05-31-2007, 06:55 AM
[url "http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/1editorialtablebody.lasso?-token.searchtype=authorroutine&-token.lpsearchstring=Josh%20Jackett&-nothing"]Josh Jackett[/url] ![[Image: z.gif]](http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/images/z.gif)
May 30, 2007 - Boating is certainly among the more popular activities each summer in the lakes area, but it's not the only recreational endeavor on the area's lakes. Varied interests and uses can cause the activities of one to conflict with those of another. In order to maintain harmony and safety on the lakes, municipalities are authorized to adopt local watercraft control ordinances crafted by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to govern watercraft activities.
Sgt. Dan Toth of the Oakland County Sheriff's Department Marine Division said those ordinances are kept in mind by the 53 marine safety deputies who patrol about 130 county lakes each year.
"All the officers have a list of the special watercraft controls (for individual lakes)," he said. "But a lot of officers have been here a numbers of years, so for them it's often the same issues from year to year."
Some lakes, like Cass Lake in Waterford and West Bloomfield townships, Keego Harbor and Orchard Lake, employ a 9 p.m. slow, no-wake restriction, which officers enforce while patrolling.
Others, according to Toth, employ similar restrictions, but start the slow, no-wake boating hours at 7 p.m. Other lakes, he said, have restrictions prohibiting motor boats completely.
According to the DNR Law Enforcement Division — the only state agency authorized to draft local watercraft controls — restrictions are placed into proposed ordinances which are subject to approval by the elected, governing board or council of the community in which a lake is located.
Under state law, a municipality's governing board must initially request a watercraft control ordinance in the form of a resolution. Upon receiving the resolution, the DNR evaluates the request and investigates whether an ordinance is necessary. DNR personnel then prepare a preliminary report that includes the evaluation and a preliminary recommendation on whether special rules are needed for the waterbody or a portion of it.
According to the DNR, the department provides a copy of the preliminary report to the municipality and schedules a public hearing in the vicinity of the waterway to gather public input on the report and the need for special marine rules.
Within 90 days of the public hearing, the DNR makes a final decision indicating the need for special rules for the waterway. If a watercraft control is deemed necessary, the DNR drafts a proposed ordinance, or suggests a change in an existing ordinance that the municipality's governing body may adopt.
According to the DNR, if there's no need for special watercraft rules, the DNR will notify the municipality, specifying why no watercraft rules are necessary.
If a watercraft control request is denied, the municipality is allowed under state law to appeal to the state's Natural Resources Commission (NRC).
Once presented with a proposed watercraft control ordinance, the municipality has 60 calendar days to inform the DNR whether it approves or disapproves of the proposed ordinance.
According to the DNR, if it doesn't receive word on whether the municipality agrees with the proposed ordinance within 60 calendar days, the department will consider it rejected.
When a community rejects a proposed ordinance, or if the 60 days pass, the DNR will take no further action. However, if the community approves the DNR's ordinance proposal, it must be enacted as drafted by the DNR.
Although there are potentially an infinite number of watercraft controls the DNR can draft, a few basic controls are implemented for the sake of consistency, including slow, no-wake zones; prohibitions on high-speed boating and water skiing; time sharing; and setting specific speed limits.
Slow, no-wake controls are usually implemented on small lakes congested with large numbers of boats or in clearly defined areas of larger lakes such as a bay, inlet or channel, according to the DNR's Law Enforcement Division.
A prohibition on high-speed boating and water skiing is different than a slow, no-wake zone, in that it allows boats to move a little faster than in a slow no-wake zone. High-speed boating is defined as bringing a boat to a full plane on top of the water. This control is useful on a medium-size lake with heavy boat traffic.
The time sharing watercraft control establishes specific time frames when high-speed boating and water skiing is allowed on the lake. This control is used to eliminate conflicting lake uses among anglers, swimmers and water skiers.
