the etowah initiative:
spring 2003
lake allatoona protection
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| Elton Dodson |
Michael Keene |
Alex Levy |
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| Eric Mueller |
Will Summer |
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Abstract
The Lake Allatoona Preservation Authority (hereafter "LAPA")
has the authority to collect an impact fee from various users of the lake
because of the broad power that is granted to them under House Bill 508.
LAPA was created by legislative order and their "enabling act"
gives them expansive powers to protect and preserve the lake. Although
there is no precedent for LAPA to impose an impact fee, § 2 of H.B.
508 states that their authority is "to be used for the purpose of
preserving Lake Allatoona…and to do any and all things deemed by
the authority necessary, convenient, and desirable for and incident to
the efficient and proper development of such types of undertakings."
It will be argued that because of the problems that boats cause to the
shoreline, the impact fee on size and speed of boats is necessary to protect
and preserve the lake. Another source of authority for LAPA to use the
impact fee may be found in the Georgia Boating Safety Act, which gives
the agency the power to restrict boat size and speed on Lake Allatoona.
Even though this statute only speaks to safety measures and does not directly
deal with environmental policies, it still is a grant of power given to
LAPA to deal with the problem of boat traffic and could be used to justify
an impact fee.
In order for the impact fee to be an effective solution to the lakeshore
erosion problem, it must be shown that the boat traffic has a detrimental
effect on the shoreline of the lake. A number of forces have been responsible
for creating the erosion problem such as unstable water levels, wind,
and drainage. However, it will be shown that wakes generated by boats
have also been recognized as a contributing cause of lakeshore erosion
by many investigators. By implementing an impact fee, it is hoped that
this will result in less boat traffic as well as providing revenue for
several projects LAPA is currently involved in for improving the conditions
of Lake Allatoona, like Project RESTORE.
Draft Work
Plan (MS Word)
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