HB 2351/2352 – Wakeboat Conflicts on Private Property: Sometimes representing property owners is not a popular job at the Capitol. These two companion bills are a prime example.
The bills address a conflict on a portion of the Willamette River known as the “Newberg Pool”. The conflict is between the users of large, heavy pleasure boats known as “wakeboats” and the property owners who own land adjacent to the river in the Newberg Pool location. Since the boat industry developed wakeboats a few years ago, the rates of erosion to the shoreline have increased dramatically, and the Land Conservation and Development Commission’s Willamette River Greenway goal (Goal 15) prohibits the property owners from taking any action to protect their shoreline from erosion.
Unlike jet skis, fishing boats, and water ski boats, the wakeboats are designed to sit low in the water and create extremely large waves that are large enough for people to surf behind. The motto of one of the large wakeboat companies is “bring the ocean to you”. That creates a big problem for the property owners, who are prohibited by Goal 15 to take any steps to protect their shoreline from erosion damage caused by the wakes.
The best answer, of course, would be to repeal Goal 15 and allow the property owners to solve their problem, but Governor Brown would veto any effort to do that. Instead, these bills create a licensing/education program for wakeboat users in the Newberg Pool, increase enforcement of already existing wakeboat limitations in the Pool, and give the Oregon State Marine Board express authority to enact rules to protect the owners of private property along the shores of the Pool.
These bills created a strange but interesting team – OPOA teamed with the Willamette Riverkeepers and the Native Fish Society to pass these bills, demonstrating that protecting property owners and environmental protections sometimes work together.