The time sharing control usually prohibits high-speed boating and water skiing from 6:30 p.m. to 10 a.m. During Eastern Standard Daylight Time the control prohibits high-speed boating and water skiing from 7:30 p.m. to 11 a.m. The DNR rarely deviates from these two time frames because doing so would make law enforcement more difficult.
The general boating speed limit on inland lakes is 55 mph, but the DNR is sometimes asked to lower the speed limit for all of, or part of a particular lake.
While watercraft controls can be enforced by local code enforcement staff, local police, county sheriff marine division deputies, state troopers and DNR conservation officers, they're most often enforced by sheriff marine division deputies, according to Toth.
While he said one major focus of the division is to educate boaters and keep them aware of marine safety laws, including specific watercraft controls, he said the Oakland County Sheriff's Department is vigilant about its efforts to keep people safe on county lakes.
Among violations the marine division has zero tolerance for are boating without personal flotation devices (PFDs), and boating without recognition of having taken a boater's safety class.
"If you're required by law to have a boater's safety certificate on your person recognizing you've taken a boater's safety class, you have to have that," he said, noting department statistics have shown that people who haven't taken a boating safety course are more apt to be involved in drownings and watercraft accidents.
"When the officers issue tickets, we believe we need the courts to help us with educating people," Toth said. "We simply want to prevent accidents, drownings, and fatal watercraft accidents. We'd much prefer to write someone's son or daughter a ticket than go to the parents to inform them their loved one just drowned or was just involved in a crash.
"We want to prevent those instances as much as we can. Some people will just not take the boating classes unless we give them incentive."
Last summer, part of the procedural aspect of how watercraft controls are determined changed when a state House of Representatives bill was signed into law. The public was previously held out of the process more than it is now.
HB 5125, which became Public Act (PA) 237 of 2006, requires public input on proposed local watercraft marine laws and specifies standards the DNR must consider when investigating the need for special watercraft rules on any waters in the state.
According to a state legislative analysis of the law, the legislation amended the Marine Safety section, or Part 801, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to do the following:
• Require the DNR to initiate an investigation and inquiry into whether special watercraft rules are needed on a particular body of water;
• Prescribe specific factors the DNR will have to consider in its investigation and inquiry;
• Require the DNR to prepare the preliminary report containing its recommendations on the need for special rules and schedule a public hearing on the report;
• Require the DNR to propose a local ordinance or changes to an ordinance if it determined, after the hearing, that special rules are needed;
• Require the DNR to notify the municipality requesting watercraft controls of the department's reasons for determining that special rules aren't needed; and
• Allow the municipality to appeal a determination by the DNR that special rules aren't needed to the NRC.
The Marine Safety section already authorized the DNR to initiate investigations and inquiries into the need for special rules governing the use of vessels, water skis, water sleds, aqua planes, surfboards, or similar devices on any waters in the state. Under Public Act 237, the DNR can also do so to assure compatibility of uses and to protect public safety.
According to state Rep. John Stakoe (R-Highland), a co-sponsor of HB 5125, the new law was prompted by situations involving Rowe Lake in Highland Township and Cool Lake in Lake County's Elk Township, located within the district of the bill's lead sponsor, Rep. Goeff Hansen (R-Hart).
In both cases, according to Stakoe, the DNR hadn't been considering residents' concerns about all-sports and non-sports lake designations.
"The DNR was making somewhat subjective and arbitrary decisions on whether a lake should be all-sports or non-sports," he said. "We didn't feel it was necessarily an adequate way to assess the lakes because there was no objective criteria."
In Rowe Lake's case, he said, a gentleman's agreement that had existed banned large watercraft on the lake because of its configuration and depth. The 40-acre lake, which includes a sandbar at its center, is a man-made lake created through the sand and gravel mining process, and isn't listed by the DNR as an inland lake on its web site because of its size.
