Editor:
The County Planning and Development Committee and the full board should vote for the Boat House Ordinance introduced by Representative Bob Martini.

The science is clear that every change on the shore land of our lakes within 35 feet negatively affects the water.

To protect our lakes, and not coincidentally, the county’s economic health, it’s critical that every necessary protection be employed.

While homeowners might “want” a boathouse, it is not an outright hardship to property owners without one.

Zoning laws require a delicate balance between the wants of individuals and our collective need to protect crucial resources for all of us.

This ordinance meets the test of that balance. It allows all current boathouses to be “grandfathered” in, while at the same time addressing any future potential for harm to our waters.

Contact the committee members and your board representative to voice your support for this important ordinance.

Jean Roach, Pelican Lake