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The new law would also restrict sound from audio systems that can be heard more than 50 feet from the watercraft. (AP Photo/File)

Kirkland wants crackdown on noisy boat parties

BY Tim Haeck  on March 6, 2012 @ 7:06 am (Updated: 11:31 am - 3/6/12 )

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The days of noisy, drunken summertime gatherings of boaters in Kirkland might be over. The city wants to crack down on a popular practice known as rafting.

If you've ever been to Juanita Bay in the summertime, Kirkland Police Lieutenant John Ashlip says you understand the problem.

"Sometimes a hundred boats are congregating and often many of them are rafted together [with] a lot of alcohol consumption and partying and booming, extremely loud stereos going on from mid-morning, sometimes until late into the night," said Ashlip.

On Tuesday, the city council will consider an ordinance that will ban the linking of more than two boats. Police think it's this "rafting" of boats that promotes the disruptive and reckless behavior, sometimes including the ramming of other vessels as these rafts of boats drift.

The new law would also restrict sound from audio systems that can be heard more than 50 feet from the watercraft.

The proposed ordinance has made allies of the younger, speed boat crowd and the yachting community, which also likes to "raft" together.

"So, they are stopping me on my 65-foot yacht from tying to [a friend's] 55-foot yacht and having a nice, quiet afternoon sitting on the back deck of our boats, talking or discussing business with no music playing," said Tim Dies, a member of the Queen City Yacht Club.

Dies says police need to target the right group and the right problem. "They need to be attacking the 25-foot ski boat people that are out there rafting together, getting drunk, causing a lot of noise and their boats are drifting and crashing into other boats," he said.

Backers of the ordinance include environmentalists who fear for the wildlife that populate the bay and nearby Juanita Wildlife Park.

"I can't say that we can document it [a threat or injury to wildlife] but I have heard first hand accounts of watercraft chasing swans in the last year and once they leave they usually don't come back for long periods of time," said Tim McGruder with Eastside Audubon.

The city claims that boating noise is a growing problem among park users and nearby residents. But critics, including Dies, say the city is trying to appease waterfront homeowners.

"I can guarantee that they're pandering to some people that own waterfront property in Juanita Bay who are extremely wealthy," claimed Dies.

McGruder says opponents are a diverse group and the new ordinance is reasonable. "We're not talking about 100 percent restriction, we're talking about regulating it to the point where people can continue to use it [Juanita Bay] as a recreational resource and the habitat can still remain at a high level."

Dies says if the city bans rafting, the local economy could feel a backlash.

"The city of of Kirkland is going to find out that a lot of our members and other people in the boating community will refuse to go to the Kirkland city docks to tie up their boats, pay the moorage fees and also use the restaurants and shops in downtown Kirkland," he warned.

The city council could take action Tuesday.

Tim Haeck, KIRO Radio Reporter
Tim Haeck is a news reporter with KIRO Radio. While Tim is one of our go-to, no-nonsense reporters, he also has a sensationally dry sense of humor and it will surprise some to learn he is a weekend warrior.
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Comments (37)


  • Add A Comment

  • Glover W wrote...
    I can't be out there havving fun.......
    March 6, 2012 6:40 am
    So why should the rest of you! My heart bleeds for all the people who have to watch the boaters tie thier boats together on the bay in the summer and have a party. Heres a solution for you! Get a boat and join the party! Or shut-up and do something constructive with your life rather than trying to ruin the fun other people want to have! If you have enough time to worry about what the people out on the bay are doing then you have enough time to start a new hobby! Those people out on the bay can be responsible for themselves. They don't need the Kirkland city council bothering them!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Tdeadman wrote...
    Not trying to stop you from having fun..............
    March 6, 2012 10:43 am
    Your right to have fun is not the issue, it is your loud stereo and noise past sundown that the rest of us don't want to hear. Our right to enjoy the water is the same as yours. By the way do you have a proper anchor with chain and enough lifejackets onboard for all of those drinking teenagers?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • imanegro wrote...
    Typical of a liberal mindset
    March 6, 2012 7:13 am
    A NEW LAW will solve the problem. When in fact you could easily solve this by enforcing existing law. Tell me what would happen if KPD was hovering around the area and "ID'ed" everyone that appeared to be underage, enforce life jacket laws, etc.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Vlastimil wrote...
    typical kirkland policy
    March 6, 2012 7:19 am
    What Philadelphia does to parking enforcement, Kirkland does to fun.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    Backers of the ordinance include environmentalists who fear for the wildlife
    March 6, 2012 7:26 am
    Oh my, here we go. Anytime somebody wants to get a new law they pull this card.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TheKingBoar wrote...
    And of course, here come the hippies with no proof of anything
    March 6, 2012 7:31 am
    It's time to start calling out these environmental hippies for always saying that something is bad for the environment with ZERO proof of it. I'm sorry Mr. McGruder, but if you can't figure out how your first hand account of something happening (which probably didn't) isn't worthy of basing a law on, you're probably not worthy of oxygen. I'm not a huge fan of these parties, and would support resonable regulation to keep the music and destructive behavior in check, but lets not ban it simply because the hippies want to. Enough is enough.
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  • rab356 wrote...
    Private Citizens using Public resources
    March 6, 2012 7:43 am
    Here is another example of private citizens using Public resources to get their way. As the story says, for years this has been going on, so who is complaining? Those people who live in the area. If you don't like it, MOVE! You knew this was going on when you moved in, it is a public place and to use public resources in this manner is a waste of taxpayer money. Get a clue, you are no better than those idiots who buy a house in the flight path of SeaTac and then complain because of the noise.....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WingNut2 wrote...
    Jurisdiction
    March 6, 2012 7:51 am
    I don't believe that Kirkland has jurisdiction over a waterway.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Tdeadman wrote...
    Jurisdiction
    March 6, 2012 10:45 am
    The jurisdiction issue is being looked at before tonight's meeting, we believe they do not.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • NoiseMan wrote...
    Kirkland is clearly pandering to the property owners along the shore
    March 6, 2012 8:26 am
    Anyone from the city of Kirkland that tries to tell you differently is insulting your intelligence by expecting you to accept their reasoning. Come on Kirkland, do you expect me to believe your line?....REALLY?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lessmith50 wrote...
    Yea great idea
    March 6, 2012 8:42 am
    make the fun people turn down their music while the Jets roar overhead, and the lawn mowers are eatin grass. Yep if its anyone having fun lets break that up right away.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    boo freakin hoo
    March 6, 2012 8:48 am
    if you choose to move to a house on a public lake, expect boaters to be boating. if you don't like living on the lake in the summer months, rent your house out and live somewhere else for the summer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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