"The only criteria the DNR used to evaluate it was that there haven't been any serious accidents on the lake and there was no history," Stakoe said. "It's like going to Mackinac Island and saying there's never been any head-on car accidents. Of course not (because motorized vehicles are banned on the island). It wasn't a fair assessment."
According to Lisa Hanlin, a resident at the lake who had been pushing to have a public hearing about boating restrictions, the issue came to the forefront in Highland when one Rowe Lake riparian sold his lot and noted on the for sale sign that Rowe Lake is an all-sports lake.
She said last fall that a DNR official told her after the for sale sign went up that the DNR had stopped recognizing gentlemen's agreements like the one observed on Rowe Lake, and that residents petitioned to get a public hearing about the situation and one was never granted.
Stakoe said the DNR was agreeable with lawmakers working on the legislation to allow the extra public input throughout the process.
"They worked with us to come up with a list of criteria that would be objective and a more fair measure of how a lake should be labeled," he said.
As established under the law, the criteria the DNR must use when investigating a need for special rules on a particular water body are as follows:
• Whether the activities subject to the proposed special rule pose any issues of safety to life or property;
• The profile of the water body, including local jurisdiction, size, geographic location, and amount of vessel traffic;
• The current and historical depth of the waterway;
• Any identifiable special problems or conditions on the waterway;
• Whether special rules would create a hardship on normal navigational traffic;
• Whether user conflicts exist;
• Complaints received from local law enforcement agencies;
• The status of any accidents that have occurred on the waterway;
• Historical uses of the waterway and potential future uses;
• Whether the waterway is public or private; and
• Whether existing law adequately regulates activities.
Lt. Creig Grey of the DNR's Law Enforcement Division said the department agreed with the legislation as approved.
Toth, who said the sheriff's department also agreed with the changes, said he hasn't noticed any difference in boater behavior. He said boaters should still be aware of the special watercraft rules for a lake.
"We take designations and special rules seriously, but we do recognize that many times people are just unaware of the special rules, especially if they're new to the lake," he said. "Regardless, we do want compliance, so we'll go out and at least deliver a verbal warning.
"If you're a lakefront owner, you're aware or should be aware of the special controls, but some of the people not on the lake all the time may not be. We pride ourselves on education, awareness, and enforcement — in that order."
The following is a list of local watercraft controls enforced on lakes area waterways, according to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Bogie Lake (White Lake Township)
• It is unlawful to operate a boat powered by any motor except for electric motors.
Brookfield Pond (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Cass Lake (Waterford, West Bloomfield townships, Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake)
• High speed boating and water skiing are prohibited between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.
• Boats are not permitted to reach speeds faster than 50 mph.
• Boats in the northerly tip of Coles Bay and Gerundegut Bay in West Bloomfield Township and Waterford Township must adhere to a no-wake zone.
Cedar Island Lake (White Lake Township)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed:
(a) Southerly and westerly of a line beginning where the east line of lot 42, Golden Shores subdivision No. 1, intersects the water's edge and thence to the point where the north line of lot 54, Cedar View subdivision, as extended, intersections the water's edge.
(b) Westerly of a line beginning where the north line of lot 26, Cedar View subdivision, as extended, intersects the water's edge and thence south to the nearest opposite shore.
© Southerly from a line beginning where the north line of lot 9, Golden Shores subdivision No. 1, intersects the water's edge and thence westerly to where the north line of lot 39, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 1, intersects the water's edge.
(d) Westerly of a line beginning where the east line of lot 75, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 2, intersects the water's edge and thence northerly to the point where the north line of lot 93, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 3, intersects the water's edge.
(e) North of a line beginning where the east line of lot 54, Cedar Shores Subdivision Not. 1, intersects the water's edge and thence westerly to the point where the south line of lot 23, Cedar Shores subdivision, intersects the water's edge.
(f) West of a line beginning where the west line of lot 148, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 4, meets the most easterly point of lot 139, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 4.
Commerce Lake channels and canals (Commerce Township)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Cross Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, except those powered by electric motors.
