(Wahpeton)– The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is holding a series of public input meetings around the state as they look at a major overhaul of rules pertaining to private and commercial docks for the first time since the mid 1970’s.
Lowell Joslin, Chief of the D-N-R’s Law Enforcement Bureau, tells KUOO news instead of the D-N-R bringing a change to the public, it wants the public to give some input first.
Joslin says the current rules covering boat docks aren’t meeting the needs of the people using public lakes or the needs of the dock owners or lessees. He says the new rules would likely address several key issues dealing with “dock sprawl”, the volume of boats, lack of dock space, and, Joslin says, they’ll also likely consider an increase in commercial dock fees for marinas.
Joslin says they’ll carefully consider public input from each meeting and draft a proposed administrative rule change that would go before the entire D-N-R Commission. He says the soonest that could happen would be early 2005.
Six public meetings will be held around the state, including one this Thursday (Sept. 30th) at 7:00 p.m. at Gull Point State Park.
