Reduction in and/or Denial of Lake Access Issues

There is a concerted effort to limit public access to the lakes that they own. In addition, the DNR is no longer enforcing the code that says that lake property owners may not have more than 2 boats docked per 100 feet of frontage.

Last night the Big Cedar Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District vote 3-2 to close the boat launches once all parking spaces were filled.   This is the recording.

The vote is at 14 minutes

They said their ordinance is based upon an ordinance from Pine Lake in Chenequa.

It was also brought up that similar access lawsuit from the Lake Geneva area went to the supreme court where the closing of the boat launches was deemed unconsitutional.  

The fishing public needs to know about these kinds of rules and this is probably a good place to start that discussion.

Thinking man....The guy in center with the blue shirt actually voted for the man to his right in the black shirt. The man in the black shirt seemed to be totally confused as to what was going on.

This is my last post on this thread. I still maintain that they cannot stop you from launching, only parking. I may test that theory some Saturday, or Sunday. It will be fun to call the sheriff to find out if the lake association owns Gohnring Drive. You know that the property owners company is doing just what I am talking about.

Why can't they just do no parking signs on the street and tickets for the ones that do. I don't understand all these extras

Minds will change soon enough, once they can't do the dump and go. Closed is closed.

perfect example:

north-lake-wauk-cty-boat-launch-whats-the-hangup

If the issue is too many boats on the lake and/or too many people are parking in spots outside the parking area that then make the roads dangerous, it seems like they need to do something. Once the lot is full, no more boats. I dont see many homes on the lake with more than 2-4 boats on their pier.  There have been days where the roads have had more than 100 trailers parked all over the road. I have not seen a home have more than 6 boats on a pier, and that is far and few between. Seems like they need to start someplace, and the launch seems like the easiest place to start. If 1,000 boats line up to launch, we should allow that because it is everyone's lake? 

These guys are making the decision to limit access? What a joke. No facts or coherent discussion. The safety issue s arise from residents and their kids blasting around, too close to anchored boats, bouys and boats under power. That group is scarey. And what power in so few hands. My brief love affair with the lake is over. Too bad. Lots of fish there. Many other bodies of water around. What I can't understand, given the lack of road parking, is how closing a launch when lot is full does anything. If you have a set number of spots, one leaves, one launches, you have the same number of boats. The availability of parking acted as a limit. It's self regulating. What am I missing here? 

I have also been lectured from shore to not catch "his" bluegills. It's impossible to respond to or understand that kind of thinking. Golly, wish I could afford lake side housing. The crowding on local lakes is exclusively the result of owners having multiple boats and allowing friends and family to add their craft to the mix. Pine lake only has 19 spots at launch. That won't crowd out the poor guys in the $5 million homes. Yes, that's correct. Check real estate sales on that body of water. As for big cedar. Way too many homes and boats. 36 spots to park isn't stressing a lake close to 1000 acres. 

Tuffy2...

You are partially correct.  The Commission certainly functioned like a group of misfits.  They are not ready for prime time.  They are used to only 1 or 2 whiners from the Property Owners Association showing up at their meetings.  They certainly need to get their act together.  Thanks to Chemist for posting the vote video.  Here are my thoughts...

Roger E. Walsh, Chairperson;  Politician

Christopher C. Genthe, Treasure;   Thinking man.  Most knowledgable about the lake.  Voted with intelligence, not emotion

Paul Sacotte, Secretary (blue shirt); Inarticulate.  Two-faced.  Talks about out of control chaos on the lake, but has been heard many times before criticizing the lake patrol - mostly after his kids have been stopped for violations.  Uses the term "overpoliced" frequently

Mike Bums; Another thinking man.  Smart.  voted based on logic, not emotion

Frank "Buzz" Carr; missed probably the most important meeting this Commission has held in decades.  Question his commitment.

Brian Krebs, ditto 

James R. McGath (black shirt)  sympathetic for him.  he is in over his head.

WOW.....After watching that meeting it is very clear to me that they need a new board. The only person that really made any sense was the officer. Have they not heard of running a meeting using “Roberts Rules”? I watched it twice and still didn’t know what the actual vote was? They need to have an independent facilitator to keep the meeting on track. Maybe they could give each one of them a yes and no coin, then they could give the facilitator the coin that represents their vote.

Pine Lake was a joke when I was an inland fisheries tech for the state. Pine Lake residents used to get up early and go park one of their extra vehicles in the public launch spaces on weekends, just to keep people off "their" lake.

No riparian owner has a right to the water they were lucky enough to purchase property on. They have a right to their property, but the water is not their property.

This is guaranteed by the Public Trust Doctrine in our state.

I understand lakeside property owners' desire to have a unpopulated lake view, but I don't sympathize with a lakeside property owner who spent that much money on a suburban lake, and expected to hear loons. 

Over 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin, and they think Big Cedar is going to give them the experience they're looking for? That's incredibly short-sighted.

" There is a concerted effort to limit public access to the lakes that they own."

Who is "they?" Aside from very few situations, no one owns a lake. 

Here is the video of the Big Cedar PRD vote.

Start at 15 minutes. It is pretty amazing.

Link to video.

Pine Lake also sets the hours that you can launch. Lake Geneva raised the launch fees so high that the DNR made them lower them, or they wouldn’t get any state money to maintain the lake. This forced them to reduce the launch fee.

This is sad to see people that are so blessed to have so much, treat the average person so poorly. This is the way the world is going nowadays. I wouldn’t waste my time fishing this lake, but I feel bad for those that would like to.