Serious News
09-05-2013, 08:20 PM
The big boats that motor up and down Candlewood Lake can roam free only for two more days.
After that, they'll need a permit.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced Wednesday that it will begin to enforce the state regulations concerning boat size on Candlewood beginning Saturday. It's the first time the DEEP has tried to enforce such a limit.
"This is all new to us,'' Eleanor Mariani, the DEEP's director of boating, said Wednesday.
That regulation -- spurred by legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2009 to ban big boats on Candlewood -- states that boats 26 feet long or longer will not be allowed to operate on the lake. The regulation went into effect in March.
The state forbade the larger boats as a measure to control overcrowding as well as to reduce, to a small degree, the erosion caused by boat wakes on Candlewood.
"It's the state's biggest lake,'' Larry Marsicano of the Candlewood Lake Authority said of the man-made 5,420-acre expanse. "And at its widest, it's two miles across. But people forget that in a lot of places, it's a half-mile wide at most. It's a long, narrow lake.''
But the regulation allows those who own the larger boats to apply for permits to be grandfathered in under the law.
So far, Mariani said, about 140 people have applied for such permits, which are free. They'll have until the end of 2014 to do so, she said.
Roby Sadler, of the Candlewood East Marina in Brookfield, said the word has gotten out to the big boat owners at the marina and most have sent in for the permit.
"I think we have just about everyone,'' Sadler said.
Mariani of the DEEP said that the agency's conservation officers on Candlewood can levy a $75 fine on people who have boats that are too big and don't have permits. The conservation officers can also ask them to return to shore.
She said the officers will rely on educating boaters about the new regulation.
"I think they will use their discretion,'' she said.
bmiller@newstimes.com
Bon voyage, big boats on Candlewood Lake - NewsTimes (http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Bon-voyage-big-boats-on-Candlewood-Lake-4786507.php)
After that, they'll need a permit.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced Wednesday that it will begin to enforce the state regulations concerning boat size on Candlewood beginning Saturday. It's the first time the DEEP has tried to enforce such a limit.
"This is all new to us,'' Eleanor Mariani, the DEEP's director of boating, said Wednesday.
That regulation -- spurred by legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2009 to ban big boats on Candlewood -- states that boats 26 feet long or longer will not be allowed to operate on the lake. The regulation went into effect in March.
The state forbade the larger boats as a measure to control overcrowding as well as to reduce, to a small degree, the erosion caused by boat wakes on Candlewood.
"It's the state's biggest lake,'' Larry Marsicano of the Candlewood Lake Authority said of the man-made 5,420-acre expanse. "And at its widest, it's two miles across. But people forget that in a lot of places, it's a half-mile wide at most. It's a long, narrow lake.''
But the regulation allows those who own the larger boats to apply for permits to be grandfathered in under the law.
So far, Mariani said, about 140 people have applied for such permits, which are free. They'll have until the end of 2014 to do so, she said.
Roby Sadler, of the Candlewood East Marina in Brookfield, said the word has gotten out to the big boat owners at the marina and most have sent in for the permit.
"I think we have just about everyone,'' Sadler said.
Mariani of the DEEP said that the agency's conservation officers on Candlewood can levy a $75 fine on people who have boats that are too big and don't have permits. The conservation officers can also ask them to return to shore.
She said the officers will rely on educating boaters about the new regulation.
"I think they will use their discretion,'' she said.
bmiller@newstimes.com
Bon voyage, big boats on Candlewood Lake - NewsTimes (http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Bon-voyage-big-boats-on-Candlewood-Lake-4786507.php)