[fatlazyless]

As discussed in Dept of Safety Commissioner Flynn's recommendation, maybe the waterway between Bear Island and the mainland, and Penney Island at the south end (across from Buoy 3), and Pine Island to the north, could become the designated area for kayakers. It is two miles long and has, except for two Marinas, a relatively undeveloped shoreline on the mainland side thanks mostly to Camp Monotomy, a YWCA girl scout camp. The Bear Island side has lots of trees and island cottages.

Here's the article from today's March 17, Laconia Daily Sun, from the top headline on page one. The LaDaSun is not on the internet.

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Flynn makes waves around boat speed limit bill

Department of Safety tells lawmakers it will impose two 'pilot speed zones' on Lake Winnpesaukee this summer if they agree to put a one-year hold on legislation that would effect all NH lakes

By Michael Kitch
The Laconia Daily Sun

CONCORD - Dick Flynn, the longtime New Hampshire Commissioner of Safety given his walking papers by Governor John Lynch, still has a few tricks up his sleeve and yesterday played one that may well scuttle the renewed effort to impose speed limits on the lakes.
At the hearing on House Bill 847, David Barrett, head of the Marine Patrol, told the House Transportation Committee that in response to petitions from residents of the eight municipalities bordering Lake Winnipesaukee, Flynn has recommended, but not yet ordered, delineating two "pilot speed zones" on the lake where speeds would be limited to 45 miles per hour in daytime and 25 miles per hour at night during the 2007 boating season.
At the initiative of the New Hampshire Lakes Association (NHLA) the petitions were filed last June, after legislation to impose speed limits failed in the Senate, under the statute (RSA 270:12) that requires the Commissioner of Safety to hold a public hearing on receipt of a petition and authorizes him to set operating restrictions on lakes, ponds, and rivers if they are found to be required by the public interest. A public hearing on the petition was held in Meredith on Sept 25. Testimony, pro and con, was taken over a five-hour-long period.
Barret said that Flynn was prepared to render a decision, but after learning that legislation would be introduced in the 2007 session decided to table it "in deference to the legislative process." He went on to explain that the commissioner wanted to share his recommended "decision and order" with the committee as "an additional alternative when it considers the merits of this proposed legislation" and suggested that if HB 847 were retained (held without action) by the committee, the order establishing the pilot speed zones would be implimented.
Under the rules of the House, committees may vote to retain bills introduced in the first session of the biennium for action in the second session the following year. Ironically, House Bill 162, the speed limit bill that failed last year was introduced in 2005 and retained by the House Resources, Recreation and Developement Committee, which held three public meetings on the bill at towns around Lake Winnipesaukee last summer.
The two areas selected as pilot speed zones are from Bear Island southwest to the mainland, extending to Penney Island, and from Rattlesnake Island southeast to the mainland, including Sleepers Island and extending to a line from the southwest corner of Mindge Cove.
Representative Jim Ryan (D-Franklin), who chairs the Transportation Committee, pointedly asked Barrett if Flynn was recommending that the bill be retained in committee. "Yes, we would impose the pilot zones if the bill is retained," he replied. Ryan reminded Barrett that HB847 woulds set speed limits on all lakes. Growing uneasy, Barret explained that the petitions received related only to Lake Winnipesaukee.
Sensing all mght not be what it appeared, Ryan asked if Flynn was available and when Barrett said yes, asked the Sergeant-at-Arms to fetch him while Barret asked if the Assistant Commssioner, Earl Sweeney, would do if Flynn could not be found.
When Sweeney appeared he echoed Barrett, telling the committee that the department was reluctant to issue an order knowing that a bill would come before the legislature. He went on to explain that after considering the testimony presented at the public hearing and discussing the issue with numerous individuals, the commissioner concluded that both supporters and opponents of speed limits would agree that the two areas chosen for the pilot project were reasonable locations.
The pilot speed zones, Sweeney said, would provide the department with "a summer's worth of data" as well as measure the capacity of Marine patrol to run radar on water, enforce the speed limits and prosecute offenders.
After the hearing, Ryan said that with Flynn's intervention "instead of playing two-card monte, we're playing three-card monte," explaining that the committee could not only recommend in favor or against the bill but also retain it. If the committee decided to retain the bill, he said that its report would include "a clear, unequivocal signal to the Department of Safety to implement the pilot speed zones.
Flynn's intervention aroused suspicions amoung advocates of legislation to set speed limits, who recalled that in the past Barrett had openly questioned their purpose and testified that Marine Patrol lacked the personnel and equipment to enforce them. Moreover, Barrett has indicated that boater education and existing laws, especially the "safe passage" rule requiring boats to proceed at headway speed within 150 feet of other vessels, were sufficient to ensure safety on the water.
Calling the proposal "a red herring," Jared Teutsch, president of the NHLA, said "I don't understand what this has to do with this bill, which would set a speed limit on all lakes. It is not a Lake Winnipesaukee bill." Characterizing the pilot speed zones as "a study," he said "we already have a study, Squam Lake where there are 40 mile per hour and 20 mile per hour speed lmits and we know they work. We don't need another study."
"We're not relaxing," Teutsch said. "Legislation is even more necessary." He said that Flynn's proposal "clouds the petition process." Explaining that the petitioners asked for speed limits, not a pilot project and another study. Other lake associations, he said, " have lost faith in the petition process."
Teutsch said that "playing this wild card deflated the hearing and gave the committe an out." If Flynn wanted to defer to the Legislature, he continued," he could have sat on his decision until the fate of the bill was determined."
Another insider, who asked not to be identified, remarked that lobbyists representing the New Hampshire Marine Trades Association, one of the major opponents of speed limits, were absent from yesterday's hearing and suggested they may have a hand in the course it took. Teutsch said only that "it was a strange coincidence."
The committee will make its recommendation to the House on HB 847 when it meets on Tuesday.