Joint Lake Tulloch Ordinance

Calaveras and Tuolumne County - TriDam Present Draft lead by Supervisors Erickson and Pland

Calaveras County Sheriff’s Dept., Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Dept., Tri-Dam, Dick Pland - Tuolumne County Supervisor and Victoria Erickson have been working on a Joint Lake Tulloch Ordinance that is in Draft form and will soon be going before the respective County Boards for adoption.  This ordinance will, for the first time, give Law Enforcement and the public clear guidelines as to the rules and regulations on both sides of the County line on Lake Tulloch .  These five agencies have been at the table working out the provisions of this ordinance and have come to consensus on the many issues involved in putting together this complicated ordinance.   
  

In the past each County had it’s own ordinance concerning Lake Tulloch and this has been confusing for people boating on the lake.  For example, one side of the lake has had a 5 mph speed lime after dark while the other side has had no boating after dark.  The new ordinance will allow for consistency on the lake and will make it much easier for Law Enforcement to enforce the rules and regulations. 
  

Docks to Speed Limits

The new Joint Draft Ordinance covers everything from swimming and docks to speed limits and Special Wildlife Habitat Areas.  The ordinance is set up so that in the future anything dealing with Lake Tulloch can be added to the ordinance and it will be easy to keep track of rules affecting the lake.  

The next step, after adoption of this ordinance, is  to continue discussion regarding a possible Pollution Permit program.  This program would provide for additional safety provisions on the lake.  The Bass Lake model has been followed as we have been looking at ways to make Lake Tulloch a safer boating experience.  

If we were to use the Bass Lake model we would we would use a permitting system that would affectively issue permits after a safety inspection of the boat.  At Bass Lake , the permit fee is dependent upon the size and horsepower of the boat.  While no-one wants to charge any fees, the program at Bass Lake does provide funds for full-time law enforcement during the summer.  Homeowners around Bass Lake spoke in favor of the program stating that the program makes them feel safer on the water.   The fees collected could also help pay for shoreline clean up days and boater safety courses.

If all of the involved agencies believe that this program should be considered, a draft program will be prepared.   We would then have Town Hall meetings to discuss this will the public at length.  While it is our desire to make Lake Tulloch a much safer boating experience we are very conscious of the fact that an additional fee may not be a very popular idea. 

Road to Melones

While we continue to work on issues at Lake Tulloch , work continues with the Bureau of Reclamation concerning a road to New Melones. We are including the road to New Melones into the Circulation Element of the Copperopolis Community Plan.   We have submitted our idea in a formal request and have been told that our request will be included with all other agency comments within their Resource Management Planning Process that is expected to begin this fall.  We are very hopeful that we will make it into their Master Plan.  

As you can see we are moving forward to take care of issues on Lake Tulloch .  We have been working hard with other agencies to come to consensus on many issues that have historically been dealt with in an inconsistent manner and we have been able to come to the table and working through them to come up with sensible solutions that will make a real difference out on the Lake next summer.  

Look for Action by Spring

Signs will be posted showing the new regulations and handouts will be given out.  We will have a boating safety day next spring to do boat inspections.  We are committed to making Lake Tulloch a safe boating experience for everyone.