Parks Board sends revised plan for dock use back to City Council

(Above) Rules for the new city dock at the end of Main Avenue will be discussed by the City Council Monday night.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.

by Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake’s Parks Board reviewed an early draft of rules and regulations for the new Sea Wall/City Dock Wednesday, at the request of the City Council.

The Council drew criticism from a Clear Lake businessman when it introduced a draft of an ordinance at its July 20 meeting.  It sent the document to the Parks Board for review and recommendations, with at least one Councilman hoping the group would be able to “find a balance” for public and commercial use of the dock.

Wednesday night, the Parks Board spent nearly two hours trying to accomplish just that.  In the end, they sent three changes back to the Council for it to consider at its Monday, Aug. 3 meeting.

Jim Flick, owner of Movement Solutions in Clear Lake, a business which rents boats and personal watercraft among other items for recreational enjoyment, spoke to both the Council and Parks Board at their meetings.  Flick was critical of  language in the first draft of the ordinance which limited commercial use of the city dock to “incidental” drop-offs and pick-ups not to exceed 30-minutes per watercraft.  It also specifies no more than one commercial vessel or watercraft can be moored or docked at the facility at any one time by any one business renting watercraft to the public.

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The Parks Board is recommending to the Council that the ordinance allow 45-minutes for staging and/or removal of commercial watercraft.  In addition, the Board would increase the number of commercial vessels allowed at the dock from one to two.

The biggest change the Parks Board is recommending to the ordinance is lifting a provision which would have prevented more than one party using a rental boat to moor at the dock.  The first draft of the ordinance stated the dock may be used by a (non-commercial) vessel or watercraft for no more than three continuous hours.

“The Board recommends allowing no more than two commercial vessels at any one time for the purposes of staging or removal.  The Board feels, however, that once in the possession of the renters, any actively rented craft should then fall under the same time limitations afforded to other watercraft (outlined in Section 1 of the ordinance),” stated Parks Director Randy Miller.

Flick had attempted to make the case that those renting his vessels were also likely to use the boat slips on the dock to walk downtown to shop or enjoy a meal.

Other minor suggestions the Parks Board is making to the City Council about the ordinance include clarifying “special events” use of the dock, including regattas, fishing tournaments, antique boat shows.  The Board also recommends clarifying that the commercial activity referenced in Section 3B of the ordinance (prohibited activities) refers to the selling of products such as food or goods.

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