02-09-1987 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lake Use Definition: Lake use is defined as individual recreational activities occur- ring on the lake or its shoreline. Examples are pleasure boating, fishing, swimming, scuba diving, uaterskiing, picnicking, ice fish- ing, ice skating, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing. Background: Conflicts have been identified between different recreational activities. Those conflicts need to be analyzed in detail to provide recommendations for minimizing such conflicts. The objective should be to provide for as many uses while protecting the safety of the participants. Sumer season conflicts identified include: 1. slow boats versus fast boats, 2. large boats versus small boats, J. swimming/diving versus boating, 4. fishing versus pleasure boating 5. seaplanes versus general boating 6. ultra -light craft versus general boating 7reaently, there are controls on lake use. Speed limits, quiet water zones, era buffers around certain activities are examples. Also, restrictions exist nn seaplane operations on weekeude. During the winter buffer zones are main- tsined within 150 feet of the lakeshore and snowmobile and automobile use eestrtcted. Due'ng development of the plan, the different conflicts, the existing LMCD we- tv.t surface zoning and other rules and regulations need to be analyzed with rec- ommcodorions for changes. Although there have be n several previous studies which have attempted to char- acterize recreation use levels and patterns on the lake, the general agreement among recreational professionals is that the data base for the lake is not yet complete. The t985 Task Force concluded that the "data do not support wide-ranging conclu- stsns about lake use". The existing literature is either narrowly focused or has tested now methodologies without adequate replication. The valid, reliable st„uie-j provide only a limited amount of data on the peak boat counts and activ- itv tallies. The broader studies have been repeated tno few times to provide a d,•f iu,tive data ease and need to be expanded. In addition, a sizeable component of the local, riparian interests continue to question the use of average, state-wide, or regional summary statistics in the design of facilities on Lak. Minnetonka. Therefore, there is a need for devel- apaent of a c„apr,hensive monitoring program for Lake Minnetonka that will de- velop relisbh:. repr.,ducible recreation use statistics, particularly for boating. 14