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After at least two years of debate over which water sports should be allowed, voters in the towns of Kent, Washington and Warren approved an ordinance to ban wake boat activities on Lake Waramaug at a referendum Thursday.

"I’m glad that the people from all three towns had a chance to review the issues, absorb information from both sides and have exercised their constitutional duty and right to make this decision for this public lake," Kent First Selectman Martin Lindenmayer said Friday.

"I think it’s the right decision for the ecological health of the lake, safety of everyone who uses the lake for recreation and, finally, it’s an appropriate ordinance due to the size and dimensions of Lake Waramaug," he said.

With the approvals in the town referendums, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will now conduct a review of the ordinance and then either approve or disapprove it, Lindenmayer said. DEEP was consulted on the ordinance's language before the three towns sent the ordinance to a vote, he said.

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"I’m assuming if approved, it will take effect 14 days after review by DEEP," Lindenmayer said.

Traveling at 10 mph, wake boats are designed to create 3- to 4-foot high wakes or waves for water sports such as wakeboarding and wakesurfing. In Connecticut, wakeboarders and wakesurfers are regulated as waterskiers.

The towns of Kent, Washington and Warren — all of which border the 656-acre Lake Waramaug in Litchfield County — held referendums on the proposed ordinance for the public to vote from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday at their Town Halls.

The ordinance was drafted by the Lake Waramaug Authority, which oversees the lake’s management. Under the ordinance, individuals would be prohibited from operating a vessel on Lake Waramaug “while employing one or more ballast tanks, weight-loading, hydrofoils, wake shaper or any other device(s) to artificially enhance or increase its wake.”

Each violation would incur a fine of $250.

The ban was approved by residents in each town:

• in Kent, in a vote of 468 to 96;

• in Warren, in a vote of 335 to 139; and

• in Washington, in a vote of 649 to 186.

"I’m pleased it passed with such a large margin," Washington First Selectman Jim Brinton said Friday. "It’s what’s best for the health of the lake and the safety of the people that use it."

The referendum welcomed "a very big turnout - more than we get traditionally," Warren First Selectman Greg LaCava said Friday.

"People came out to be heard and involved, and the outcome reflects the desire to protect our wonderful lake," LaCava said.

All three towns held several meetings and public hearings to discuss the impact of wake boats on Lake Waramaug over the past few years.

Advocates for the ban cited safety and environmental concerns as well as issues with the wakes impact on visitors’ enjoyment of the lake. Those in favor of allowing wake boats on the lake say the ban would limit how visitors can enjoy the lake, and one advocacy group, Lake Waramaug Friends, have suggested the towns create an enhanced-wake activity zone instead of enacting a ban on wake boats.

"We are gratified that the voters in all three towns approved the ordinance, which will protect the lake and its users for years," said Kelly Williams, a Warren resident and co-chair of the Protect Lake Waramaug coalition. "We want to thank the selectmen of all three towns, the Lake Waramaug Authority and all the groups that supported this great community effort."

The Kent Board of Selectmen voted to move the proposed ordinance to a referendum at a July 11 town meeting, while the Washington Board of Selectmen and the Warren Board of Selectmen voted to move the proposed ordinance to a referendum at their respective meetings on July 17.

The picturesque Lake Waramaug is shared by three small towns in upstate Litchfield County. That means they also need to share in the contentious decision to ban or regulate the boats used for the popular summer water sports of wakeboarding and wakesurfing on the 656-acre body of water.

Those who want the sports banned cite the environmental and safety risks, including the creation of “enormous” waves that can make kayaking and swimming on the lake “really treacherous for a lot of people,” according to Kelly Williams, a Warren resident and co-chair of the Protect Lake Waramaug coalition.

“There was a town survey a year and a half ago, and there were over 60 complaints that people filed about being affected by these waves around the lake and how it’s spoiling their enjoyment of the lake,” Williams said. “And that was before we really knew the complete environmental problems that this was causing, so it’s a double-header.”

But it’s a “really small minority of people actually doing wakeboarding” on Lake Waramaug, said Cathryn Vaulman, a Southbury resident and a member of the Lake Waramaug Friends.

The proposed ban is “misguided” and targeting an activity that encompasses “maybe 4% of activity” on the lake, Vaulman said. In the sport, wakeboarders and wakesurfers do tricks in 3- to 4-foot high wakes or waves created by boats traveling about 10 mph.

Officials in Kent, Warren and Washington, the towns that border Lake Waramaug, have held multiple meetings and public hearings over the past few years to discuss the impact of wake boats on swimming, fishing, kayaking and other activities.

