As the weather warms up and boating season gets closer, the Village of Summit is trying to decide if it should regulate wake boating on all the lakes in the village.
Summit has more than a dozen lakes where wake boating is currently allowed without restrictions. Some people say that needs to change before boats go back in the water.
Jim Recknagel is the president of the Lower Nashotah Lake Association. The group of homeowners has been fighting against wake surfing on Lower Nashotah Lake for more than three years.
Recknagel says he sees the damage from the bigger, more powerful waves created by wake surfing firsthand.
Watch: Summit-area boaters, kayakers split on possible village-wide wake surfing restriction
"The basic question is, why should I, as a homeowner, have to invest literally thousands of dollars to protect my shoreline from somebody else’s activity. I don’t think that is right," Recknagel said.
That isn't the only issue Recknagel says wake boats create. He says there is a safety issue for kayakers or stand-up paddleboarders, and wake boats also harm aquatic life.
"Those wakes, that power ends up damaging the lake bed," Recknagel said.
Village Trustee Jim Petronovich told TMJ4 reporter Rebecca Klopf he tried to pass an ordinance at the March 12 meeting to ban wake surfing on Lower Nashotah. Instead of voting on that motion, the village is now taking it a step further and looking into banning or restricting wake surfing on all of its lakes.
At the last meeting, officials asked the village attorney to see if they could propose a village-wide ordinance. For people who use the lakes around the area, there is no consensus.
"When you are kayaking, it causes a lot of waves that I think on smaller lakes there should be some restriction," kayaker Judy Meyers said.
"It is not bothering me that much. I don’t think it is that big of a problem," boater Ronald Schue said.
The village expects to hear more about the possibility of a village-wide ordinance at its next meeting on April 9.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