Dollar Lake (Keego Harbor)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow—no wake speed.
Dunham Lake (Highland Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Green Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, unless powered by electric motor.
Harvey Lake (Highland Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, unless powered by electric motor.
Huron River, adjacent to Cedar Island Lake (White Lake)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Kent Lake (Milford and Lyon Townships)
• No motorboat shall operate at speeds higher than 10 mph, except authorized patrol or rescue crafts.
• Water skiing is prohibited.
• Rubber rafts and all floating devices other than boats are permitted only in designated swim areas.
Lake Ona (White Lake Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, unless powered by electric motor.
Loon Lake (Wixom)
• High-speed boating and water skiing are prohibited between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 10 a.m.
Lower Straits Lake Canal (Commerce Township)
• North and west of a line from where the south line of lot 29, North Shores subdivision as extended intersects the water's edge and thence easterly to the nearest opposite shore, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Middle Straits Lake (Commerce Township)
• On the waters of Middle Straits lake, in sections 12 and 13, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Middle Straits Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• On that part of the waters of Middle Straits lake located in section 7, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
• On that part of the waters of Middle Straits lake located in sections 17 and 18, it is unlawful on Sundays, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, except between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., to:
(a) Operate a vessel at high speed.
(b) Have in tow, or otherwise assist in the propulsion of, a person on water skis, a water sled, kite, surfboard, or other similar contrivance.
• On that part of Middle Straits Lake lying directly in the center of section 16, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow—no wake speed in that area directly adjacent to Bloomer Park, in a straight line from the tip of the natural shoreline from the north on a diagonal line to the first residence to the southeast of the park boundary line.
Moon Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Morris Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Orchard Lake (City of Orchard Lake Village)
• It is unlawful at any time to operate a vessel in excess of 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour).
• No-wake zones are enforced within 200 feet in any direction from the state public access site.
Pleasant Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Pontiac Lake (White Lake, Waterford Townships)
• Individuals operating vessels must maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from any shoreline or island, except when proceeding at slow, no-wake speeds and when picking up or dropping off water skiers, as long as conducted within state law.
• Water skiers must maintain a distance of 100 feet from any shoreline, island, raft, buoyed or occupied bathing area or vessel moored or at anchor.
Sears Lake (Milford Township)
• It is unlawful to operate a motorboat.
Simpson Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Sugden Lake-Northeast Bay (White Lake Township)
• Northeast of a line described as beginning where the south line of lot 37, Oakdale subdivision, intersects the water's edge, to the southwest corner of lot 63, Oakdale subdivision, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Walnut Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• High-speed boating and water skiing are restricted to the hours between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• On the waters of Walnut Lake, the north part of section 25, from the southeast corner of Walnut lake entering the southeast bay area, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Wolverine Lake (Wolverine Lake Village)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed northerly of a line from where the west line of lot 23, Stuarts Oak Island subdivision, as extended, intersects the water's edge and thence to the northernmost point of land in outlot "a," Paynes Manor subdivision.
• It is unlawful to operate a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed on the waters of all artificial channels and canals connected to Wolverine Lake.
• High-speed boating and water skiing are prohibited on the waters of Wolverine Lake in sections 22, 23, 27, and 28 between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 10 a.m.
• Airboats are prohibited.
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed between a line from where the south line of lot 49, Schulte-Hoffman Spring Park subdivision, as extended, intersects the water's edge thence easterly to where the north line of lot 20, Shankin's Wolverine Lake subdivision, as extended, meets the water's edge and a line from where the south line of lot 39, Schulte-Hoffman Spring Park subdivision intersects the water's edge and thence easterly to where the south line of lot 12, Shankin's Wolverine Lake Subdivision, as extended, meets the water's edge.
• It is unlawful to anchor or moor a vessel at a distance greater than 100 feet from any shore, between 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. during June, July, and August, except in those parts of Wolverine Lake established as slow-no wake zones.
