After being defeated last year, a second request for a no wake zone at Poe Creek on Lake Gaston is being made by residents of the Timber Creek subdivision.
The matter is set to appear on the Halifax County Board of Commissioners June 2 meeting agenda in the form of a public hearing. The meeting is set for 9:30 a.m. in the board of commissioners room at the Historic Courthouse in Halifax.
Comments gleaned from the hearing will help commissioners decide whether to request a safety study by the state Wildlife Resources Commission to determine a need for a no wake zone in the area.
For Timber Creek residents, who appeared at the board's meeting last week, the matter is one of safety.
For one Lake Gaston resident, however, it is way to restrict the rights of recreational users of Lake Gaston.
“Timber Creek has a private community pier and private boat ramp on a very public Lake Gaston,” said Jay Baker, who lives at Cross Creek. “By using safety as an excuse, they would like to convert this section of the lake to their private use at the expense of those that enjoy water sports and related boating activities.”
A no wake zone on Poe Creek, Baker said, would end that privilege. “If this is allowed to happen, the enjoyment and recreation for all people that come to Lake Gaston is in jeopardy. A clear majority of property owners in Cross Creek and even some Timber Creek residents are opposed to restricting activities at one of Halifax County's most precious resources.”
Two people at the May 5 board meeting spoke in favor of two study options. One would be a large study of Poe Creek 3,600 feet closest to Oak Grove Church Road. The other would be two smaller studies at the boat ramp closest to Oak Grove Church Road and where the creek turns to the left or one 800 feet closest to Oak Grove Church Road and Poe Creek, which divides the Cross Creek and Timber Creek subdivisions.
In supporting documentation to the board, Mary Anne Whittemore, a Cross Creek resident, wrote, “There has been an increase in the number of water-related accidents on Lake Gaston.”
She said in 2011 there were five mishaps, while there were 10 in 2012. “In 2012 the majority of these accidents occurred in creeks leading into the main lake. One of the accidents occurred in Hamlin Creek, just a couple of creeks east of Poe Creek. That accident resulted in a fatality.”
In her letter, Whittemore describes a blind turn and several instances of congestion due to piers. “We are living in an era of boats being sold for the amount of wake the boat creates … and boats that are sold because they brag of 4,000 pounds, plus of ballast that are used to create gnarly wakes. These gnarly wakes not only create danger for boaters within the area, but also destroy bulkheads and damage property on Poe Creek as well as other creeks on Lake Gaston.”
James Kleinschmidt, representing the Timber Creek Property Owners Association, argues there are two new boat dock piers on Poe Creek that increase boating congestion while fishermen, including tourists, “Have been swamped by large waves created by boats that have four to five feet waves extending behind the boat. People floating on a raft were nearly hit by boats traveling at a very high rate of speed in a very narrow part of the creek that were less than six feet from the floaters pier.”
Kleinschmidt, in his documentation to commissioners, also argued that a person on a personal watercraft hit a pier for traveling too fast, while a person swimming with their young grandchild almost got got hit by a boat that came so close the grandchild sprayed the craft with a toy water pistol.
For Baker, the arguments of the no wake zone proponents don't hold water. “One of the arguments is Poe Creek is so congested that it is unsafe, and yet Timber Creek recently added five boat slips to their private, community pier. Their whole basis for asking for a no wake zone is so they can have a private parking lot for that community pier.”
Said Baker: “There are many, many laws on the books concerning recreation on the waterways. It is not illegal to operate a boat or Jet Ski up and down a cove. There are regulations concerning how close you get and you are responsible for your wake. That does not mean you cannot have a wake when operating a boat or jet ski.”
The problem, he says, “Is you've got a bunch of retired folks that are finished with any active water related sports. They want to impose that on everybody else. If you put a no wake zone on this creek all of Lake Gaston is fair game.”
