The Lake Anna Advisory Committee considered three No Way Buoy applications at its November 21 meeting, two of which divided the group and caused other representatives to abstain.
LAAC is part of the three-body process that includes the county where the application originates as well as the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, which makes the final decision. LAAC makes a recommendation considered by DWR.
LAAC consists of a nine member “board”, three supervisors from each of the three counties around the lake (Orange, Louisa and Spotsylvania), two citizen representatives from Louisa and Spotsylvania and one from Orange with a final representative from Dominion Energy.
The group meets every other month at the Louisa County Administrative Building at 6 pm. The agendas are published on the Louisa County website prior to the meetings.
In addition to being tasked with managing hydrilla and the lake’s buoy system, LAAC also review buoy applications – mostly HOA requests for No Wake Buoys.
The three applications included a request from Doug Boggs for a single No Wake Buoy in a cove approximately 250’ at the mouth where he and nine other homes are, a request from Lost Cove HOA for a series of buoys 200’ off the shoreline just above Stubbs Bridge and a request from Contrary Forest HOA for four buoys to create a No Wake Zone halfway back in Contrary Creek.
During the Public Comment period nine persons spoke in favor of either the Lost Cove application or the Contrary Forest application, including the applicants themselves.
A motion to approve Boggs’ application was approved 6-1 with Louisa Representative Robin Horne voting against and Dominion Representative Sarah Marshall abstaining.
Louisa County Supervisor and LAAC Chairman Christopher C. McCotter noted Boggs’ application was a common type that the group had approved many times over the years.
A motion to approve the Lost Cove application was passed by a vote of 3-2 with Dominion Representative Sarah Marshall, Orange County Representative Ed Van Hoven and Spotsylvania Citizen Representative Bobby Egan abstaining. Spotsylvania County Supervisor Kevin Marshall, Spotsylvania Representative Barbara Aikens and Louisa County Representative Harry Looney voted for the motion. McCotter and Louisa County Representative Robin Horne voted against the motion.
A motion to approve the Contrary Forest application was defeated by a vote of 2-4. Mrs. Marshall and Egan abstained. McCotter, Marshall, Horne and Van Hoven opposed, while Looney and Aikens voted for the motion.
Prior to the latter two votes McCotter asked LAAC members to carefully consider their vote as they would be setting precedents with their action.
“While it is not pleasant to admit, it is a fact that there are areas on the main lake that are not good places to swim or enjoy paddle sports on many in-season weekends due to boat traffic and wakes. No wake buoys along shorelines will not remove large wakes that create these areas but will compress activity into smaller and smaller areas,” he told the members.
Aikens, chair of the LAAC Navigation & Safety Subcommittee recommended approval of all three applications. She quoted studies that noted large wakes needed more than 200’ to dissipate.
Supervisor Marshall suggested the counties better coordinate with the state to get the varying shoreline no wake ordinances in agreement, noting Spotsy’s was 200’, Louisa was 100’ and the state’s is 50’.
Mrs. Marshall asked if a subject matter expert on wake dissipation might attend a future LAAC meeting to help the group better understand the reason for no wake setbacks. McCotter agreed and asked Aikens and Mrs. Marshall to coordinate such a presentation.
The group will meet again January 23, 2025.
