Used Pontoon Boats - Keego Harbor Sandbar Parties

Hi gang, Rick here again from Used Pontoon Boats with an article about Keego Harbor aiming to rein in sandbar parties. On almost any given summer weekend, more than 100 boats anchor on Cass Lake's popular sandbar, a shallow stretch almost a mile long off the lake's eastern shore.

That's when the sandbar sometimes turns rowdy, with public urination, drunken behavior, obscene language, and occasionally, indecent exposure.

Some say as many as 500 boats anchor there, but Oakland County sheriffs who patrol the lake put the number closer to 200.

Keego Harbor and the Department of Natural Resources are taking a hard look at the complaints and may soon come up with a plan to regulate the sandbar -- the first such plan in the state, and one that other communities may consider.

"It could very well be a test case for other lakes," said City Attorney Thomas Ryan. "We're not trying to stop people from using the lake. But we can't just have wall-to-wall boats anchored out there."

Although there already are ordinances that prohibit drunken boating and other bad behavior, such as urinating off boats and taking a bikini top off, there are no rules that restrict the number of boats anchoring, or the number that "raft," a local term for tying several boats together so that people can hop from pontoon to pontoon.

Among the considerations, creating navigational lanes using buoys every 50 feet that would make it easier to cross the sandbar and to break up the large crowds. Keego Harbor also is considering limiting the number of boats that can tie up together.

The rafting and sheer number of boats make it impossible to cross the sandbar on some days, residents said. Some citizens worry that law enforcement would have trouble responding to reports of people needing help. A St. Clair Shores woman testified at a DNR hearing in January that she lost a finger in a clasp on a pontoon last summer and that medical help was delayed because of the crowded sandbar.

"If you took this exact problem and put it on a street, it would not be tolerated," said Paula Reeves, who lives a block off the lake. Reeves, a Keego Harbor council member, said she has grown disgusted by the antics on the sandbar. "It's clearly out of control." The DNR, which held a public hearing on the matter in January, solicited written opinions from residents in February and is expected to make a recommendation to Keego Harbor in April and May. The city can then consider adopting ordinances that the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and DNR officers could enforce.

But some residents say they would object to restrictions or navigational lanes.

"It's gotten a bit more crowded in the last few years and more people go out" on "pontoon boats, but I think all you need is a police presence when you get a crowd of people," said David Osborn, who has lived on a canal leading into the lake for 12 years. "I don't think you need more regulation."

Should Cass Lake become more regulated, other lakes might follow suit. The Macomb County sheriff's marine division routinely responds to complaints about parties on Gull Island in Lake St. Clair. On Torch Lake in Antrim County, hundreds of boaters tend to congregate on a sandbar there.

"Almost any lake that has a sandbar has this situation," said Sgt. Al Bavarskas, an enforcement officer with the DNR. "It's not a situation unique to Cass Lake."
Thanks to BY L.L. BRASIER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER for this.

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