2002-03-12 P& Z Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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To \\'ayne LeBlanc and Members of the Lake Association Board, . After reading Wayne's proposal to the City of Centerville to impose restrictions on Peltier Lake, I was very disturbed. Many of arguments in the letter are either invalid or pure opinion, yet it was presented to a governing body in an official manor to convince them to take action as a result of it. Action that a large number of lake shore owners may not agree with. I strongly disagree with the proposed restrictions and I w of several lake home owners that share my opinion. I'll start from the top. Wayne states that a waterski course was constructed in a "sensitive" part of Peltier Lake. Sensitive? Why is it considered sensitive? He said it harbors coontail and other beneficial aquatic plants. I was back in that "sensitive" area several times last summer, and a large portion of it is covered with a disgusting green slimy algae. The weeds are so thick they are probably choking all the oxygen out of the water. I don't see that area as having "beneficial aquatic plants". As for the coontail, when we first moved here in 1994, the first couple summers it was common to find floating reed bogs (with coontail) that had drifled in to our lake frontage. Interesting, that Wayne said "I have never seen before large floating mats of coontail aquatic plants in midlake or seen so many wash ashore like they did in August." I couldn't disagree more. They were a menace. For the last several years (3-4?) the reed bogs have been rare. I don't see any evidence of a waterski course damaging coontail. If the waterski boats are clearing a path through those weeds that were so thick you could practically walk on them, I'd see that as a benefit. OK, so put the weed argument aside. Wayne probably also thinks it is a sensitive area because ofthe Herons. Boat traffic in that area is surely harassing those poor Herons. Based on what? Herons are afraid of boats? Is that why they sit on our boat lifl canopy every morning? I don't believe for a second that the Herons were disturbed by boat traffic. We've seen them flying over all areas of the lake, boat traffic or not. He claims their disappearance coincides with the presence of the ski course. Well as I recall, it was around the time that Wayne and his select followers started publicly opposing the ski course (1999), that the heaviest population of the birds was observed. We continued to see the heavy population of birds all the while the ski course was still in use. When they removed the course, the next year the Herons had left the island. So the whole summer that the course was NOT back there, the birds were not inhabiting the island. Isn't it likely that they just over- populated their nesting grounds and moved on? Wayne said he believes huge amounts of silt were put in suspension by the ski boat traffic, and that the water quality this mil was the worst in 22 years, which he attributes to the ski boats. First of all, I disagree that Fall 200 I was the worst water quality. I remember it being much worse the previous year (summer of2000), and that was the year that there was no slalom course north of the island. Second, he said he "believes" the silt was put in suspension. No met, no evidence, just his opinion. Third, even if silt was stirred up, the weeds are so thick back there I really think the water quality in that area would be severely hampered from migrating to the rest of the lake. ne said after the sheriffmade them remove the waterski course they continued to set up the course in the same location. He neglected to ion the sheriff gave them 2 weeks to remove it. They used it in the 2 week period. Later they moved it to 2 different parts of the lake, which Wayne says caused hardship and restricted others from full use of the lake. He said "They essentially cordoned off their own huge private area in what is supposed to be a public resource." I strongly disagree. The ski course was right in front of our house. We had no problem boating through it. We saw plenty of other non-skiing boats go through it. The primary reason boats would avoid it was when people were using it for skiing, and that is going to happen whether there is a course there or not. It is not "claiming" a section of the lake as Wayne portrayed it to be. His argument of it reserving an area 2300 ft by 400 ft is quite inaccurate. The distance between the outside buoys is 75 ft. How did the 75 get inflated to 400? It is because Wayne decided to give it an arbitrary 150ft buffer around the outside buoys. He claimed that Peltier Lake is small, and this inflated 2300ft by 400ft area was taking practically 1/2 of the fishing area ofa 2000 by 4000ft lake. This is also invalid. Even if you accept his inflated footprint, which in good faith you cannot, it doesn't work out to even close to 1/2. Plus, I know of at least 3 other lakes: Island Lake in Shoreview, Reshanau Lake in Lino Lakes, and Sunset Lake in Washington County, that are SMALLER than Peltier and have had water ski courses on them. He suggested that Centerville Lake is a possible alternative for a ski course because it is much bigger in its "usable area". To me that implies that north end of Peltier Lake (north of the island) is not usable. I disagree with declaring that area of the lake as unusable. It is plenty usable with a water ski course back there. It is usable for boating around the island, and I don't feel like we should be limited to no wake speed when we do so. He also said fishing is virtually impossible around the ski course. Well, one of the lake home owners in our area stated that fishing was improved by the area where the ski course was, because the weeds weren't so thick. There's nothing to prevent people from fishing in the ski course area except when it is actually in use, which is a small percentage of time, Wayne's letter portrays these indivuals as selfish and inconsiderate. Yet, these are the same people that were generous enough to host a Lake Association Party, inviting every lake home owner on the lake. They are the same people that went to considerable time and trouble to line up a professional weed cutter to harvest the Curly LeafPondweed which has exploded in population the last several years, I noticed Wayne said nothing about that as a possible cause of diminishing water quality. These people are always willing to help their neighbors, and Wayne's portrayal ofthem was innaceurate and unjust. ottom line is that a decision like this that will affect all lake home owners should not be decided based on the opinions and comments of 0.." __.an. It should be based on a majority vote of all the lake home owners. Sincerely, Henry Farmerie