The public will get another chance tonight to comment on proposed regulations on boating on Payette Lake.
The hearing before Valley County commissioners will focus on proposed changes in the ordinance since the last public hearing on May 15.
The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. tonight at the cafeteria of McCall-Donnelly High School. Written comments will be accepted through June 21'by sending them to the Valley County Recorder's Office, PO Box 1350, Cascade, ID 83611.
Proposed changes to the ordinance were brought up during a work session on May 30 that included members of the Payette Lake Protective League, a citizens group that wants to see more regulations on boating on the lake.
Others attending the work session were representatives of the Valley County Sheriff's Office, the Valley County Waterways Commission and county commissioners.
Some of the proposed changes were acceptable to the protective league, but others were not, league President Cutler Umbach said.
Here is a list of the proposed changes from the May 30 work
shop:
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No-Wake Zone: The current draft calls for a 400-foot no-wake zone except for The Narrows and around islands in the lake and inside McCall city limits, where there is a 300-foot zone.
The county group wants to reduce the zone to between 250 and 300 feet, responding to comment within letters received to date on the topic.
Umbach said his group could not accept a smaller zone, which he prefers to call a "no-wake safe water zone."
"Safety is what this ordinance is all about; setting things up so that various users can share the lake in way that is safe and balance," he said.
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Water Ski Starts and Stops: The protective league has agreed to drop its support of a ban on water skiers starting from a dock or close to shore, which is apart of the current draft, Umbach said.
However, the group still wants a ban on water skiers finishing their trips under power close to shore. Starts are less hazardous than stops because starts go straight out from shore while finishes under power involve sweeping passes that could be dangerous, Umbach said.
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Two-Cycle Engines: The current ordinance would ban most kinds of polluting two-cycle motors by 2010. The protective league is now willing to extend that ban but does not have a preference on the year as long as a year is specified, Umbach said.
The county group prefers no timetable to ban two-cycle motors, saying natural attrition will eventually see a complete switch to the less-polluting, but more expensive, fuel-injected two-cycle or four-cycle motors.
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Speed Limits: The current draft calls for a daytime speed limit for boats of 40 miles per hour. The protective league is willing to raise that limit to 45 mph, while the county group wants to see an increase to 50 mph. The proposed nighttime speed limit of 20 mph would remain unchanged.
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North Fork: The current draft would ban all motorized boats from the North Fork of the Payette River north of Payette Lake, an area which is currently a no-wake zone. The county group now wants to ban jet skis only, while the protective league wants to stay with a total ban on motorized boats on the river.
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Exhaust Systems: Boats using over-the-transom engines would be banned in the current draft, but the protective league agreed to drop that requirement after it was noted that such engines already are required by law to be equipped with mufflers. Also, the sheriff 's office promised to enforce existing noise rules.
