MWD to Review Public Testimony Regarding Non-Marina Kayak Rentals, Votes in Favor of Prop 1A Securitization Program

The Big Bear Municipal Water District’s kayak and canoe workshop was not an action item when debated on October 15, but the basis for future MWD Board discussion. The district’s General Manager Scott Heule says, “The Board received excellent input from both the commercial marina owners and kayak rental businesses.” Before any new policy is set, with regard to the rental of kayaks and canoes not affiliated with a commercial marina, an ad-hoc committee, made up of one director from the MWD’s Operations Committee and one from the Administrative Committee, will fully evaluate the public testimony before bringing the issue back before the five-member Board for additional review. As Heule explains to KBHR, “The District has certain contractual obligations to commercial marina owners, but jurisdictional boundaries make enforcement of new rules essentially impossible to enforce above the high water line of the lake. The kayak rental businesses made good points about the service they provide visitors to the lake, and that their entrepreneurship should not be regulated out of existence. The marinas argue that they are the only ones who can conduct the business of renting boats for use on the lake based on their contracts with the District. Any decision by the Board will probably have to boil down to these two issues.”
In other news of Thursday’s meeting of the MWD Board, the Proposition 1A securitization option was unanimously passed so the MWD, like the City of Big Bear Lake and the Community Services District, will sell their portion of tax revenues to California Communities; by opting for this bond option, tax funds will be received (or, in this case, purchased) immediately, while forgoing the two percent interest the state would have paid in 2013, when borrowed funds are due to be repaid.