A crowd of more than 100 people split their opinions Tuesday on a proposed ordinance to regulate boats on Payette Lake.
The Valley County Board of Commissioners held the meeting at the McCall Golf Course clubhouse to take public comment on a proposal written by the Payette Lake Protective League, a group of private citizens.
Testimony was about equal in those testifying in favor or against the proposed changes on the lake. Of the more than 50 people who testified, 30 were against the proposal, while 26 spoke for the changes.
Commissioners will take up the proposed ordinance at a future meeting, but no meeting date was set.
Anyone wanting to comment on the proposal has until May 25 to submit their comments to Valley County Clerk Archie Banbury.
Payette Lake Protective League President Cutler Umbach said the ordinance would make the lake "safe for all users."
The proposed ordinance sets a no wake zone of 400 feet around most of the lake, excluding The Narrows and around islands in the lake. It also sets age limits for boat operators, speed limits for day and night, and restricts how water skiers use the lake.
The ordinance also would ban personal watercraft from operating on the lake at night. It would ban all motorized watercraft from using the North Fork of the Payette River that enters the lake near North Beach.
The proposal also seeks to ban most two-stroke engines by 2010. It would also ban over-the-transom exhaust systems immediately due to noise.
The proposed changes would set safety regulations in place for swimmers and divers.
No-wake zone draws fire
Most objections were to the 400-foot no-wake safe zone, though there were many objections to other elements of the proposal.
Those in favor of the ordinance said it was time to regulate the lake before regulations were forced upon lake users by federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. The lake is the municipal water source for the city of McCall and is the private water source for many homes around the lake.
Ray Dupree of McCall said it would cost taxpayers $200,000 to mark the no-wake safe zone with buoys around the 25 miles of shoreline in the 5,500-acre lake.
"How can you make the lake more safe by constricting the operating area?" Dupree said.
Les Bechdel of McCall was in favor of the ordinance because he believes there are "no rights to non-motorized users."
"I'm not a lawyer, but I think this is totally unenforceable," Jim Campbell Jr. of McCall said.
Campbell then talked about a worry of the sponsors about safety for swimmers in the lake.
"If you are swimming out there by yourself, I mean hey, dumb dogs get run over, right?" he said.
Dan Ostermiller, a McCall physician, was in favor of the proposal. Ostermiller said the changes would maintain the quality of the lake.
