Lake Rule re Wake Boats Covenant re ATVs & Golf Carts Advisory Vote re Pickleball & Tennis

PROPOSED LAKE RULE AMENDMENT

Lot Owner Comments:

HOA board-  I was unable to call in the annual meeting due to travel.  I wanted to share some concerns on the slide concerning wake boats and water bladders. 

I don't know the history of the lake but I have noticed in my short time on the lake that wake boats (especially when wake surfing ) are creating massive waves that are impacting my dock and shoreline. I have noticed  more homes in the past few years installing rip rap on their shoreline to control / mitigate shore erosion.  

When I read the covenants as a new owner I interpreted the section on  water bladders that they were not allowed to be operated on boats.It appears this section V.J was intended to control lake erosion.  The covenants did allow  owners to purchase either an inboard or  inboard/outboard boats while complying with specific requirements. 

I did some brief research on inboard boats and wake board boats.  The boats back in 2003 had dry weights ranging from 3,100 to 4,600 pounds.  (crownline 2003, 210BR-3,500 lbs,  mastercraft x series (X2) 3,100 lbs. mastercraft X series (X star -22') 4,600 lbs.   The mastercraft 2006 X2 weight was 3,200 lbs and had 650 of ballast capacity. In 2020, the mastercraft XT20, dry weight was 4,500 lbs, Gen 2 ballast system provided 1,700 lbs of additional weight. The malibu 20 VTX boat has over 3,560 lbs of ballast capacity.  The evolution of ballast systems has continued to improve over the years which is concerning on when does it stop.  Back is 2003, water bladder systems were less than 1,000 pounds and has grown to over 3,500 lbs. .  The mastercraft X22, with a length of 22.4 inches (the new amendment to boat sizes now allows this boat) has a dry weight of 5,500 lbs, 3,550 lbs of ballast capacity and can hold up to 16 people.  If the ballast system is engaged, the total weight of some boats with passengers is approaching  10,000 lbs,  A 2022 crownline 220ss dry weight is 4,370 lbs and holds 10 passengers.   I don't mean to bore you with boat information since most of you already understand the changes that have taken place in boats and boat technology.   I thought it would at least provide a baseline as it relates to covenants that were developed in early 2000's.  

I'm concerned that boat technology will over take west shores lake if we continue to allow boats to utilize added water systems to enhance waves.  I continue to see boats discharge ballast water after boating so the current provision is not being enforced.   I recommend to the  Board, before this topic is taken up for a vote, that we either have a separate meeting to address this topic or share more data on this topic.  Maybe we need to get the developer of the lake to provide a statement on the intent of this language and share with all owners.  My understanding is participation at the annual meeting was less than a third.

  I have no problem with wake boats in general but the enhanced water systems should not be used.  Wake surfing with ballast enhancement should not be allowed.    Another risk is that boats with ballast systems when they leave the lake and ballast systems are used in lakes that may have invasive species, we risk  bringing back these  species (ie zebra mussels) to west shores.  I have attached some articles on these topics and a page from mastercraft owners manual on 'wake responsibility' & ballast systems- see the recommendation of 200 feet operation from shoreline or docks and ballast systems.

I look forward to the Boards response on this important topic.  As lake owners we all need to be part of the solution to protect this lake and continue to have responsible boating.  I plan to share my thoughts with friends and neighbors on the lake. 

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I agree 100% about these boats, our lake is way to small to continue to allow them 

