Minutes - Council - 06/09/1998 - Public Hearing

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Statement of Mike Hanley, Ramsey resident, concerning proposed "no wake" ordinance on the Rum river June 10, 1998 Mr. Mayor and Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to present my statement before the council. This past year, Andover and Ramsey council members have continued talking about establishing a no-wake ordinance along at least some portions of the Rum river bordering their city limits for the expressed purpose of controlling erosion along the fiver banks allegedly caused by watercraft wakes. If erosion from watercraft wakes is really the issue (and the real issue may be something else I'll much on later), then it follows that the success of any ordinance designed to control erosion on the Rum river hinges on this overriding question--how much erosion is occurring naturally, how much is the result of human activity and what, if anything, can government do to control it? There are two monumental assumptions being accepted and publicized by proponents of this ordinance. The first of these assumptions is that erosion on the Rum river has only now in modern times been observed and that such recently observed erosion is now a "crisis" requiring government action. The second assumption is that this erosion is caused by the activities of man and that it can be controlled by government by use of a restrictive "no wake" ordinance. It is the view of myself and others that this ordinance, although well intentioned, would have little or no effect towards controlling the natural erosion of the Rum river. Instead, we believe that such an ordinance would only serve to needlessly restrict the freedom of those citizens who enjoy boating and fishing on the river and who feel that they too have a legitimate right to be able to navigate a public waterway at a reasonable speed. We also believe that this ordinance would prove to be a continual waste of time and money for both the City Councils and the taxpayers of Ramsey and Andover, since it would involve the installation and removal of marker buoys every spring and fall. Let's consider looking at some common sense fiver Geology in the hope of better explaining this view. I will say right up front, that I am not a river geologist or hydrologist by training, although I have studied some Geology and have spent a lot of time on the fiver. I am primarily relying on my own 48 years of accumulated experience, firsthand observation and empirical evidence gathered by me while living on and with the Rum river in my following comments. Anyone who has been aware of the springtime headlines and news stories the past few years would be hard pressed not to have noticed the devastating results of flooding along the Mississippi and its tributaries in 1993 and most recently, along the Red river near Grand Forks. Despite the best efforts and preparation of residents in those areas (including sometimes massive and expensive public works levees, dikes, etc.) those rivers exhibited with force and fury a mind of their own.