No Wake Ordinance Proposal Lake Owasso, MN
 

Hi all, I have just been informed by the lake owasso association that the watershed management team is proposing to enact no wake zones on lake owasso in order to improve lake water quality. If any of you have ever boarded, boated, or even tubed on lake owasso, please let your voice be heard. contact these people and let them know there are better ways to preserve the lake (i.e. runoff, filtration, phosphorus control) here are their names:

sandymartin444@comcast.net
k.eckman@comcast.net
dan.roe@ci.roseville.mn.us
tompetersenjr@gmail.com
jebester@msn.com

Any e-mails or letters to these people need to be received by Sept 15th. That is when they will vote on this ordinance.

I will post a link to the entire proposal when I can.

here is a link to the proposal. please refer to page 114 (1.9.f)

http://www.glwmo.org/vertical/Sites/...01%7D/uploads/
Draft_Plan.6.12.11.pdf

So you don't need to download the entire document, here's what it says:

1.9.f To address internal loading (in Lake Owasso) work with member
communities to test the impacts of establishing a no boating area or nowake
zone on certain portions of the lake (e.g. shallow areas) for a
defined time period; the goal being to make it a permanent ordinance if
the results are positive.

Thanks for bringing this up, Daren. Please voice your opinion on this. I know how these things pan out. You give a little and they eventually take a lot. Let them close down small portions and it will eventually turn into closing the whole lake to boating. It seems crazy that they would do that, but it can happen.

By my wakeboarding standards, more than half of Owasso would be considered a "shallow area".

If this lake does close it..... I could see it spreading to other lakes as well.

I would try to explain it to them,. that it would kill the property values.

Well if it does happen, at least you have 9,999 other lakes! :-)

j/k Good luck.

Just finished my scathing letter to the watershed management team. Basically told them that this no wake ordinance would be a very bad idea. Like Chad said, give them an inch, they will take a mile.

So please, anyone who is opposed to boating restrictions on Lake Owasso, just drop a quick email stating your opposition. (literally could be 2 lines). As long as they know that there are people out there who oppose this ordinance, they may reconsider.

thanks for sharing this Daren. this is the email i just sent a few minutes ago.

"It has come to my attention that there is a proposal out there which would place a "no wake zone" on certain parts of Lake Owasso. I have been told that this is in an effort to investigate the impact that a no wake zone would have on the water quality of shallow areas of the lake? I have to question this motive, though, and I trully hope that this is not just an effort for people to try to preserver their shore line.? Either way, I think this is a bad idea, as I feel this is an attempt to eventually put a no wake ban on the entire lake. I think this would greatly decrease property values on the lake, and it would take away hundreds, if not thousands, of peoples summer past times.

I urge you to put this proposal to rest. This is one of the few lakes that the public can use in the Northeast metro.
Thanks,"

I'll send my note as well.... I try to avoid Owasso when ever I can, but sometimes it's too close and convenient to my house not to go there....

No Wake Zone at Owasso
 

I sent and email to the addresses named above. I got an immediate reply that said all questions/comments will be addressed in writing at the next meeting.

To Whom it May Concern,

It has come to my attention that there is a proposal out there which would place a "no wake zone" on certain parts of Lake Owasso. As someone who is looking to buy property on Lake Owasso and currently uses the lake for recreational activities several times a week, I have a vested interest in this proposition. I am opposed to the enforcement of a no wake zone on Owasso. There are other ways to control water quality on this wake through the use of structural and nonstructural BMPs, controlling the curly-leaf pondweed/Eurasian Watermilfoil, mitigating EACs, etc. I understand that a lot of these activities are already in effect but I question whether or not the BMPs that are put in place are maintained and monitored and just how proactive and aggressive the control of the "weeds" are.

I believe that implementing a no wake zone is the easy way out. I just want to make sure that all other efforts have been exhausted prior to this happening. I love Owasso. I don't want to see it harmed but I do want to keep boating there and eventually, I would like to own a home there.

I encourage you to remove the proposition for installation of a no wake zone on Lake Owasso.