Subject: Wake board boats

Message: I just wanted to comment on the recent zoom meeting regarding the topic of wake board boats. Let me start by saying for full disclosure purposes that I own a pontoon boat. That being said, I actually enjoy watching people wake board and I believe lakes are a place to have fun and to entertain family and friends and wake boarding is certainly part of that. I have lived here 15 years and I have a point lot just north of the island. As the lake has added residents over the years, and wake boat technology has changed, it has become clear to me that we have a problem that needs to be addressed. The waves created by these boats have been very destructive to both my dock and to my shoreline. Two of the past three years I have had to replace broken aluminum posts and cross supports on my dock. I can sit there and watch how that dock twists and bends every time these large waves hit my dock. Eventually the metal fatigues and the welds break. This has been on ongoing issue and it has happened four times overall. I even purchased what is called a dock brace to prevent some of the twisting caused by the waves and that piece also broke. I was also forced to hire a company this past summer to place boulders in front of the rock dikes that were originally installed on the lake when the lake was built. The waves coming in were so large that it was destroying the dike and moving very large rocks as much as 40 feet and spreading them all across the front of my beach. The erosion I am incurring has to be happening everywhere on the lake that rock dikes were installed including around the island. It is time we have a real serious discussion about the latest wake board technology and how it impacts the lake. We do not live on a large lake. Even with the buoys in place these boats are very close to shore and the waves created by wake boats is causing a great deal of damage. Bladders alone can add 4,000 pounds of weight to a boat. Then in addition you have hydrofoils and wedge type devises that can be extended from the boats to create additional wake. In my opinion our lake is not large enough for these devises and our shoreline cannot handle the waves created by these boats. In addition to the wave issue, we should all be very concerned about the possibility that the filling and draining of these bladders could certainly bring Zebra Mussels into this lake. Someone could take their boat to a place like Lake Okoboji that has mussels and bring them back to our lake very easily. I am not aware of anyone who cleans out their bladders and just keeping a boat out of the water for a week probably would not work since some water always remains in these bladders. These are real issues that need to be addressed. My question to the board is how do we make residents aware of these concerns now that we are meeting via Zoom? I believe your plan was to put this issue up for some type of vote but how many people have heard some of these issues discussed? Are e-mails from people like me who are voicing concerns sent out to the homeowners? I would appreciate your feedback on this matter.

Hello Board,

Mary and I support allowing bladders, weighting, and other modifications that increase boat wakes.

1. Enforcement of no bladder/weighting is now, and would be cumbersome, probably intrusive, and maybe impossible. Especially since the wake can be made larger without bladders and weighting.

2. No reason to ban an activity that seems to be enjoyed by a great number of our residents.

3. My experience with almost fifty years living in a lake community is that large wakes/waves play very little, if any part of beach erosion. The wind, and runoff are by far the more serious source of beach erosion. The only exception would be sea walls and steep banks, which we do not have at West Shores. One would just need to go to the ocean to see effect of large waves, if waves washed away the shore, we would have ocean front property in Nebraska by now.

4. My kids love to play in the water when large waves are hitting the beach…big fun.

5. Tubers love the big waves.

6. My dock and lift are not affected. Again the wind and runoff is a far more serious issue.

7. I believe property values would suffer. Several competing lakes allow lake enjoyment activities including boat weighting, jet skis, powered surf boards, golf carts, and ATV/UTV operation, a good fit for people who want to be able to do about anything. The other side of the spectrum are lake communities that have a no wake policy, and allow limited other activities, which may be a better fit for those who would prefer a calm lake. In our view, West Shores offers a good balance and property values should remain at a premium.

8. Our family and friends wakeboard and wake surf. Again, the wake could be made larger without bladder/weighting, but the onboard technology of modern boats make it safer than other methods.

I have been in contact with other residents of the lake regarding your desire to change rule V.J. to allow boats utilizing devices to increase/enhance their wake to be used at Westshores. We want to have a meeting with board members prior to the February 15th meeting to discuss this rule change.

We believe a study should be commissioned by the board to determine what effect this rule change will have on beach erosion and other possible negative effects to our property values. Many of us have read studies that have determined that wake boats must remain at least 200 ft or more from docks and/or shorelines to prevent irreparable harm to our lake.

I have been told that members of the board have advised people that they could purchase and use boats with enhanced wake devices on Westshores. It seems that a unilateral decision has been made by certain members of the Board to sidestep this very important rule.

