SIREN, Wis. (WRN) — A group of wake boat owners sues a northwest Wisconsin town over its ban on the activity.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports plaintiffs from Texas and Florida claim the Burnett County Town of Scott is depriving them of use of their wake boats by not allowing their use on four lakes with the majority of their shoreline within the town. The wake boat owners have property on one of those lakes.
It’s the first challenge against local wake boating ordinances in Wisconsin, which have been enacted after repeated attempts to regulate them failed at the Capitol.
Wake boats carry powerful motors and ballast tanks, producing waves large enough to allow a surfer to follow behind without a tow rope. Critics say the heavy waves damage shorelines and lake bottoms.