The Winchester Board of Selectmen on July 21 directed staff to return with revised language for proposed changes to the towndock and mooring ordinance after an extended discussion about lake use, enforcement and neighbor impacts.
Planner Jeffrey (staff) and members of the Wetlands Commission presented proposed edits that would, among other items, replace "boat lifts" with the broader term "vessel lifts," allow two lifts under some conditions and modify swim-float and dock-length rules. Wetlands members later asked selectmen to refine that language to avoid unintended results.
Selectmen and residents raised enforcement and neighborhood impacts as central concerns. One selectman noted that changing wording to allow two generic "vessel lifts" could permit two double personal- watercraft lifts, effectively allowing four vessels where three are the longstanding maximum. Staff agreed to draft clearer language so a property could have either two boat lifts or a boat lift plus a jet-ski lift, preserving the three-vessel limit and eliminating the potential for two double jet-ski lifts to create four vessels.
The board also directed that the earlier phrase "may require a public hearing" for 10-foot littoral boundary waivers be changed to a requirement ("shall") so neighbors would consistently be notified and given an opportunity to be heard. Members asked staff to draft relief language so property owners with unique site conditions could request formal exceptions through an established procedure.
Selectmen and commission members discussed mooring balls, unpermitted buoys, and how markers that affect navigation are regulated by the state while moorings and docks are handled locally. Staff noted enforcement capacity is limited and that some existing, unpermitted installations have appeared on Highland Lake.
No ordinance was adopted on July 21. Staff will return with redrafted provisions that (per selectmen direction) revert to clearer "boat/jet-ski" lift wording or other explicit limits, change the littoral-boundary public-hearing language to "shall," propose relief procedures, and correct swim-float distance language (change a conflicting 50-foot reference to the 40-foot limit used elsewhere). Wetlands had previously obtained town attorney review for the draft; selectmen asked staff to include recommended clarifications and enforcement considerations when the ordinance returns to them for possible adoption.