This sticker proposal has more life than anyone currently thinks. It has a lot of supporters and those are the people on the stakeholder committees. Governor Rell lives in Brookfield and will sign a bill for Candlewood stickers if it passes the General Assembly. It is her home base of support. DEP Commissioner McCarthy was hired by Rell so where do you think she comes down on the issue. How will her department heads in Inland Fisheries, Boating and Lakes Management come down? This is how Lake Waramaug got passed, Rowland told Rocque to tell his guys to do "the deal" with the Town of Washington and David Leff did the deal. We got screwed, no public boat ramps at the state park.
But for all the sticker advocates on these committees the pony in the pile of crap is the second shoe that falls: limiting the amount of stickers issued every year.
Ok Buck, where is the precedent for that? How about Squantz Pond state park and its launch. Ever show up in the late morning on a summer Saturday or Sunday and try to launch your boat for a day of fishing? Can't do it. The park is full and they don't let anyone else in. No exceptions for fisherman or other boaters. If you are not there before 8am or show up after 5pm forget about it.
Why is the park full you ask? Because the town of New Fairfield got tired of sending down their EMTs, fire dept. and police to break up gang fights and find dead bodies from drownings so they collaborated with the DEP to cut back the amount of cars that they will admit to the park. Today, only about a third of the cars that used to come into the park only ten years ago on a summer weekend are allowed in today. An alternative was to add more state park police, charge by the person rather than the car, charge more, have better control of the place instead of limiting access but limiting access is the easiest thing to do.
As I sit here and type I can guarantee that within five years of a sticker program there will be limits on how many stickers will be issued per year with a preference to the five town's residents. They will also curtail practices such as day stickers, assuming they implement them to begin with. No day stickers and you have to ask why even have a state launch. Down the slippery slope of exclusionary practices.
Every major "public" lake, reservoir or significant body of inland water in this state is controlled by someone other than the DEP or state of Ct. Every lake with a state launch will implement stickers. Highland, East Twin, Beach, Lilli, Wono, etc. The precedent will be set, the General Assembly simply can not say no. The local legislatures will do the "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" routine and they will all pass each other's sticker bills. Because the pony here is limiting stickers with preference given to local residents. This limits access and is in no one's best interest no matter how selfish you are. Someday, with some issue, limitations on access will gore your ox and it will because you were your own worst enemy and didn't grasp the big picture.