The Towns do not own the land surrounding the lake. First Light Inc a power generating company does. For those that do not know Candlewood Is a Man Made Lake that is a Pump Storage Facility with a dam that creates a water depth of about 90 feet at its deepest location. The power company also owns the land up to the 440 elevation line. The water level at normal pool is 429 feet above Sea Level during the summer. A court decision this week states that the towns have no control over the lands below the 440 line as this land is controlled by a federal government mandate ( Geralds Marina Vs Town of New Milford). The Water levels and the Water Flow in both directions is Controlled by the water utility.

The Power Company is under federal regulations and one of their mandates is unbiased public access to the water. That has nothing to do with the number of boats on the lake. With the addition of every new development there are new docks being built with more boats being added to the water. Many non waterfront owners such as myself have deeded right to the water due to sub development of the land parcels. Each development has docks.

Many homeowners are adding additional dock space and renting out moorings for friends and family. On top of that you have the huge marinas that will continue to try to expand if they can. My guess is there are 3000 – 4000 boats at the marinas if you use an average boat length of 20 feet times $100 per foot and low ball it, that is SIX MILLION dollars just in docking fees. Yet the towns keep crying they are not getting any benefit from the lake. Never mind the other items that each boater contributes, such as gas, repairs, food, and accessories purchased at the marinas.

Trying to stop the number of boats on the lake through the two state ramps will have little to no effect on the total number of boats. The Number of boats that can access the ramps is already fixed at 200. The problem is the other 6000 boats DOCKED on the lake not the ones that are trailered.. The number of Boats is Going to continue To grow as there are still many parcels that can still be developed sub-divided and new boat docks put in. In order to control the number of boats on the Lake You need to control the number docked boats. The Number of Trailered boats is already controlled.

Mitch I agree with you 100% WE need more DEP Conservation officers. They are the ones who are trained to be on the Water and know the rules governing sportsmen.

I do not think we should allow each lake to assemble its own armed biased malitia to selectively enforce the rules they as they see fit.