Boulder Junction town board asked to address wake boat issue

The issue of wake boats and enhanced wakes was brought up briefly during last Tuesday’s meeting of the Boulder Junction town board.

Boulder Junction resident Anne Brouwer shared a handout from the Last Wilderness Alliance regarding wake surfing and its effects on lakes. 

“Water skiing doesn’t destroy pristine lakes but ... wake surfing? That’s a whole new story!” the handout begins. 

Brouwer said she wanted to speak to the town board about “a hot topic issue.”

“Wakeboats can’t really be operated safely or responsibly on the lakes in Boulder Junction,” she said. “They (the lakes) are just inadequate in terms of size and depth and there are a number of impacts that they have to people, property, wildlife and the environment. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about these. It’s a very current topic but there are certain safety issues given the four- to six-foot wakes they can put out. There’s been a lot of reports around the state of property damage as well as to people who are trying to use the lakes ... it really restricts or limits the use of the lake by anyone else when wake boats are operating on lakes as small as ours.”

Brouwer mentioned the fact several area towns are in the process of or have passed local ordinances regarding wake boat operation. 

“The more that happens, the more likely the people with those boats will go to towns that don’t have those restrictions,” she said. “That could be Boulder Junction.”

Brouwer also mentioned the issue of enforcement “or lack thereof.” 

“It’s a bit of a red herring because we don’t have the ability to enforce the rest of our ordinances, either,” she said. “That’s not the point as much as the point is people want to abide by the law. There are a lot of violations that aren’t going to be caught but people decide they’re gonna obey or not gonna obey and I think as much as anything the more people understand about the risks and the impacts, the more likely they are to cooperate and understand that it’s not a good thing and it’s not good for them to risk those expensive boats on a lake full of underwater rocks.”

Brouwer said the state can’t be relied upon. She pointed to defeated legislation, which she said was crafted by a boating lobbying group. The legislation would have “eliminated the right of any town, city or village to enact anything stricter than state law.”

Another topic she said she hadn’t “heard much about” is the potential economic impact of wake surfing.

“One of the impacts that could come from this, and they’re seeing this in southern Wisconsin where this has been going on for eight or 10 years, is it can have an effect on property values,” Brouwer said. “Not everybody can afford to protect their property by putting rip-rap in, for example. Where shoreline erosion and other things have happened, property values do drop. The fact is that if property values of our lakefront properties in Boulder Junction drop, that’s going to effect property tax revenue for the town.”

She said according to Vilas County, over 70 percent of the property tax revenue for the town comes from lakefront property. 

“There’s also the risk of declining tourism,” Brouwer noted. “If our fishing is degraded significantly, if people can’t use the lakes for other things, it’s gonna have an impact on tourism and that’s also gonna have a ripple effect throughout the community.” 

She said the purpose of her appearance at Tuesday’s meeting of the Boulder Junction town board was “to ask this board to take action.”

“To put it on the agenda for the next meeting, to discuss the impacts, the potential actions, what other things we can do,” Brouwer said. “Can we develop a program before it becomes a threat or before there’s irreparable harm.”

Town chairman Dennis Reuss said because Brouwer spoke during public comment and the wake boat issue wasn’t on the agenda, the town board couldn’t discuss it at length or make an immediate decision.

 “We will consider this for a future town board meeting,” he told her.

“At least get the conversation started.”

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].