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Letter to the editor

Not all thrilled with dock solution

It's unfair to ask taxpayers to fund a private lake, one official says.

By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
Published October 31, 2007

SEMINOLE- After two battles over a homeowner's request for a dock, council members think they have a solution.

They've suggested that Seminole City Manager Frank Edmunds create an ordinance setting forth requirements for homeowners who want to build docks on land abutting city-owned lakes.

The only two bodies of water that would be affected are Lake Kersey and Blossom Lake.

The proposal does not have the unqualified support of all council members, who skirmished over the issue at an Oct. 23 workshop.

Council member Dan Hester led the charge against the proposed construction of another dock on Lake Kersey.

Hester pointed out that Lake Kersey is surrounded by private property and, even though it is technically a public lake, no one except those 19 homeowners can use it.

Hester wanted the lake given to the homeowners so they could take care of it rather than having the city continue to use tax dollars to maintain it.

Hester repeated his argument at a council workshop last week. "It's really not that big of a deal. To me, it's one that's philosophical," he said.

"The public can't get there from here. The public that can get there from here already lives around the lake," he added.

"I just really struggled with the whole idea of having your cake and eating it, too.

"It's a situation where the public can't enjoy it, public tax dollars are used, (yet) it's a private lake. ... It's a private lake funded by taxpayer dollars."

It's not fair, Hester said, to ask taxpayers to continue footing the bill for Lake Kersey.

Seminole took over the 5.72-acre lake in 1988 and has since spent at least $4,000 on aeration equipment and about $60 a month for electricity to run the system.

All homeowners but one have a dock.

Council member Bob Matthews wanted to allow the dock to be built. "What's it going to hurt to let someone put a dock up?" Matthews asked.

Council member Patricia Hartstein also urged other council members to allow the dock to be built. Hartstein said no one had complained to her about tax dollars being wasted or misused.

If passed, the ordinance would place limitations on the size of the structure, the location on the property and would contain a requirement that the homeowner indemnify Seminole against lawsuits.

Once the ordinance is drafted, it could include other provisions. A draft should be available sometime late next week.

The ordinance is scheduled to come before the council for tentative approval at the Nov. 13 meeting. If passed then, it would likely come back for final approval Nov. 27.

[Last modified October 30, 2007, 22:54:07]