Governor Signed Legislation Allowing Private Entities to Regulate Activities on Public Lakes

The governor recently signed a bill that allows the Lake Panorama homeowners association to regulate boating on the public lake, including rules about the operation of watercraft and equipment specifications, as well as allowing private buoys to be set up in the lake.  The legislation was narrowly tailored for Lake Panorama, by stating that the homeowners association (called a common interest community in the legislation) must have 1,000 or more units. 

Iowa has numerous lakes all over the state. Only a few of these lakes are natural. Most of them were artificially created by damming up a river or creek. The valley of the river or creek then fills up with water behind the dam, creating a lake. Many times the land around an artificial lake is owned by private parties who live there or have second homes there.

The landowners claim that they own the lake and it is therefore a private lake, where the public can be excluded and the Iowa DNR cannot enforce regulations on the lake. But the Iowa Supreme Court in 2020 held that one of the lakes, Lake Panorama, is not a private lake. The court said that because the lake can be accessed by the public from the Raccoon River, it is a public lake. A more recent district court case last year came to the same conclusion about Sun Valley Lake in southern Iowa.

So, rather than accept the court decisions, the Lake Panorama Association has gone to the legislature to get legislation that would allow the association to establish rules and regulations for use of the lake and to have the authority to enforce those rules. This legislation would defeat the concept of a public lake.

And why can’t the landowners around a public lake just work with the DNR? In fact, after the court decision in 2020, “John Rutledge, general manager of the Lake Panorama Association, said an occasional boater in a kayak or canoe comes down the river and onto the lake and the association has decided to leave them alone. He said use by boaters who aren’t members hasn’t been a big problem and he doesn’t anticipate that changing. The privately owned shoreline around the lake makes it by design mostly for use by those who own property there.” [1]  Rutledge continued, “Life on Lake Panorama in 2020 is not going to be different because of this. We have a good relationship with our local DNR officers and we’re going to continue to and I just don’t see this changing anything.” [2]

So why did we need this legislation?  It was all about neighboring landowners wanting control over the public lake.  It allows the camel’s nose to get under the tent and may encourage other homeowners associations on other lakes to allow them the same privileges.

References

[1] and [2] Brad Pitt, “Court decision apparently opens private lakes to public use”,  Associated Press, January 31, 2020