Woodpecker Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
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May 30, 2007 - Boating is certainly among the more popular activities each summer in the lakes area, but it's not the only recreational endeavor on the area's lakes. Varied interests and uses can cause the activities of one to conflict with those of another. In order to maintain harmony and safety on the lakes, municipalities are authorized to adopt local watercraft control ordinances crafted by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to govern watercraft activities.Sgt. Dan Toth of the Oakland County Sheriff's Department Marine Division said those ordinances are kept in mind by the 53 marine safety deputies who patrol about 130 county lakes each year.
"All the officers have a list of the special watercraft controls (for individual lakes)," he said. "But a lot of officers have been here a numbers of years, so for them it's often the same issues from year to year."
Some lakes, like Cass Lake in Waterford and West Bloomfield townships, Keego Harbor and Orchard Lake, employ a 9 p.m. slow, no-wake restriction, which officers enforce while patrolling.
Others, according to Toth, employ similar restrictions, but start the slow, no-wake boating hours at 7 p.m. Other lakes, he said, have restrictions prohibiting motor boats completely.
According to the DNR Law Enforcement Division — the only state agency authorized to draft local watercraft controls — restrictions are placed into proposed ordinances which are subject to approval by the elected, governing board or council of the community in which a lake is located.
Under state law, a municipality's governing board must initially request a watercraft control ordinance in the form of a resolution. Upon receiving the resolution, the DNR evaluates the request and investigates whether an ordinance is necessary. DNR personnel then prepare a preliminary report that includes the evaluation and a preliminary recommendation on whether special rules are needed for the waterbody or a portion of it.
According to the DNR, the department provides a copy of the preliminary report to the municipality and schedules a public hearing in the vicinity of the waterway to gather public input on the report and the need for special marine rules.
Within 90 days of the public hearing, the DNR makes a final decision indicating the need for special rules for the waterway. If a watercraft control is deemed necessary, the DNR drafts a proposed ordinance, or suggests a change in an existing ordinance that the municipality's governing body may adopt.
According to the DNR, if there's no need for special watercraft rules, the DNR will notify the municipality, specifying why no watercraft rules are necessary.
If a watercraft control request is denied, the municipality is allowed under state law to appeal to the state's Natural Resources Commission (NRC).
Once presented with a proposed watercraft control ordinance, the municipality has 60 calendar days to inform the DNR whether it approves or disapproves of the proposed ordinance.
According to the DNR, if it doesn't receive word on whether the municipality agrees with the proposed ordinance within 60 calendar days, the department will consider it rejected.
When a community rejects a proposed ordinance, or if the 60 days pass, the DNR will take no further action. However, if the community approves the DNR's ordinance proposal, it must be enacted as drafted by the DNR.
Although there are potentially an infinite number of watercraft controls the DNR can draft, a few basic controls are implemented for the sake of consistency, including slow, no-wake zones; prohibitions on high-speed boating and water skiing; time sharing; and setting specific speed limits.
Slow, no-wake controls are usually implemented on small lakes congested with large numbers of boats or in clearly defined areas of larger lakes such as a bay, inlet or channel, according to the DNR's Law Enforcement Division.
A prohibition on high-speed boating and water skiing is different than a slow, no-wake zone, in that it allows boats to move a little faster than in a slow no-wake zone. High-speed boating is defined as bringing a boat to a full plane on top of the water. This control is useful on a medium-size lake with heavy boat traffic.
The time sharing watercraft control establishes specific time frames when high-speed boating and water skiing is allowed on the lake. This control is used to eliminate conflicting lake uses among anglers, swimmers and water skiers.
The time sharing control usually prohibits high-speed boating and water skiing from 6:30 p.m. to 10 a.m. During Eastern Standard Daylight Time the control prohibits high-speed boating and water skiing from 7:30 p.m. to 11 a.m. The DNR rarely deviates from these two time frames because doing so would make law enforcement more difficult.
