Bill would allow associations to regulate members on public lakes

Published by editor on Wed, 02/07/2024 - 2:16pm

The bill was sought by the Lake Panorama Association but has the potential to affect other state lakes. Shown here is Big Creek Lake north of Des Moines. (Photo by Perry Beeman/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

By:

Jared Strong

Iowa Capital Dispatch

Proposed legislation in the Iowa House would enable community associations that govern areas near public lakes to police their members’ conduct while boating.

House Study Bill 647 would address a problem of the Lake Panorama Association that stems from two court rulings in recent years.

In 2020, the Iowa Supreme Court decided that Lake Panorama is a public lake — despite the lake being encircled entirely by property that is owned by the association or its members — because it’s possible for small boats to access it via the Middle Raccoon River.

The lake was created by damming the river about five decades ago near Panora in west-central Iowa.

In 2023, a district court judge who is presiding over a dispute that involves a different lake association and one of its members ruled that the association couldn’t enforce its boating restrictions on a public lake, which is typically the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

“If the lake is public waters, then (the association) has no right to hold members of the association to terms and restrictions they have no authority to promulgate,” wrote District Court Judge Charles Sinnard, in October.

That case involves the Sun Valley Iowa Lake Association in Ringgold County in southern Iowa. The association fined one of its members several times last year for going too fast after dark, exceeding a 35 mph speed limit, passing on the wrong side and operating in an unsafe manner, court records show.

The association also revoked the member’s boating privileges for a year and ordered all of the member’s watercraft to be removed from the lake. The member has not complied, and the association seeks a court injunction to force compliance.

Judge Sinnard declined in October the association’s request for a temporary injunction because it had not — at the time of the judge’s decision — supplied sufficient evidence that Sun Valley is a private lake. A jury trial is set for October 2024.

Because Lake Panorama is a public lake, the association worries that the judge’s ruling might impede its ability to police its members, who are believed to account for nearly all boat traffic on the lake.

“This court ruling was quite a surprise to us,” John Rutledge, the Lake Panorama Association’s general manager, told lawmakers on Monday. “We’ve been around since 1970. We have over a half century of safe boating on Lake Panorama. I think part of that is due to the DNR, and part of that is also due to the association’s efforts.”

The association has buoys on the lake to help direct boat traffic and areas where boats must travel slowly to ensure safety, he said.

The DNR patrols the lake to enforce state law, but the association also has a water patrol. Rutledge said the private patrol issued about 400 warnings of infractions last year to its members and levied 70 fines — in the form of additional association fees.

The new legislation — which was advanced by a three-person House subcommittee Monday — would enable the association to police its members and their guests on a public lake and to use buoys to direct traffic and warn of hazards.

“This bill makes sense to me,” said Rep. Kenan Judge, a Waukee Democrat who was part of the subcommittee. He added: “I certainly can understand the safety aspect of it.”

Rutledge told Iowa Capital Dispatch that he hopes lawmakers approve a narrowly tailored bill that remedies the situation at Lake Panorama. He is unaware of any other lake association that is in the same boat.

“We have a tremendous respect for the DNR, and we’re considering their suggestions on how to make that language work well for everyone,” Rutledge said. He added: “We have a situation that we need to solve before the spring.”

The department is mostly concerned with the provision in the bill that allows associations to put buoys on public lakes, he said. There are homeowners associations that govern properties near other public lakes, but none has an all-encompassing presence similar to Lake Panorama.