lakes ban ballast and fat sacks, but not a particular type of boat.

Personally I'm not sure how this is possible. There are bowriders, cuddy cabins and inboards all with Wake towers. What are they going to ban?? Are they going to ban everything with the ability to produce a bigger wake? I'm blown away by this, it could affect a lot things currently but also in the future with the lake expansion.

Just my thoughts,
Matt

[bzmillerboy]

I think the first thing that needs to be identified is the purpose of the ban? Where did the idea of banning "wakeboats" stem from and why? Is it erosion, interruption to fisherman, unsafe, or some other false stereotype?

If we know what is driving the change in ordinance I think we are all in a great position to develop a solid position against it.

Rick or Anyone,
Do you know why the city is changing the ordinance?

[Wankster One]

This is going to get ugly quick.. Any ski boat can be considered a wakeboat and if they pick and choose the ones that are and arent...

[Reinhart]

a wakeboard boat is just a glorified ski boat.. So they would have to ban SKI BOATS or any boat with a tower...

[Borane4]

Edit - Note, I have to apologize to Mr. Doug Beckham, the actual city manager of Williamstown, for attributing comments below to him. He called to point out that he was certain that he was not the source of my recollections of the meeting. Given his passion about the matter, the long time that has elapsed since that meeting and the crowded and often heated debate of that evening, I have to believe him. Mr. Beckham went on to say that he is a great proponent of the economic value that the lake brings to the Williamstown area - I believe this as well. I have no ill-will towards Mr. Beckham and apologize again for any pain this has caused him.

I also want to point out that the Lake Association has been doing a great job in reaching out to the City Council to seek equitable solutions that satisfy both the boaters and the local government. I would hope this misunderstanding does not adversely affect that relationship in any way.






Original post: This is typical Williamstown City Council. They are still trying to ban wake boats and they will not stop anytime soon. While their argument makes zero sense (there was a 24 ft cabin cruiser on the lake Sunday throwing a giant wake) they will keep going until they succeed. The best motivation I can figure is that a few people on the council want to bass fish on Golden Pond and have set-up wake boats as the culprit. I think erosion is a ridiculous reason. The lake has had waves on it for 50 years.

You are right that they will have a hard time defining exactly what a wakeboat is, but they could do it simply by specifically spelling out the year, brand and model of boats they want to ban. There are only about a dozen true wake boats and this would be good enough for them. They could also ban wakeboarding itself. Notice that surfing is already illegal.

I was at the city council meeting a while ago and learned something important that we have to keep in mind. W-town has very few residents on the lake so they cannot be leveraged by the "we pay taxes and you work for us" rationale. At that time there were only a handful of homes (4?) on the lake with a w-town tax base. I believe Harbor Pointe maybe additional to that, but that is still pretty small. The city manager flat out told me he didnt care about taxes from the lake because it means nothing to them. Unfortunately, they do state that they have control over the surface of the water, so it's perfect for them. They can do what they want without fear of being voted out of office.

Clearly the area is better off with people using the lake, buying gas, visiting restaurants, doing propoerty improvements, etc. and i would guess that the people with the wakeboats are spending more than average in this regard. But we need to get the council to see this. One idea might be to get the other local governments to realize this and try to influence the council.

[Wankster One]

edwardo's has wireless, so someone needs to take a laptop.. and maybe use some type of chat site so we can listen and respond.. I cant be there and I want to know what is going on..

just an idea

[Alteczen]

I'd agree on finding out what the reasoning is behind the ban. From here we can build a case against their justifications.

Really I only think of 2 reasons why they might propose the ban: 1) erosion and 2) safety.

If it's erosion - go look at the pdf I posted above and read page 145 about the study Maryland did. "The study found boats were not the principal source of wave energy...". It basically said mother nature is.

If it's safety - when was the last time an accident occurred on that lake where a wakeboard boat was involved? I'm confident we can gather stats to show that this is a non issue as well.

