2D, Lake Johanna Surface Use Regulations

Home Browse Search

,.It -ARzEN HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: April 16, 2012 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members Patrick Klaers, City Administrator FROM: Michelle Olson, Parks and Recreation Manager SUBJECT: Lake Johanna Surface Use Regulations Backjjround In July of 2011, the City of Arden Hills had a storm that caused the elevation of Lake Johanna to rise significantly, causing concerns from residents. Roberta Thompson, member of the Lake Johanna Lake Homeowners Association sent out an email to their membership dated July 15, 2011 stating that they had contacted the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department to ask the County to either close the boat landing or post signs stating a temporary "No Wake Zone" would be enforced until further notice. There was confusion regarding who has the authority to close the boat landing and procedures on creating a "No Wake Zone". Since that time, the Ramsey County Sheriff(RCS), Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department and City have been researching who has the authority in closing a boat launch and also declaring a no wake zone. To clarify who has the authorization to temporarily close a boat launch, the RCS contacted the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR basically stated that it would depend on who owned the boat launch in order to identify who has the authority to close the boat launch. The DNR added that if the boat launch was built with State or Federal funds then authorization would be needed from those entities. The City contacted Ramsey County Parks and Recreation to determine the funding for the Lake Johanna boat launch. Jody Yungers from Ramsey County Parks and Recreation informed the City that DNR funds had been utilized to build the current boat launch. Therefore, the DNR would ultimately be the entity in charge of deciding to close the boat launch. Staff spoke with the DNR and they stated that it would be highly unlikely for them to decide to close a boat launch. Their experience has been that closing the boat launch does not necessarily solve the problem, as there are still homeowners with boat access. Therefore, they rarely would close any boat launch. However, their suggestion to the City was to work on creating a temporary"no wake zone"versus closing the boat launch. Mr. Kim Elverum from the DNR has been assisting City staff to determine what changes would need to occur to the current ordinance in order to give the City Council authority to declare a temporary "no wake" zone. In discussions with the DNR, there are two options for the City: llMetro-inet.uslardenhillslPR&PR IParkslMemoslCouncil Memos104162012 Surface Use Regulations.doc