Essex502
08-23-2004, 05:57 AM
Sinking Feeling? Stricter enforcement may doom floating vendors
BY MARK HALL
Saturday, August 21, 2004 11:03 PM MDT
They can be seen floating atop Lake Havasu on any busy weekend: floating hamburger joints, snack bars and equipment rental businesses.
However, these entrepreneurs could become a thing of the past if existing laws are enforced. City officials, saying the public is questioning them about it, are asking that enforcement of the laws be stepped up.
"I think that the community as a whole has been asking about it, and some of the commercial operations that have buildings and are having to pay overhead and building tax feel a little bit slighted," Lake Havasu City Councilman and Vice Mayor Don Clark said. "The bottom line is that they need to operate in accordance with commercial operation regulations."
Clark said it is unlawful for vendors to perform business on the lake or along much of Lake Havasu's shoreline without a permit. The Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency, controls most of the shoreline and the lake, he said.
"The BLM has no intention of issuing permits on Lake Havasu," Clark said.
The law has been in effect for a long time, but was not enforced because no one asked the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to do so.
Clark said that in addition to unfair competition issues, the floating vendors also raise safety issues on the lake. He said Thompson Bay, for example, is becoming increasingly clogged with boaters, and anchored vending boats add to the potential for unsafe conditions.
Some of the vendors who own these businesses believe they are unjustly being picked on.
Dave LaPlante has, with his wife, Crystal, owned All-Season Water for the past two years. The LaPlantes rent kayaks, personal watercrafts and water sports equipment, and they say their business has never been brought into questions before.
"When we started this business we checked to see of there were any permits needed. We contacted all entities: BLM, sheriff's department, police department, Army Corps of Engineers. All of them had no problem with us having a rental business on the water," LaPlante said. "We worked for a full year and we didn't have any problems and everything went great. Then, last year, the city started nit-picking."
LaPlante said he has a city business license and pays city, state and federal taxes on his earnings. He also said his business is insured. He said he would lose his business if lake vending were strictly enforced.
"We're here for the tourists. If they want a tube, or water skis, it's convenient for them. We're not bothering the beach. We're just a small business trying to do business in Havasu," he said. "It will definitely close our business down. I invested everything I had."
LaPlante said he splits business between Rotary Beach and London Bridge Beach every 30 days, as the Army Corps of Engineers instructed him.
Clark said the sheriff's office isn't going to start citing people right away, but plans to inform them of the law that already exists in a public awareness campaign.
"They're not going to cite them right off the bat. They'll go to the vendors and ask them to remove themselves from wherever they are. If they don't (comply), they'll cite them," Clark said.
Reprinted without permission of the News Herald
BY MARK HALL
Saturday, August 21, 2004 11:03 PM MDT
They can be seen floating atop Lake Havasu on any busy weekend: floating hamburger joints, snack bars and equipment rental businesses.
However, these entrepreneurs could become a thing of the past if existing laws are enforced. City officials, saying the public is questioning them about it, are asking that enforcement of the laws be stepped up.
"I think that the community as a whole has been asking about it, and some of the commercial operations that have buildings and are having to pay overhead and building tax feel a little bit slighted," Lake Havasu City Councilman and Vice Mayor Don Clark said. "The bottom line is that they need to operate in accordance with commercial operation regulations."
Clark said it is unlawful for vendors to perform business on the lake or along much of Lake Havasu's shoreline without a permit. The Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency, controls most of the shoreline and the lake, he said.
"The BLM has no intention of issuing permits on Lake Havasu," Clark said.
The law has been in effect for a long time, but was not enforced because no one asked the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to do so.
Clark said that in addition to unfair competition issues, the floating vendors also raise safety issues on the lake. He said Thompson Bay, for example, is becoming increasingly clogged with boaters, and anchored vending boats add to the potential for unsafe conditions.
Some of the vendors who own these businesses believe they are unjustly being picked on.
Dave LaPlante has, with his wife, Crystal, owned All-Season Water for the past two years. The LaPlantes rent kayaks, personal watercrafts and water sports equipment, and they say their business has never been brought into questions before.
"When we started this business we checked to see of there were any permits needed. We contacted all entities: BLM, sheriff's department, police department, Army Corps of Engineers. All of them had no problem with us having a rental business on the water," LaPlante said. "We worked for a full year and we didn't have any problems and everything went great. Then, last year, the city started nit-picking."
LaPlante said he has a city business license and pays city, state and federal taxes on his earnings. He also said his business is insured. He said he would lose his business if lake vending were strictly enforced.
"We're here for the tourists. If they want a tube, or water skis, it's convenient for them. We're not bothering the beach. We're just a small business trying to do business in Havasu," he said. "It will definitely close our business down. I invested everything I had."
LaPlante said he splits business between Rotary Beach and London Bridge Beach every 30 days, as the Army Corps of Engineers instructed him.
Clark said the sheriff's office isn't going to start citing people right away, but plans to inform them of the law that already exists in a public awareness campaign.
"They're not going to cite them right off the bat. They'll go to the vendors and ask them to remove themselves from wherever they are. If they don't (comply), they'll cite them," Clark said.
Reprinted without permission of the News Herald