The general boating speed limit on inland lakes is 55 mph, but the DNR is sometimes asked to lower the speed limit for all of, or part of a particular lake.
While watercraft controls can be enforced by local code enforcement staff, local police, county sheriff marine division deputies, state troopers and DNR conservation officers, they're most often enforced by sheriff marine division deputies, according to Toth.
While he said one major focus of the division is to educate boaters and keep them aware of marine safety laws, including specific watercraft controls, he said the Oakland County Sheriff's Department is vigilant about its efforts to keep people safe on county lakes.
Among violations the marine division has zero tolerance for are boating without personal flotation devices (PFDs), and boating without recognition of having taken a boater's safety class.
"If you're required by law to have a boater's safety certificate on your person recognizing you've taken a boater's safety class, you have to have that," he said, noting department statistics have shown that people who haven't taken a boating safety course are more apt to be involved in drownings and watercraft accidents.
"When the officers issue tickets, we believe we need the courts to help us with educating people," Toth said. "We simply want to prevent accidents, drownings, and fatal watercraft accidents. We'd much prefer to write someone's son or daughter a ticket than go to the parents to inform them their loved one just drowned or was just involved in a crash.
"We want to prevent those instances as much as we can. Some people will just not take the boating classes unless we give them incentive."
Last summer, part of the procedural aspect of how watercraft controls are determined changed when a state House of Representatives bill was signed into law. The public was previously held out of the process more than it is now.
HB 5125, which became Public Act (PA) 237 of 2006, requires public input on proposed local watercraft marine laws and specifies standards the DNR must consider when investigating the need for special watercraft rules on any waters in the state.
According to a state legislative analysis of the law, the legislation amended the Marine Safety section, or Part 801, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to do the following:
• Require the DNR to initiate an investigation and inquiry into whether special watercraft rules are needed on a particular body of water;
• Prescribe specific factors the DNR will have to consider in its investigation and inquiry;
• Require the DNR to prepare the preliminary report containing its recommendations on the need for special rules and schedule a public hearing on the report;
• Require the DNR to propose a local ordinance or changes to an ordinance if it determined, after the hearing, that special rules are needed;
• Require the DNR to notify the municipality requesting watercraft controls of the department's reasons for determining that special rules aren't needed; and
• Allow the municipality to appeal a determination by the DNR that special rules aren't needed to the NRC.
The Marine Safety section already authorized the DNR to initiate investigations and inquiries into the need for special rules governing the use of vessels, water skis, water sleds, aqua planes, surfboards, or similar devices on any waters in the state. Under Public Act 237, the DNR can also do so to assure compatibility of uses and to protect public safety.
According to state Rep. John Stakoe (R-Highland), a co-sponsor of HB 5125, the new law was prompted by situations involving Rowe Lake in Highland Township and Cool Lake in Lake County's Elk Township, located within the district of the bill's lead sponsor, Rep. Goeff Hansen (R-Hart).
In both cases, according to Stakoe, the DNR hadn't been considering residents' concerns about all-sports and non-sports lake designations.
"The DNR was making somewhat subjective and arbitrary decisions on whether a lake should be all-sports or non-sports," he said. "We didn't feel it was necessarily an adequate way to assess the lakes because there was no objective criteria."
In Rowe Lake's case, he said, a gentleman's agreement that had existed banned large watercraft on the lake because of its configuration and depth. The 40-acre lake, which includes a sandbar at its center, is a man-made lake created through the sand and gravel mining process, and isn't listed by the DNR as an inland lake on its web site because of its size.
"The only criteria the DNR used to evaluate it was that there haven't been any serious accidents on the lake and there was no history," Stakoe said. "It's like going to Mackinac Island and saying there's never been any head-on car accidents. Of course not (because motorized vehicles are banned on the island). It wasn't a fair assessment."