If the Board refuses to conduct a study, I have advised certain residents of our lake that we can seek an injunction to prevent this rule change from taking effect by citing irreparable harm to our lake and affected property. If a study to determine the side effects of these boats is agreed to, any experts employed for this matter will need to be agreed to by a committee to include non-board members.

I have heard complaints that residents have reached out to the Board regarding this issue, to no - avail. The Board must be open and transparent about this issue. I await your collective response.

I believe that we, as a community, must resolve this issue with an open an honest discussion. What harm is there in that?

To West Shores HOA:

I would like to voice my view regarding the “water bladers” lake rule.

Although this covenant may appear to be addressing “water bladders” or more specifically “ballasts”, this rule is really framed around “modifications to boats” to enhance wakes. 

Water ballasts are not a modification to a wake boat, they are part of the manufacturer’s original design.  Boats by their very nature create a wake, so I believe it is unreasonable to single out a specific part of a boat as a culprit to enhance wake.  The motor enhances wake, the shape of the boat enhances wake, the number of people enhances wake, etc.  Ballasts shouldn’t be singled out.  Ballasts are also used for balancing out a boat and making them safer to drive.  Eliminating a “safety” feature of a boat, I believe, is a very dangerous idea for the board to consider.

Many of us bought our houses at West Shores because we wanted to be a part of an active lake community.  West Shores has always been a wake lake and to change this policy is to change the very lake itself.  This is unacceptable.  To eliminate wake surfing and wake sports would cause financial harm to the residents.  Property values would go down as the lake would be less desirable as well as many of our $100,000+ boats would be rendered useless.  I have no doubt that a contingency of residents would come together with a lawsuit against the board if such irresponsible action were to be taken. 

I believe that eliminating water ballasts is unnecessary as we already have rules in place that limit the wake boats.

Currently, we have (1) boat size limits, (2) boat speed limits, (3) distance limits to the shoreline, (4) set traffic patterns.  All of these things prevent the wake from being any higher than they’ve been for the past 20+ years.  Adding additional limits to ballasts is a micromanagement that is no different than limiting the number of passengers on the boat.  Boats already have capacity limits as determined by the coast guard.  There is no need for the HOA to go beyond that.  In the same spirit, boat’s ballast have limitations as determined by the manufacturer.  They won’t build boats will ballasts so big that the boats will sink themselves.  If there really is a problem with the wake size at West Shores, then the board needs to reevaluate the boat SIZE restrictions.  Didn’t the neighborhood just approve to INCREASE the size of the boat limits? 

Last, enforcing a ballast rule will be a nightmare.  1.  An observer can’t differentiate between a ballast dump and a bilge dump.  2.  Many wake boats dump their ballasts under the water.

Please feel free to give me a call to discuss further if that would be helpful.

I appreciate all you do for the West Shores neighborhood.

Dear HOA Board,

We are drafting this email in support of our current boating use on Westshore Lake.  When moving to Westshore just over a year ago we chose this location because of the use of powerboats including pontoon and wake surfing boats.  When we first moved to the lake we had an older model wake surfing boat and in comparison to other boats, even if we filled ballast tanks the wave action was minimal.  Upon purchasing a new boat last summer, due to the design of the boat while we don’t fill our ballast I know that for other vessels to get an effective wake to surf behind the filling of ballast is appropriate.

We can say first hand that our home which is located at a more constrained area of the lake receives regular wave action throughout the summer from boats.  We can also say that the wave action provides minimal beach erosion compared to the effects of the rain and wind conditions.  Repairs we have had to do to our beach since living there were all a result of erosion from the rain, and not due to wave action.  I will further offer that we have not experienced any damage to our dock or lift due to waves with the exception of occasional maintenance adjustments to the supports which is to be expected.

I feel that if there was a change of the use conditions of the lake and power boats and wake surfers were not allowed it would greatly reduce the value and enjoyment of our home.  As a neighborhood I believe we would suffer.  When moving to the lake we all accepted the use parameters of the lake and understand this is the condition for which we bought our home.

