Against marina expansion

The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is asking to expand their marina to add 14 more slips and to extend their monstrous dockage system another 19-20 feet further out into the lake. The requested extension goes into a very shallow and congested bay.

Those people with homes from the north boundary of the marina all around Monk’s Bay and along the shore to the Glenwood Homeowners’ boat dock all deal with shallow water in the summertime. If all these owners were allowed to extend their dock out into the lake as far as The Lodge is requesting, a person could just walk their way around the bay on the extended docks. Surely those people with slips can learn to paddle in and out like the rest of the people do.

More congestion in this area is certainly not warranted.

When someone purchases a piece of property that does not have lake access and then buys a boat, they should not complain about the lack of boat slips. If all of the off-lake owners who want boat slips would just get together, they could purchase land at the north end of the lake and start putting in dockage as boat traffic at that end is very low in comparison to the south part of the lake. It would probably be cheaper than renting a slip at The Lodge.

Some believe that the lake has plenty of room for more boat traffic. It does at mid-lake and to the north. The owners of property from the City Beach launch site to The Lodge experience heavy boat traffic, lots of wave action and noise from the wave runners as they seem to like to show off close to shore. There is also the noise factor coming from the boats with loud amplifiers and from The Lodge with their music which often runs late into the evening.

I can think of no reason to grant The Lodge its request for expansion nor the request to move their dockage further out into the lake. It certainly does not seem to meet the criteria for any variance.

— Jane Seely Solberg