According to Lisa Hanlin, a resident at the lake who had been pushing to have a public hearing about boating restrictions, the issue came to the forefront in Highland when one Rowe Lake riparian sold his lot and noted on the for sale sign that Rowe Lake is an all-sports lake.
She said last fall that a DNR official told her after the for sale sign went up that the DNR had stopped recognizing gentlemen's agreements like the one observed on Rowe Lake, and that residents petitioned to get a public hearing about the situation and one was never granted.
Stakoe said the DNR was agreeable with lawmakers working on the legislation to allow the extra public input throughout the process.
"They worked with us to come up with a list of criteria that would be objective and a more fair measure of how a lake should be labeled," he said.
As established under the law, the criteria the DNR must use when investigating a need for special rules on a particular water body are as follows:
• Whether the activities subject to the proposed special rule pose any issues of safety to life or property;
• The profile of the water body, including local jurisdiction, size, geographic location, and amount of vessel traffic;
• The current and historical depth of the waterway;
• Any identifiable special problems or conditions on the waterway;
• Whether special rules would create a hardship on normal navigational traffic;
• Whether user conflicts exist;
• Complaints received from local law enforcement agencies;
• The status of any accidents that have occurred on the waterway;
• Historical uses of the waterway and potential future uses;
• Whether the waterway is public or private; and
• Whether existing law adequately regulates activities.
Lt. Creig Grey of the DNR's Law Enforcement Division said the department agreed with the legislation as approved.
Toth, who said the sheriff's department also agreed with the changes, said he hasn't noticed any difference in boater behavior. He said boaters should still be aware of the special watercraft rules for a lake.
"We take designations and special rules seriously, but we do recognize that many times people are just unaware of the special rules, especially if they're new to the lake," he said. "Regardless, we do want compliance, so we'll go out and at least deliver a verbal warning.
"If you're a lakefront owner, you're aware or should be aware of the special controls, but some of the people not on the lake all the time may not be. We pride ourselves on education, awareness, and enforcement — in that order."
The following is a list of local watercraft controls enforced on lakes area waterways, according to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Bogie Lake (White Lake Township)
• It is unlawful to operate a boat powered by any motor except for electric motors.
Brookfield Pond (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Cass Lake (Waterford, West Bloomfield townships, Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake)
• High speed boating and water skiing are prohibited between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.
• Boats are not permitted to reach speeds faster than 50 mph.
• Boats in the northerly tip of Coles Bay and Gerundegut Bay in West Bloomfield Township and Waterford Township must adhere to a no-wake zone.
Cedar Island Lake (White Lake Township)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed:
(a) Southerly and westerly of a line beginning where the east line of lot 42, Golden Shores subdivision No. 1, intersects the water's edge and thence to the point where the north line of lot 54, Cedar View subdivision, as extended, intersections the water's edge.
(b) Westerly of a line beginning where the north line of lot 26, Cedar View subdivision, as extended, intersects the water's edge and thence south to the nearest opposite shore.
© Southerly from a line beginning where the north line of lot 9, Golden Shores subdivision No. 1, intersects the water's edge and thence westerly to where the north line of lot 39, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 1, intersects the water's edge.
(d) Westerly of a line beginning where the east line of lot 75, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 2, intersects the water's edge and thence northerly to the point where the north line of lot 93, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 3, intersects the water's edge.
(e) North of a line beginning where the east line of lot 54, Cedar Shores Subdivision Not. 1, intersects the water's edge and thence westerly to the point where the south line of lot 23, Cedar Shores subdivision, intersects the water's edge.
(f) West of a line beginning where the west line of lot 148, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 4, meets the most easterly point of lot 139, Cedar Shores subdivision No. 4.
Commerce Lake channels and canals (Commerce Township)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Cross Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, except those powered by electric motors.
Dollar Lake (Keego Harbor)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow—no wake speed.
Dunham Lake (Highland Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Green Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, unless powered by electric motor.
Harvey Lake (Highland Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, unless powered by electric motor.
