Recreational Use of Inland Waters

The attached by law was created by our Police Chief with input from our Lake Patrol Unit and the Town of Holland Lake Oversight Committee. The by law was proposed to and approved by our citizens at a special town meeting on October 3rd, 2017. The proposal called to completely replace the previous by law, titled "Hamilton Reservoir / Lake Siog Regulations", which our records indicate was established and last updated approximately 23 years prior, in 1994. 

When enacting this proposal we had to take into account several different aspects. Foremost, understanding that this by law is unique in the sense that as Police Officers we have the statutory authority to enforce general laws on the waterways. This is unlike many other by laws which are specifically written for the purpose of instituting regulations because there are no statutes that cover the subject. 

Some could make the case that any regulation which is already outlined in statute should not be in the by law at all. Although this is a logical conclusion, we felt that a compromise was the best course of action. That led us to focus on retaining regulations that are relevant to general safety and the safety of the public at large from the old by law. However, we also wanted to ensure that any regulation in the old by law that did not translate into the new by law was still enforceable through statute.

Another consideration was the format in which the old by law was written which in our opinion would be improved by adding adding sections that outline several factors to include: The purpose of the by law, a definitions of terms, general guidelines, exemptions, as well as a section that references where we derive our authority from in order to be as transparent as possible. 

Finally, we had to look at this by law from several different angles. Much research and thought went into this process and we had to take into account the priorities of those residents who live on the waterfront while being as fair as possible to those who do not live on the waterfront but still utilize the waterways. Furthermore, we had to ensure the updated by law still provided solid safety measures while eliminating some of the regulations that were redundant and already enforceable by statute.

The purpose of the regulations are to ensure safety and to maintain the integrity of the water and its surroundings. Remember, the members of our Lake Patrol Unit are Police Officers so they are authorized to enforce both town ordinances and statute. We would appreciate the cooperation of those who utilize the waterways so we can maintain the safest environment possible for all.