No wake zone sought for cove

The owner of a town house on Lake Hamilton told justices of the peace earlier this week that the county is tempting fate by not being part of the buoy permitting process.

Hal Cook and other property owners in the Paradise Point neighborhood north of the Highway 70 west bridge over the lake’s main channel told the Garland County Quorum Court Public Health, Welfare & Safety Committee the county was remiss in removing itself from the permitting process in 2003.

They and the owner of Paradise Cove Marina want buoys placed to slow watercraft entering the cove from the main channel, a restriction they said could be more easily accommodated if the county exercised authority the state has granted it.

The state transportation code vests the Game and Fish Commission with rule making authority concerning vessels operating on federally controlled waters but doesn’t preclude local governments from adopting their own regulations, provided they are not in conflict with what’s been promulgated by the Game and Fish Commission.

A 2003 ordinance ceded the county’s authority for permitting buoy placements to Entergy Arkansas Inc., which does so in accordance with Game and Fish Commission recommendations for limiting no-wake zones to commercial establishments, public launching ramps and public swimming areas.

Entergy’s authority over lakes Hamilton and Catherine derives

from the license the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted it to use the reservoirs for power generation.

“We’re going to have somebody run over,” Cook said. “We’re going to have somebody killed. Then it’s not going to be a situation of do I want to change the ordinance. We’re going to have to change the ordinance because we’re going to have to react to those things.

“You’re abdicating your responsibility. You probably can do just a little bit better by writing the ordinance correctly and giving yourself some latitude to make common sense placements.”

Sheriff Mike McCormick told the committee that buoys proliferated on the lake when the county was involved in the permitting process, making him reluctant to recommend a reassertion of that authority.

“We’re going to be back where we were 15 years ago, when they were everywhere,” he told the committee. “It was quite frankly a disaster.”

State law doesn’t allow the public to petition the Game and Fish Commission for the creation of speed limits or no-wake zones. Those requests have to be made by law enforcement agencies.

Kimberly Bogart, Entergy’s lakes and property coordinator, told the committee the cove’s width makes it difficult to regulate watercraft speed. The two buoys Entergy’s permitted to the marina on the south side of the cove and the no-wake zone extending from the docks off the town houses to the north don’t reach far enough to impose a no-wake prohibition for the entire cove.

“You’re talking about a 650foot cove,” she said. “Even with the buoys that have been permitted and a 100-foot no wake, there’s still plenty of room for multiple boats to go in and out and still be legal with Arkansas state boating laws.”

Marina owner Kyle Davis told the committee the prevalence of wake sports boats on the lake has accelerated wear and tear on docks, boat slips and sea walls. He said the large wakes the boats give off have increased the rate of erosion on the seawall that contains the marina’s fuel tanks.

“If they’re coming off the main channel, a lot of people aren’t going very slow, Davis said. “When they make that turn, there’s not much speed lost.”

County Judge Rick Davis said the ability to impose broader speed restrictions could be problematic given the lake’s size.

“At what point do you draft something that doesn’t impede travel up and down the lake?” he asked the committee. “The lake is just not real wide in many places, and it gets into a difficult decision on what you’re going to do.”

Cook said the county can’t let the potential for overregulation dissuade it from acting.

“I understand your concern,” he said. “You don’t want to open up Pandora’s box. But you still have the responsibility to protect health, welfare and safety and stop the property damage that’s taking place. It’s your constitutional responsibility to do that.”