Huron River, adjacent to Cedar Island Lake (White Lake)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Kent Lake (Milford and Lyon Townships)
• No motorboat shall operate at speeds higher than 10 mph, except authorized patrol or rescue crafts.
• Water skiing is prohibited.
• Rubber rafts and all floating devices other than boats are permitted only in designated swim areas.
Lake Ona (White Lake Township)
• Motor boats are prohibited, unless powered by electric motor.
Loon Lake (Wixom)
• High-speed boating and water skiing are prohibited between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 10 a.m.
Lower Straits Lake Canal (Commerce Township)
• North and west of a line from where the south line of lot 29, North Shores subdivision as extended intersects the water's edge and thence easterly to the nearest opposite shore, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Middle Straits Lake (Commerce Township)
• On the waters of Middle Straits lake, in sections 12 and 13, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Middle Straits Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• On that part of the waters of Middle Straits lake located in section 7, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
• On that part of the waters of Middle Straits lake located in sections 17 and 18, it is unlawful on Sundays, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, except between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., to:
(a) Operate a vessel at high speed.
(b) Have in tow, or otherwise assist in the propulsion of, a person on water skis, a water sled, kite, surfboard, or other similar contrivance.
• On that part of Middle Straits Lake lying directly in the center of section 16, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow—no wake speed in that area directly adjacent to Bloomer Park, in a straight line from the tip of the natural shoreline from the north on a diagonal line to the first residence to the southeast of the park boundary line.
Moon Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Morris Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Orchard Lake (City of Orchard Lake Village)
• It is unlawful at any time to operate a vessel in excess of 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour).
• No-wake zones are enforced within 200 feet in any direction from the state public access site.
Pleasant Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Pontiac Lake (White Lake, Waterford Townships)
• Individuals operating vessels must maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from any shoreline or island, except when proceeding at slow, no-wake speeds and when picking up or dropping off water skiers, as long as conducted within state law.
• Water skiers must maintain a distance of 100 feet from any shoreline, island, raft, buoyed or occupied bathing area or vessel moored or at anchor.
Sears Lake (Milford Township)
• It is unlawful to operate a motorboat.
Simpson Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
Sugden Lake-Northeast Bay (White Lake Township)
• Northeast of a line described as beginning where the south line of lot 37, Oakdale subdivision, intersects the water's edge, to the southwest corner of lot 63, Oakdale subdivision, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Walnut Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• High-speed boating and water skiing are restricted to the hours between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• On the waters of Walnut Lake, the north part of section 25, from the southeast corner of Walnut lake entering the southeast bay area, it is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed.
Wolverine Lake (Wolverine Lake Village)
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed northerly of a line from where the west line of lot 23, Stuarts Oak Island subdivision, as extended, intersects the water's edge and thence to the northernmost point of land in outlot "a," Paynes Manor subdivision.
• It is unlawful to operate a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed on the waters of all artificial channels and canals connected to Wolverine Lake.
• High-speed boating and water skiing are prohibited on the waters of Wolverine Lake in sections 22, 23, 27, and 28 between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 10 a.m.
• Airboats are prohibited.
• It is unlawful for the operator of a vessel to exceed a slow-no wake speed between a line from where the south line of lot 49, Schulte-Hoffman Spring Park subdivision, as extended, intersects the water's edge thence easterly to where the north line of lot 20, Shankin's Wolverine Lake subdivision, as extended, meets the water's edge and a line from where the south line of lot 39, Schulte-Hoffman Spring Park subdivision intersects the water's edge and thence easterly to where the south line of lot 12, Shankin's Wolverine Lake Subdivision, as extended, meets the water's edge.
• It is unlawful to anchor or moor a vessel at a distance greater than 100 feet from any shore, between 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. during June, July, and August, except in those parts of Wolverine Lake established as slow-no wake zones.
Woodpecker Lake (West Bloomfield Township)
• Motorboats are prohibited.
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