“It’s been two years of this discussion of what to do with the lake,” Kent First Selectman Martin Lindenmayer said. “We need to move it to action, and I applaud everyone on both sides for ramping up the issue. … It’s time to make a decision one way or another” on whether to ban the sport, which has grown in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic."

Washington, Warren and Kent will vote separately on a proposed ordinance to ban wake boat operations that was drafted by the Lake Waramaug Authority, which oversees the lake’s management.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit individuals from operating a vessel on Lake Waramaug “while employing one or more ballast tanks, weight-loading, hydrofoils, wake shaper or any other devices(s) to artificially enhance or increase its wake.”

All vessels would be inspected and the owner or operator would be required to certify in writing that “any ballast tanks in such vessels have been decontaminated” and their vessels won’t be operated to produce “an artificially enhanced wake.”

Each violation would incur a fine of $250.

In Washington, First Selectman Jim Brinton said the proposed ordinance will be put on the agenda for a special town meeting on July 17.

The Warren Board of Selectmen unanimously voted at its June 4 meeting to send the proposed ordinance to a public hearing and vote by the town's residents.

Though Kent had planned to vote on the proposed ordinance at its June 27 meeting, so many people turned up that they all could not fit into Town Hall. The Board of Selectmen set a new date and will now hold a referendum on the proposed wake on Thursday, July 31, from noon to 8 p.m. at Kent Town Hall.

Opposing views

Protect Lake Waramaug: Coalition to Ban Wake Surfing, a new advocacy group made up of Kent, Washington and Warren residents, says the lake is too narrow and shallow for the sport.

The boats' propellers turn the lake bottom, raising phosphorous and creating the risk of hazardous algae blooms, said Williams, a coalition co-chair. Also, she said, there has been “increasing evidence” of wake boats destroying fish nesting areas and aquatic plants that help to keep the water clean.

The coalition wants to ensure the rights of lake users are “not be infringed upon by the small majority of boaters who create hazardous conditions on, under and along” the lake’s shorelines, she said.

The group is also “trying to just get as much information out there as we can,” Williams said. “You know, really stick to the science … and let the people in town make up their mind over the summer.”

Meanwhile, Lake Waramaug Friends is lobbying to ensure “everyone has the right to enjoy the lake safely without infringing on people’s freedom,” according to a statement from the organization.

“We are all passionate about protecting Lake Waramaug, but unfortunately, a small group of lake residents (is) making wild and unsupported claims in order to pass an arbitrary ban on wakesurfing,” said Keith Angell, the group's founder. “It's unfortunate that a small, vocal minority wants to limit how others enjoy Lake Waramaug without scientific backing for their claims of harm.”

Rather than enacting a ban on wake boats, Lake Waramaug Friends has proposed creating an enhanced-wake activity zone at least 200 feet from the shoreline and in lake depths of 20 feet or more, according to the organization’s website.

Drafting an ordinance

In 2023, the three towns of Kent, Warren and Washington retained Terra Vigilis Environmental Services Group to conduct a three-phase water quality and wave impact study on Lake Waramaug, which has 284 riparian owners and 3,400 surrounding community residents and offers access to the public via Lake Waramaug State Park. The report was completed in November 2024.

The study's first phase focused on “attitudes and awareness of large wave impacts." Many respondents found wakeboard boats and personal watercraft “to be a safety risk,” and the majority of respondents were in favor of “mandatory regulations to manage large wave impact vessels on Lake Waramaug.”

The study’s second and third phases, which were performed last summer, focused on wave impacts and determined the waves created by wake boats were larger and faster than the ones created by other vessels.

Terra Vigilis recommended establishing procedures to maintain a 500-foot minimum distance between the wake boats and the shore and other boats, among other actions. It also recommended that the towns create educational programs to teach the public about safe boating practices and large wave impacts.

With the findings of the report, Brinton said it “seemed very clear” that drafting an ordinance to regulate wake boat operations was the next step.

“It wouldn’t put on a prohibition on the boats themselves,” Brinton said. “People can still use their boats – it would put a prohibition on the certain uses of these boats.”

Speed cameras are slowly making their way to local roads across Connecticut. Now, state officials are taking steps toward the possibility of bringing them to highways.

The cameras were initially introduced in the state as a pilot program at work zones in 2021. The work zone cameras were installed in 2024. That paved the way for the permanent use of speed cameras at work zones. Then, this year, the first speed cameras were installed in the town of Washington.