We are in support of the current motor vessel use conditions and further support the use of factory installed ballast systems.

Respectfully

Subject: Lake

Message: As a member of the Westshores community for over 18 years our family has enjoyed doing activities on and behind our wakeboard boats. Beach erosion is the consequence of high winds and storms and the wind moving materials from the shore further out into the water. Even when there are no boats on the water the wind causes waves. The amount of wind we get around Westshores is causing more damage to our shoreline than any boat would. If you disallow the use of wakeboard boats you will see a lot of families leaving your community. People live on the lake to use the lake.

 This is my personal opinion as a resident owner . . . :

• In accordance with recommendations from various boating organizations including Water Sports Industry Association www.wsia.net and Wakeboarding.com (https://www.wakeboardingmag.com/more-wake-fun-means-more-wake-responsibility/ ) I would propose that we increase the distance to shore of wakeboard boats to 200 feet.

• Second, I would ask for further studies on this topic as related to our lake, both internal and external with full transperity of communications with all the lake owners and residents.

• Third, sometimes the boats own wake blocks and makes it impossible to identify the lot numbers so perhaps improvements need to be made to lot number stickers placement, especially on the boats with inboard type engines.

• Fourth, we definitely need better boater education; perhaps require a class and require proof of knowledge. Boating like driving is a privilege.

• Fifth and most important, we are lucky to live here so please let’s all work together for enjoyment and protections of our biggest neighborhood asset, our lake : )

I’m writing to express my concern on the topic presented in the annual HOA meeting related to wakeboard boats and their capabilities. As a recreational lake, there are many things people like to do for fun on the water…from fishing and Kayaking to wakeboarding and slalom skiing. This is why most of us bought a house on West Shores. In my humble opinion, wakeboard boats are not the primary contributor to eroding beaches. I assume eroding beaches is the issue, although it wasn’t explicitly called out in the meeting. My opinion is based on the damage I observed after the huge rains we’ve received the last couple of years. Those rains were devastating to the beaches as I’m sure we all know. The rains 100% represent to me the primary contributor of beach erosion, not boats. To mitigate this, I’ve triple checked my drainage to ensure it is functioning properly as all homeowners should. I also knew when moving here there would be periodic beach maintenance necessary, it is all part of living on a beautiful sand bottom lake. I’d be naive to say there is zero erosion damage caused by wakeboard boats, but it’s a necessary evil due to a lot of people using boats to do things they love. I also doubt there is much difference in a wakeboard boat pulling a surfer and a V-bottom boat (or wakeboard boat) with 12 people in it plowing around the lake next to the buoys…which happens a lot. If put to a vote, we would vote to remove the literature in the bylaws altogether.

As the Water Sports Industry Association (www.wsia.net ) and current wake boat manufacturers’ Owner Manuals state these types of vessels need to stay 200ft away from the shoreline to preserve beaches, docks… and the fish habitat. Why are we as co-owners of this small body of water ignoring these recommendations?

I believe that the intent of the original lake developers was to preserve our lake shores by limiting boat sizes, wake, etc… because they were aware of our lake limitations due to its shallow depth and narrow width.

The poor decision to allow bigger and more powerful boats has already created more damages.

I have no problem with boating with or without a wake as long as it’s done responsibly and respectfully. 

Because of the lack of responsibility and respect of some I would support the original spirit of West Shores covenants deterring the use of any wake enhancing devices.

Shortly after moving to West Shores a little over 14 years ago, I realized many of our neighbors’ beaches were eroding away terribly. Where once they may have had 50 feet or more of beach from their retaining wall to the water, some were down to as little as 15-20 feet. With my contractor experience in irrigation and landscaping, I began researching beach erosion control techniques utilized by the Corps of Engineers all over the U.S., and consulted TD2, the engineering firm for development of West Shores lake.

