Draft includes public ramp launch fees, establishing no-wake zone

Following a year of research, investigations and collaboration, the Lake Austin Task Force reached a consensus on a proposal for the health and safety issues facing lake users, owners and businesses.

The 17-member group was commissioned for a one-year period by Austin City Council on May 24, 2012, as a result of public concern for the increase in the invasive hydrilla plant growing in lake waters, shoreline erosion and issues between long-standing lakeshore residents with wakeboarding and boating communities. LATF staffers divided into four subgroups to analyze the Lake Austin watershed and presented its conclusions during a public forum May 20.

Steve Prescott, a Steiner Ranch resident whose family has lived on Lake Austin since 1956, said he was anxious to hear what the task force decided.

"There's been lots of growth," Prescott said. "How do you manage growth with the beauty of the lake? I'm not a big fan of [the government] taking ultimate control of everything."

Prescott said that the recommendations did not address the issue of replacing the hazard buoys, which have floated into the weeds by his property. The movement of the buoys presents an unsafe environment in which boaters could unknowingly hit a sandbar or rocks, Prescott said.

Longtime Greenshores neighborhood residents Deborah and Tom Price were concerned about property erosion from wakeboarders who pass by their waterfront home.

"We've lost 3 to 4 feet of shoreline," Tom said. "We had to put in a wall that cost thousands of dollars."

Jay Chowning, who owns aquatic plant removal company Moss Monster, said that he believed the influx of carp into Lake Austin has been working to reduce the hydrilla growth but cautions that no one item is the answer to the lake's invasive weed issue.

In June, the proposal will be submitted to Austin City Council for review and possible changes.

"I'm confident that City Council will be able to extract the recommendations that are priorities for the city and give city staff the tools they need to proceed in the future," said Linda Guerrero, LATF Place 6 appointee and chairwoman.

The full LATF draft final report is available at www.austintexas.gov/latf.