06-25-1990 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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LOSING LAKES: Enjoyment of a Unique Metropolitan Resource is Threatened 5 situations, such as failures to yield the right-of-way, high wakes, excessive speeds, and alcohol misuse. White Bear Lake and Lake St. Croix have also been mentioned as accident "hot spots" in the metro area, although fewer repotted accidents occur on them than on Lake Minnetonka. These three lakes are all heavily used, especially by the larger motorboats that are most often involved in accidents. The frequency of boating accidents is connected to many factors. Although accident frequency is commonly believed to be correlated with user density, the actual relationship between these factors is unclear. While boating use has increased, boating fatalities have decreased in Minnesota and across the country as a result of better watercraft enforcement, boating safety education, more stable boats, and more extensive use of flotation devices. While the relationship between user density and accidents is uiK:ertain, some behavioral factors are connected to accident frequency. The Lake Minnetonka Conserve'on Distria (LMCD) has found that accidents there often result from ignorance of the lake or its surface use rules.^ The DNR has found that lack of training in boating safety and alcohol use arc also linked to accidents. In 1986, the Minnesota Legislature passed a Boating While Intoxicated law to try to deter alcohol misuse by boaters. Consequences of user conflicts People who feel too crowded or unsafe on a lake move elsewhere or change the timing of their activities. Lake managers sometimes describe this phenomenon as self-regulation in a positive sense; however, owners of small boats arc believed to be displaced from lakes more frequently than those with large boats. Lake users in small, especially non-motorized, boats are likely to be disturbed by wakes and noise from larger boats and to feel their safety is threatened. Riparians (lakeslwrc property owners) arxl others who cannot easily move their boats to avoid conflicts often change the time of day they go out on the lakes No agency has systematically studied the extent of displacement from metropolitan lakes or its effects on lake use patterns; therefore, the consequences of user conflicts are largely unknown. Although some level of displacement is assumed to occur on metro lakes, little is known about which lake users are displaced or where they go. Surveys of lake use and user satisfaction have been conducted in a way that precludes the involvement of any metropolitan residents who now entirely avoid the lakes because of crowding. By only interviewing riparians and boaters who stiU go to the lakes, the DNR's research method includes only people who still go to the lakes and may tend to overstate public satisfaction with them. Comments from people who arc displaced and frustrated have not been obtained. Controls on surface use Both local governments and the DNR influence lake surface use by exercising direct and indirect conuols.* Surface use resuictions directly control lake use. Counties and mi *iicipalitiM rnay pass ordinances, in accordance with DNR rules, regulating surface use of lakes within their jurisdiction. Ordinances can include restrictions on the types and sizes of watercraft, ihe typ«s and horsepower of motors, the sp^ of watercraft and the times and areas of use. Winter regulations may include restrictions on snowmobile use close to shore. The DNR does not request local governments to adopt surface use ordinances, but it has some control over their content when they are developed. Counties and municipalities must choose the restrictions included in ordinances from those listed in the DNR mles, and all surface use ordinances must be approved by the Commissioner of Natural Resources. The DNR requirrs that surface use ordinances 7 Ibid. 8 By local governments, we include counties, municipalities, and special purpose units such as watershed and lake conservation districts.