Granted, the location of many of our beaches are far more susceptible to wind and wave erosion than others. But, the wave action created by boat traffic creates "eddies" on the back side of many of the jetties and greatly intensifies the sand erosion even more. Again, the impact varies depending on property location. In addition, the wave action causes straight-line shore erosion where your sand may have migrated down-shore to your neighbors. And, the BIGGER the WAVES, the BIGGER the EROSION.

I have been involved in the design and installation of many of the ROCK REVETMENT SYSTEMS, for beach reclamation and erosion control all over West Shores. In fact, I helped create the specifications that West Shores requires for construction of such revetment systems.

Also, I have personally witnessed the damaging effects to docks created by the larger wake waves from boats, with their sterns DEEP in the water and bows pointed highly UPWARD.

As you can tell, I am firmly opposed to boat modifications and bladder fills that create “surfing”waves. We need to be FAIR to ALL West Shores residents, to minimize beach and dock damages and the costs incurred in repairs to such.

In regards to the proposed change to wakeboard boats, I offer a suggestion that another local lake adopted when faced with the same issue. They updated their covenant to the following: "No ballast, weighted transom or any modification other than what the boat was equipped with from the factory (OEM) are allowed to be used while on the lake."

My own opinion regarding wake boarding/surfing in general and using advanced wake technology:

1. Many boats have built in technology through ballasts or tabs/wedges that increase the wake. To prohibit the use of these after many boat owners have purchased these boats for that reason would be completely unfair and unjust since many people bought these boats and moved here because it was allowed at the time. Home values would go down if we no longer allow it.
   

2. Monitoring the use of these features would be nearly impossible. Some of these boats drain from the bottom and are not visible to anyone.
   

3. Changing to a 200 foot rule for wake boats is not a viable solution as many parts of the lake are not wide enough to accommodate that rule.
   

4. I believe nature, especially heavy rain, does more damage to the beaches than wake boats
   

5. I live on one of the most active boating coves since it is wider than most and I have had zero dock damage from wake boats. I also have more sand accumulating around my dock AFTER boating season so don't think wake boats are the issue.

Lake Rules – In that many residents have invested in wake boats, we would be in favor of having the language clarified in favor of wake boats.

HOA Board,

We just moved here last Fall from Ginger Cove where they too are starting to see the effects of wake boats used on small lakes.

The very few wake boats on that lake are wearing down the shoreline sand at a rapid rate.

We were in a small cove and the sand last summer dropped back 3 feet. This started wearing away the dock supports and washing sand into the lake from the beach area.

We not only oppose the aftermarket equipment, but ALL wake boats!

What happened at Ginger Cove is a big problem.

Unfortunately, it sounds like this may be the same problem here also.

Thank you for considering this matter.

Our family has enjoyed living at West Shores since 2015.

We participate in Skiing, Wakeboarding, Surfing, Tubing, and recreational lake swimming.

Operators that utilize factory ballasts are not always trying to increase the overall size or shape of the boats wake. Ballasts are considered safety feature which effects the boats stability and handling characteristics.

Front ballast at speeds of 30-32 MPH will soften and decreases the overall height of the wake. This is extremely helpful for slalom skiing.

Front ballast can also increase visibility by bringing the nose of the boat down when pulling tubes at slower speeds.

Side Ballasts can be used to offset the weight of passengers, allowing for a level ride.  

Enforcing a Lake rule pertaining to the use of ballast would require the boat patrol to board a vessel that’s actively in use to check the boats gauges. This would not be well received by residents, including myself.

We do not believe our beach has incurred erosion from boats. Our experience has been that heavy rainfall over a relatively short period of time creates beach erosion. Sand accumulates around the plank to our dock as well as our neighbors dock in the winter months. High wind and rainfall drive erosion on our property. If beaches are not properly maintained weather-related events will deteriorate their condition.

Our family supports the boards effort to remove Lake rule at Section V.J.

No water bladers, weighted transoms or any modifications to increase boat wake is allowed.