The issue of whether or not water skiing should be allowed in two locations on Lake Toxaway was the subject of sharp debate Monday during a public hearing at the Transylvania County Commission meeting.
The hearing was in response to a request by the Lake Toxaway Property Owners Association that commissioners adopt a resolution asking the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to authorize two restricted zones on Lake Toxaway, specifically the entrance to Swimmers Cove (formerly known as Skiers Cove) and the entrance to Suttons Cove. The lake has 14.6 miles of coastline, 648 acres of water surface and 500 acres of water suitable for power boat operations, said John Pepin, president of the Lake Toxaway Community Association. The lake shoreline has 534 residential lots, which have a total of 521 docks and 421 boat houses/boat launching ramps. The lake’s design consists of a major lake area connected by twin, narrow areas, commonly referred to as “cuts” such as Swimmers Cove and Sutton’s Cove, he said. Swimmers Cove is 82 yards wide and Sutton’s Cove is also a narrow inlet that attracts unfamiliar boaters into an area utilized by numerous swimmers, Pepin said.
Placing buoys in the two cove areas to restrict water skiing is an effort to improve the safety of Lake Toxaway, he told commissioners and the 40-member audience.
“It’s often stated that the lake is our greatest asset, but it’s also our greatest liability,” Pepin said. “I have no personal interest in it, but I have a fiduciary obligation to 900 people. If we can’t get you to pass this, where do we go from here?”
But several Lake Toxaway property owners, including some who own lake front property, said they were against the Lake Toxaway POA proposal.
Johanna Fowler, an attorney who owns lake front property with her husband, an Asheville neurosurgeon, and the couple’s two children, said the POA does not have the right to implement such a proposal.
“You cannot take away the rights of hundreds of property owners based on speculation and guesswork,” she said, as the group burst into applause. “The lake is small to begin with — if you start whittling away parts of the lake where you can ski, it will reduce property values. My children have been learning to ski at Skier’s Cove and my husband is a neurosurgeon. It’s safe. The homeowner’s association does not speak for me or hundreds of homeowners at Lake Toxaway. I am asking that you deny this proposal.”
Lake front property owner Georgeann Williams has lived part-time at Lake Toxaway with her husband since 1997. She presented a petition with 50 signatures to the commissioners in addition to an accident report concerning Lake Toxaway she said she obtained from the N.C. Wildlife Commission.
“In 2007, there were no accidents or fatalities, in 2006, there were no accidents or fatalities, in 2005 there was one accident on Lake Toxaway, but no fatalities and in 2004, there were no accidents and no fatalities,” she said. “We want you to hear both sides of this issue.”
Several Lake Toxaway homeowners said any perceived problems regarding safety could be handled through better enforcement of current rules and regulations regarding boating safety without bringing county commissioners into the dispute.
“This is basically a spat among neighbors,” said Brad Burke. “I don’t think it’s necessary for the board of commissioners to adjudicate it.”
Commissioners took no action on the matter following the public hearing. The issue is expected to be on the agenda of one of the board’s October meetings.