07-04-2009, 10:36 AM
BY JOHN MCKENNA REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
MORRIS — Use of the municipally owned boat launch on Bantam Lake will be limited to town residents under a measure approved at a town meeting Friday.
Voters approved closing the launch to nonresidents, 33-21, after more than 90 minutes of debate at Town Hall.
Only residents owning real estate or personal property in town will be allowed to use the launch, which provides the only free and unrestricted public access to the state-owned lake.
Friday's meeting was called after the Board of Selectmen and the state Department of Environmental Protection failed to come to terms on a new lease for the launch.
The DEP leased the launch from 1980 to Dec. 31, 2008, but negotiations on a new short-term lease stalled this spring when the state couldn't meet the town's request for an annual payment of $20,000.
Frustrated by the deadlock, voters dug in their heels and agreed to close the launch to nonresidents.
"There was a lot of discussion from both sides of the debate and now we'll have to work together and follow the wish of the majority," First Selectman Karen Paradis said after the vote.
The launch will be open as usual this weekend, Paradis said.
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MORRIS — Use of the municipally owned boat launch on Bantam Lake will be limited to town residents under a measure approved at a town meeting Friday.
Voters approved closing the launch to nonresidents, 33-21, after more than 90 minutes of debate at Town Hall.
Only residents owning real estate or personal property in town will be allowed to use the launch, which provides the only free and unrestricted public access to the state-owned lake.
Friday's meeting was called after the Board of Selectmen and the state Department of Environmental Protection failed to come to terms on a new lease for the launch.
The DEP leased the launch from 1980 to Dec. 31, 2008, but negotiations on a new short-term lease stalled this spring when the state couldn't meet the town's request for an annual payment of $20,000.
Frustrated by the deadlock, voters dug in their heels and agreed to close the launch to nonresidents.
"There was a lot of discussion from both sides of the debate and now we'll have to work together and follow the wish of the majority," First Selectman Karen Paradis said after the vote.
The launch will be open as usual this weekend, Paradis said.
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