From the White Oaks Bay Newsletter:
LAKE DREDGING PLAN is back to square one after one year of waiting for the County Assessors Office to figure out who lives where and in what PIN Number.
All bids for dredging are now over one year old and will have to be rebid again.
A hearing is scheduled for Dec 17 at the Greenwood School.
One year ago a vote was passed at the MPOA monthly meeting to proceed with plans to dredge Wonder Lake. A Special Service Area will help pay for the initial phase at a cost of $5.9 million. The final vote for approval was 39 for and 27 against with one abstention.
Wonder Lake was created in 1929 and has accumulated 3 million cubic yards of sediment according to the M.P.O.A. In order to improve water quality, boat access and fishing, dredging of the lake has been discussed since 1964.
Dredging would focus on the South Bay, the West Bay south of the islands, and White Oaks Bay as well as restoration of the islands. We should have more information on lake dredging in the December MPOA Newsletter.
I think there should be the ability for property owners to raise money for projects that would benefit their properties, but SSA procedures are not friendly to democracy.
Instead of requiring a positive petition favoring a project, those who don’t want it have to get an ungodly percentage of voters and property owners to sign a petition objecting to the proposal.
If the governmental entity making the proposal were democracy-friendly, it would make any such tax hiking proposal during the summer when the maximum number of property owners are around on weekends.
Forcing people to seek objectors’ signatures in the middle of winter just adds to the speculation that something unfair is being done.
Logic seems to be taking a hit, according to those who are long-time residents.
If one of the main purposes is “boat access,” why dredge South and West Bay? The old timers can’t remember when they have been navigable.
As far as improving fishing goes, some ask if shallows are good spawning grounds.