Those cameras in the tiny town of Washington generated $21,000 in fines in their first two weeks of operation. First-time offenders face a $50 fine, while offenses after that cost $75. The fines do not count against someone's driving record, but the idea is that the penalty will deter people from routinely speeding. There are also signs placed in the area of the cameras, warning them that vehicle speed is monitored by camera.

“It's been a slow, methodical process, in terms of implementing automated enforcement technology here in the state,” state Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Morgan said.

Now, the legislature has passed a law that moves Connecticut closer to speed cameras on highways.

The first step is for the state DOT to develop a plan to “expand the use of speed safety cameras on state highways,” the bill says, with a plan and proposed legislation submitted, “Not later than Feb. 1, 2026.”

Then, once that proposed legislation has been submitted and discussed, the legislature could move forward a bill to allow the installation of those speed cameras.

“It's not like, ‘speed cameras coming to I-95 tomorrow’ type of legislation,” Morgan said.

Connecticut officials have been looking at various ways to crack down on reckless driving-related issues that have plagued state roadways in recent years. Last year was the second-deadliest on record for car crashes in Connecticut. The state has installed wrong-way detection systems and, at times, ramped up enforcement on highways in an effort to make the roads safer. While systems have been installed alerting drivers to their speeds throughout the state, they come without enforcement. The hope is that these cameras could slow drivers down with a financial component involved.

One question that will be asked in the coming months is whether those cameras will be stationary. They could be set up at a specific mile marker on state highways, though that might allow drivers to slow down before the cameras and then speed up later.

“Are people just going to slam on the brakes, go 55 and then as soon as they pass the camera, step on it, and then go 95 right for the rest of their way?” Morgan asked.

Another strategy is what’s called a corridor system, that tracks the time a vehicle passes through a section of roadway.

“If someone gets there in X amount of minutes, the system would know there's absolutely no way you could do that without driving 90 miles an hour,” Morgan explained.

“There's some thought that maybe a corridor would be better at controlling speeds, but we have to research it,” Morgan said. “We're going to put together that report, submit it to the legislature, which then hopefully will allow for future conversation in the upcoming sessions about ways to use technology to make our roads safer.”

Jordan Nathaniel Fenster is a reporter with CT Insider. He's worked as a journalist covering politics, cannabis, public health, social justice and more for 25 years. Jordan's work has appeared in The New York Times and USA Today in addition to multiple regional and local newspapers. He is an award-winning reporter, podcaster and children's book author. He serves as senior enterprise reporter and lives in Stamford with his dog, cat and three daughters. He can be reached at [email protected].

WASHINGTON DEPOT — The 30th Litchfield Jazz Festival will feature live jazz Friday through Sunday in the Tisch Auditorium at the Frederick Gunn School.

This year’s event will have five jazz ensembles and a new guest host, Connecticut Public Radio’s Colin McEnroe.

Reflecting on what has surprised her in 30 years, Vita Muir, founder and executive director, said, "It's the joy. I expected hard work, but I never thought the work we did, I did, could bring so much unmitigated joy to so many lives. To the extraordinary musicians we have worked with both on the festival and at Litchfield Jazz Camp; to the kids who have been with us, some from childhood to middle age — we’ve become a great big, extended family."

The opening night gala begins Friday at 5:45 p.m. with the Litchfield Jazz Campers performing, followed at 7:45 by the Emmet Cohen Trio. Cohen himself was a Litchfield Jazz Camper in his teens. He will take the stage with Joey Ranieri on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums. Cohen made his jazz festival debut on the main stage fresh out of college in 2013. This is his fifth appearance at the Litchfield fest.

On Saturday, the festival opens at 3 p.m. with the Matt Dwonszyk Sextet. Another former Litchfield Jazz Camper, Dwonszyk will be joined by Kris Allen on saxophone, Andrew Renfroe on guitar, Taber Gable on piano, Jonathan Barber on drums and Shenel Johns on vocals.

Next up on Saturday is the guitar duo of Pasquale Grasso and Frank Vignola. Grasso has a regular Monday night residency at Mezzrow in NYC. Vignola can be heard regularly in New York at Birdland Theater. This is his first Litchfield festival appearance.

Closing out Saturday will be clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen and her newest ensemble, Anat Cohen Quartetinho.

The Sunday Jazz Brunch starts at noon with meals by chef Charlene Dutka. Jazz pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton and her colleagues of 18 years, Fukushi Tainaka on drums and Hide Tanaka on bass, will perform. Fulton first appeared at the Litchfield festival when she was barely in her 20s.