[Rodney]

This would be a terrible economic decision for the city and county. You are talking about eliminating probably 70-80% of all boats (excluding pontoons). Williamstown is a unique lake and is not really big enough for cuddy and I/o's therefore most people buy ski boats and or wakeboard boats (you can classify them as the same thing). If you eliminate this portion of boats people WILL move off the lake and take their boating and lake pleasures elsewhere. Not only will property values suffer, the local economy willl as well. There will be alot less gas and food purchaes not to mention the random trips to walmart and things like that. A couple hundred K a year is spent in Wtown for by recreation skiers and boarders, is that worth throwing away so fisherman can have a quiet lake to eliminate what they think is causion "errosion" I can say that wakeboard wakes contribute no more or less than jet skis and fishing boats.


If they ban this type of boat, forget about the lake expansion.

[CrackerZach]

There has got to be a way to protest this peacefully and legally. If we could get a permit from a branch higher than the City. Portest the town meetings. Get some locals to sign a petition to get this issue on the ballot. I'll stand outside of Wal mart for days if it takes that long. If we tell them it is going to threaten their economy I think we could get a lot of people to sign. Get local business owners involved that are going to be affected by this ban. Ask if we can put signs in yards and local business windows. I think it will immediatly affect the real estate value on the lake. They are shrinking the amount of potential buyers of the lake property by doing this, which will definitally decrease property value, for everyone, even the BASSHOLES. This will be a worse decision than buying Hankins a new boat.

[bzmillerboy]

I was searching around on WakeWorld and found this thread Jason posted up in 2004 when they banned the use of ballast:
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/170730.html

I posted a thread to try and get input on creative ways to argue against the ordinance change. I also asked for any statistics or direction, so we will see if anyone responds with helpful information.
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/1/584764.html?1212028920

[BOARDPIMP]

Aint No Way They Are Going To Ban My Pontoon Boarding.

I Gotta Lot More Surface Tricks To Work On!!

[Wankster One]

i think you need a longer rope so if another boat passes you. its long enough to catch their wake too..

[BOARDPIMP]

I do agree....i've been trying to teach the wife how to manuver into proper position as to get the most out of any passing Wake maker....no need in wasting that left over wake.

Nice pics also.

[HiTekRider]

i'll be very disappointed if my return home in a few weeks involves me riding behind ricky's pontoon boat....no offense rick...haha

[Alteczen]

We'll just take the pumpkin down to the Licking and slam it there. When are you headed this way?

[HiTekRider]

i get in the 21st and leave the 25th. so sunday monday and tuesday we can ride all day everyday..

[P-hat in Cincy]

I heard the ban was shot down recently. I hope that's the case for all of you down there. Plus, I wouldn't want a precedent set for any other lake. Can anyone confirm it did not pass?
Take care,
Paul

[Rodney]

the wakeboard boat ban didnt even make it to city council for vote. everything is fine, they just agreed for boarders to try to avoid wednesday nights when htey have the fishing tournament.

[Airjawa]

I was reading the thread about the house Alteczen has for sale, then I read this thread. I notice that Rodney says the wakeboat ban was shot down, yet on williamstownlake.org, their lake ordinance PDF states that wakeboats are banned! What gives?

[Alteczen]

There was a council member who tried to push for an all out ban on wakeboard boats on the lake. However there are way too many people there with wakeboard boats on the lake for that to ever get pushed through.

They have an ordinance the prohibits the use of ballast on the lake. So just bring more friends on the boat and problem is solved. If they catch you with the ballast full it's a ticket. In the past 2/3 years its been active I don't know of 1 person that has gotten the ticket.

[Wankster One]

For all the new comers to willytown. Just use common sense and try not to draw anymore attention to the wakeboats. Wed nights is the fishing tournament night and that city council member fishes in it every week. So we've been avoiding Wed for a while now. I do know of one person who did ticketed. Like Alteczen said. People ballast is the best options and they can't say a word.....

[Airjawa]

Thanks for clearing that up guys, I was just curious.