MWD Extends Dock Length Allowance for Eagle Point Area; Test Policy in Place for 2010

Those with boat docks in the Eagle Point area will be given opportunity to extend those boat docks in the coming year, given Municipal Water District Board approval for the new test policy in their meeting on Thursday. At present, all Big Bear Lake dock lengths are to be within the 70 foot regulation, though for calendar year 2010, MWD will allow lakeshore docks, from Swim Beach east to Eagle Point Estates, to extend to 125 feet, with an additional 50% cost on top of the existing annual fee of $310. Per Lake Manager Mike Stephenson, if two neighboring docks extend to 200 feet, which will be allowable in the test policy area in 2010, each dock owner will be charged the $310 annual fee, without the additional cost for single docks extending beyond the standard 70 feet; three neighboring docks sharing a gangway will be allowed up to 300 feet, if not into navigable water, which will be determined by MWD staff. In other news from the MWD meeting of December 17, the MWD Board of Directors, under the direction of President Todd Murphy, also agreed to an $8,000 expenditure, to be taken from the Lake Improvement fund, to provide 50% of matching costs for bear-proof trash cans along the North Shore. The other portion of funds will be provided by the U.S. Forest Service, through a grant, in order to place these 11 bear-proof receptacles on the Forest Service land utilized by MWD for public launch ramps and lake parking. Though the Forest Service will install the new trash cans, as part of the agreement allowing parking at the ramps (without the requirement of an Adventure Pass), the MWD staff perform trash service on the North Shore.