Rock County Ignores Data on new SNW Ordinance

The ordinance, with a 777.5 ft trigger was adopted 24 Yes; 5 Absent.  However, every roll call vote taken during the evening also passed unanimously, which is pretty much the way the County Board works -- all the discussion and horsetrading is done in Committee, long before something comes to a final vote.

Sandy Kraft did offer an amendment so that when SNW is on but local conditions permit, special activities like Rock Aqua Jays or the Beloit Boat show can go on with the Sheriff's and local municipal authorization.

There was no public hearing specifically for the SNW ordinance, but earlier, in general public participation, Evan Sayre spoke briefly to say 777.5 has always worked for Town of Fulton and he hasn't heard any good reason to make it higher.

Some "suit" that I didn't recognize said CKSD wants 777.5 ft.

Bill Carter, who has riverfront that gets flooded even at 777.5 ft would be happy with something lower.

Jim Richardson said that studies of shorelines done by UC Berkeley and Southern Cal show that most damage is caused by storm waves and wind; not boats.

Fred Falk cited a DNR study of the Rock River that claims that damage to shorelines actually starts as low as 776.3 ft.

During Board discussion before the vote, supervisor comments were like "we've got to think of the whole river, not just the 6 miles at the mouth to Lake Koshkonong," or, "we've got to think of the most vulnerable properties along the river because once damaged, it will be hard to undo it."

Sandy Kraft suggested that the County might consider offering low interest loans for people who want to install rip rap.

Russ Podzilni ended the discussion by specifically thanking Sandy for the extensive work she did behind the scenes to research and explore all alternatives.  I know that Sandy and Al Sweeny had met to go over the water level maps to look for a compromise.  Al believes that if the Lake District had started out with something like 778 as an initial proposal, and not gotten the locals all riled up with the newspaper stories in September, positions might not have hardened so much, and a more reasonable ordinance might have passed.

That call to arms the Lake District sent out early Thursday afternoon (a copy of which was provided to all supervisors) followed by another barrage of phone calls to Sandy's personal cell phone was cruel and totally out of line.  The implication that the ordinance adoption vote could have been changed if only Sandy would step up and offer a compromise was insensitive and unbelievably unfair.