Rowing club may keep safety boat at Lake Waukewan floating dock

The Winnipesaukee Rowing Club on Monday received permission from the Board of Selectmen to leave a 13-foot "safety boat" tied up to the seasonal floating dock it installed near the public boat ramp at the base of Lake Waukewan. The board acknowledged the boats presence is technically in violation of an ordinance prohibiting boats from parking at town-owned docks for more than three hours but agreed to allow the practice to stand until it can properly amend the ordinance to make it legal.

The general issue was brought to the town's attention by resident Pat Mack, who remembered a spring of 2005 discussion that indicated to her that boats propelled by a motor would not be allowed to use the dock. The safety boat — used to follow crews of rowers across the lake — is propelled by a 4-cycle, 15-HP outboard motor.

Town Manager Carol Granfield looked into the matter and reported that though the town's application to the state Department of Environmental Services (DES) for permission to install the dock did include a promise not to use it to support motorboats, the resulting permit did not include such a condition. DES has since confirmed it requires no such prohibition.

While the Selectboard has consistently voiced its support for promoting paddle sports on the surface of the lake that is the town's public drinking water source from the day it was first approached about allowing the rowing club to install a dock that originates on town property, the issue of tying up the safety boat has given rise to a difference of opinion as to just who owns the dock itself.

Club President Paul Euiler told the board on Monday that his understanding was that the town owned the on-shore, concrete pad but the dock itself was club property. "It was paid for with donations made to the club," he said.

Only two of the current selectmen, Chairman Peter Miller and Frank Michel, were on the board on March 7, 2005, when it was approached by rowing club representative Charles Rand for permission to install a floating dock and Michel said he well remembered deciding the club would be totally responsible for purchasing, installing and maintaining the dock but it would end up as town property. "I think you did donate it," he told Euiler, "but use it as if it were yours."

Granfield said the minutes of that meeting support Michel's memory. An audio tape of the proceedings was destroyed long ago, pursuant to a board police that tapes are not retained for more than 90-days.

From the audience, however, Jim Hughes recalled that he was at the meeting in question and challenged both Michel's memory and the accuracy of the minutes. He said he remembered Rand being interrupted and corrected by other rowing club members when he implied the town would own the proposed dock.

(Hughes said he was shocked to learn of the board's policy of destroying audio tapes, saying that from his many years of service on the Selectboard he knows "there are mistakes in the minutes".)

Everyone agrees the rowing club stipulated the dock would not be reserved from the club's private use. Additionally, club directors have pointed out that local police and fire officials have keys to operate the safety boat, should it be needed to attend to an emergency situation that develops on the lake.

Granfield suggested the applicable town ordinance will need to be amended to account for the fact that public safety boats are exempt from the three-hour parking limit and language to that effect will need to be drafted by the town's attorney before the selectmen can hold the necessary public hearing on the matter.

The rowing club boasts 90 participants. It conducts organized practices twice daily — four or five times a week — on Lake Waukewan during the April-October rowing season.