They’re at it again, wanting to gate to the ONLY Access to Lake Bavaria in the NW part of Chaska.
They want to use the new state law allowing Off-Site Inspections, give you a code that would allow you to enter via. some type of gate/controlled access system.
You might even get a frequent user pass. See article link from the Chaska Herald Commentary: Lake Bavaria Access, Chaska Herald link
{copyright to the Chaska Herald}
Commentary: Inspections could also apply to lakeshore owners
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2012 9:00 am | Updated: 9:20 pm, Thu Jul 19, 2012.
Commentary: Inspections could also apply to lakeshore owners By Tim Kraft The Chaska Herald | 0 comments
As president of the Friends of Lake Bavaria Association (FLB), my role is to do whatever can be done to further the impact of our mission statement. That is “To preserve and improve the ecosystem of Lake Bavaria, including its shoreline, and any surrounding land area having a direct impact to the lake, and to promote recreational safety for the lake’s patrons.” I believe all lake associations have a similar mission.
Notice our mission statement refers to the “lake’s patrons.” That term includes property owners, local residents, and anyone wishing to use this public lake for the benefits it provides.
Some believe controlling access to a public landing is the lake’s residents attempting to keep non-residents off “their” lake. The FLB board is only trying to protect the quality level of the lake that we share for future generations. We are not attempting to restrict access to anyone, except people who bring damaging invasive species to the lake.
For those not familiar with the negative effects of the latest Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) threat, the zebra mussel, I highly recommend an excellent educational video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uLKK09TljI&hd=1.
Public waters in Minnesota are overseen by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In addition, the DNR owns and operates some lake accesses around the state. Lake Bavaria’s public access is not a DNR access, and that opens the door for more flexibility in solutions for controlling the introduction of new AIS. That said, our situation with the Lake Bavaria public access is complicated as it’s owned and operated by Carver County while the city of Chaska controls the road servicing the access.
Currently, there is nothing preventing anyone from entering the lake with a recreational device, dock, or lift contaminated with zebra mussels or other aquatic invasive species, except when AIS inspectors are present. Unlike most state and county parks that have a gate or control arm to enforce park hours, most Minnesota lakes don’t have set hours of operation, and the public has an expectation that there are no set hours.
The county and our lake association understand that any solution to prevent new invasive species from infesting the lake must be applied equally to all patrons of the lake. One approach we are discussing involves sharing a common inspection station and using an automated access control system at the access.
This is a cost-effective solution, but most importantly, it protects the lake all the time. This kind of an automated control system cannot be compared to a “gated” community where the express purpose is to exclude anyone from entering unless they are a resident or have permission from a resident to enter. In this application, everyone wanting to use the public access would have to drive to the centralized inspection site serving area lakes, and go through the inspection process.
Residents would not receive any preferential treatment, except that they would be able to keep the inspected watercraft on the lake once inspected. Non-residents, on the other hand, remove their craft from the lake after each use and would be inconvenienced by having their craft re-inspected each time they enter the lake. That inconvenience could theoretically be addressed via a “frequent user” pass of some kind after that individual has committed to rigorously follow AIS best practices.
Approaches to further remove inconveniences can be considered, but each approach has different risks to protecting the lake. The good news is that many of these different approaches can be piloted and tested at any time. As an example, people will likely want access to the lake early in the morning before the shared inspection station opens at 5 a.m. Happily, this kind of a challenge can be solved in a number of ways with only a limited change in the risk to the lake.
I believe we all have the responsibility of keeping our lakes clean and healthy. Doing everything possible in acting immediately to achieve this expectation for all Minnesotans’ benefit is worth the cost.
In my role, I will continue to work with our county commissioners and city Council towards replacing manual inspections at the public access with a more effective solution to AIS in Lake Bavaria.
.Tim Kraft, of Chaska, is president of the Friends of Lake Bavaria. He can be reached at [email protected].
POLL Questions:
