08-25-2003 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, August 25, 2003 7:00 o'clock p.m. . (LMCD REPORT — Lili McMillan, Continued) McMillan shared the three options with the City Council, the first of which, Option A, was the preferred option by the Water Patrol, which identified a 125' no anchoring lane along the shoreline. The other alternatives were created by Burt Foster, head of the LMCD, with the Water Patrol and cluded, a no anchoring zone delineated by buoys 25'+ from °'. = that allows Or s; ;:...ming on the other side of the through lane, the final alternative roped off a swimming area which could double as a shoreline lane in emergencies. Sansevere voiced his concern regarding Option A, which allows no anchoring except 100'+ away from shore, and would eliminate the ability of the public, adults and children alike, to stand or play in the water. McMillan agreed that this would be the downfall of Option A and pointed out that Option 2 moves the lane away from shore, with anchoring allowed on the other side. Sansevere stated that, in his opinion, both Options 1 and 2 created dangerous conditions for swimmers and encouraged boaters with the ability to cruise the whole area. McMillan stated that Option 3 would likely be a maintenance nightmare to maintain the ropes and markers. She indicated that at the July 23rd meeting, the mayors felt they should pursue the Water Patrol's recommendation. While the July 4"' accident proved that access is critical, McMillan acknowledged that members of the public might object to these restrictive options at the • Wednesday evening meeting. Sansevere pointed out that, installing these invasive measures at Big Island, might only succeed in moving boaters to other areas of the lake where families tend to frequent, thus causing additional problems. He reiterated the need to allow adults and children who do frequent Big Island during the week and weekends the ability to stand. Sansevere believed that, if he were forced to choose, he would support option 2 since it allowed people to stand and swim near the shore. He believed that the option still involved unnecessary risk and that parents would hesitate allowing their children to swim so far from their boat. Sansevere informally asked the public at the Council meeting whether they felt it important for people to be able to stand along the shoreline while visiting Big Island, approximately 15 people nodded in agreement. White interjected that he believed it was more important for the LMCD and the City Councils to hold other discussions regarding how to hold people more accountable for their actions at Big Island versus making a decision overnight about additional buoys and lanes. McMillan concurred, stating that more needs to be done to hold people accountable for their actions and pointed out that the water patrol had held recent stings since July 4"' to arrest troublemakers. She recognized the fact that, unfortunately, many people feel they cannot bring their families to Big Island on the weekends. Sansevere reiterated the need for people to be able to stand and urged McMillan to relay this • concern to the LMCD on Wednesday evening. He noted that, oftentimes, when families do visit Page 2 of 14