Re: Town debates exclusion zone for boats on Lake Ontario shore
I've been following this development on a facebook group which I joined for boating purposes. The page has become a center of discussion for those on the "boater rights" side of things. Lots of animosity it seems between boaters, home owners and a neighborhood bar on the beach which has been around for 60 years or so.
The beach never used to be there before the pier was built in the mid 80's by the army corp of Engineers. Satellite photos over the years show how the shore line has changed and home owners inadvertently wound up with a huge beach.
There is a strip of beach which is public alone the pier. Great little spot. Local surfers hang there and catch waves. It has always been one of the places people go to relax on or near the water.
The rest of the beach is private but the bar used to allow boaters to access the bar beach from the water. They stopped doing this last year or the year before when this started to heat up I think.
It's a triangle between, boaters, home owners and the bar. It's heating up and the boating season is on the door step this season. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what resolution comes out of it.
I think it will be very hard to set a 450 limit the water and even harder to enforce it. Who's jurisdiction does this fall under? Sheriff boats? DEC? Coast guard? I grew up in the town and I don't think local PD even have a boat. It will be interesting to see what happens the first sunny day if this law passes. Will all 40 boats who are tied up together get violations?
If the 450 limit passes with the exception of homeowners being allowed to keep their boats there then WATCH OUT! It's going to make some people VERY, VERY upset.
Glad this beach isn't one of my preferred anchor spots!
I thought I'd share this with fellow boaters whether you're from NY or not:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120417/NEWS01/304170065/irondequoit-boating-regulation-culver-road?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
The town of Irondequoit is proposing a regulation that "boats cannot be anchored, moored, adrift or joined together with any other vessel within 450 feet of the area of the Lake Ontario shoreline running west from the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Pier to the east property boundary of 186 Lake Bluff Road." They claim there have been a number of boaters tie off too close to shore of the property owners. Some complain about noise, garbage, and boaters dragging their grills onto their beaches.
This seems a little ridiculous and not like the behavior of most boaters. The town has the right to create a zone, but if its a safety issue and in the best interest of town. I guess they see a bunch of anchored boats with their engines turned OFF a hazard.
