In our continued effort to work with the PML Board, the PML WWC has reviewed the list of members who signed the petition to remove wake and knee boarding from PML. Additionally we did some further analysis of the list since it was stated by a board member at the last board meeting (April 19, 2008) that this petition is the documentation for taking the action to remove wake and knee boarding from PML. Once again I would like to point out the fact that there are no formal written complaints on file in the association office to document wake or knee boarding and/or large destructive wakes are a problem.
We have compared the list of signatures on the petition to the list of boat registrations and how many are lakefront homeowners. We were quite surprised at the results, especially given the broad participation of lake users and lakefront homeowners we received in our lake use survey. Below is a table summarizing the participation in the petition to ban wakeboarding and the lake use survey we conducted and reviewed with the board at the last board meeting.
|
|
Petition to ban wakeboarding |
Lake Use Survey |
|
Total participants |
183 signatures
(excludes 17 duplicates where both spouses signed the petition) |
286 surveys received |
|
Number of registered boat owners |
38 |
191 |
|
% boat owners in petition or survey |
21% |
67% |
|
% total homeowners who register boats |
7% |
37% |
|
# of boat's registered by respondents |
67 |
369 |
|
% total homeowners who register boats |
8% |
43% |
|
|
|
|
|
Number of lakefront properties |
22 |
111 |
|
% of all Lakefront properties |
9% |
47% |
|
Total respondents that live on the
lake or registered a boat |
41 |
213 |
|
% respondents |
23% |
75% |
|
|
|
|
|
# of Full time residents |
162 |
73 |
|
% of respondents |
90% |
26% |
Our survey received broad based participation from all boat owners and lakefront homeowners who overwhelming felt wakes were not a significant issue and that eliminating wake and knee boarding would do nothing to address whatever occasional problem exists with wakes. The survey respondents also overwhelmingly felt that further limiting access to skiing and wakeboarding would have a negative impact on property values and their investment in PML.
The full survey results are available on the PML Waterski and Wakeboard website http://www.pmlwwc.com/
The board has chosen to ignore this input and has been unwilling to form a committee to evaluate the wake situation and potential solutions or follow through on its own commitment from last summer of holding open working sessions to try and find solutions. Instead, the board has opted to take as gospel, the input from a small group of full time residents that do not even register boats at PML or live on the water but claim to know exactly the solution to a problem that most actual users of the lake don't even recognize as a significant problem.
Despite what the handful of proponents who would like to shut down all fast boating at PML will tell you, significant progress with large wakes has been made in the last 3 years with the ban on wake enhancing devices and the good neighbor rules. Just ask the key users of the lake. And there are more strides that can be taken as the WWC has proposed and other communities have successfully implemented.
If you have concerns or comments regarding the ban on wake and knee boarding, please contact the PML Board of Directors.
Tom Duprey for the Board of the Waterski and Wakeboard Club