Chapter 10
ORDINANCE NO. 307
AN ORDINANCE RELATING to the WATERS, USE and REGULATIONS of
SILVER LAKE
10.01
10.02
10.03
10.04
10.05
10.06
10.07
10.08
10.09
10.10
10.11
10.12
10.13
10.14
10.15
10.16
List of
Intent
Applicability
State Laws Regulating Boating Adopted
Definitions
Speed Restrictions
Water Skiing
Races, Regattas and Special Events
Swimming
Swimming Areas Established
Littering
Buoys, Piers and Rafts
Regulation of Silver Lake Boat Launch
Motor Vehicles on the Ice
Penalties
Severability
Repeal of Conflicting Ordinances
Amendments
Page(s)
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The Village Board of the Village of Silver Lake do ordain as follows:
10.01 - INTENT. The intent of this ordinance is to provide safe and healthful
conditions for the enjoyment of the aquatic recreation consistent with the public needs
and capabilities of the water resource.
10.02 - APPLICABILITY. The provisions of this ordinance shall apply to Silver Lake
within the jurisdiction of the Village of Silver Lake, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, and
shall be enforced by the Silver Lake Water Patrol under the jurisdiction of the Police
Department of the Village of Silver Lake except as otherwise provided in this ordinance.
The provisions of this ordinance shall not apply to the operator of a duly authorized
patrol boat when operated in the performance of duty and if due regard is given to the
safety of other persons in the vicinity.
10.03 - STATE LAWS REGULATING BOATING ADOPTED. All of the provisions of
Wisconsin Statutes Sections 30.50 to 30.71, 30.80 and 30.99 as may from time to time
be amended or renumbered and any applicable penalties or bond schedules set by any
state uniform bond schedule are herewith adopted by reference as though fully set
forth herein.
Ordinance 307 – Waters of Silver Lake
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10.04 - DEFINITIONS.
a. SHORE ZONE shall mean the water area from the shore to the five (5) foot
depth as shown on the hydrographic map bearing DNR legended June, 1968 or to a
distance of two hundred (200) feet from shore, whichever is further.
b. SWIMMING ZONE shall mean an authorized area marked by official buoys to
designate a swimming area.
c. TRAFFIC LANE shall mean the area beyond the shore zone.
All other terms used in the ordinance shall have the definition set forth in
Wisconsin Statutes 30.01 and 30.50.
10.05 - SPEED RESTRICTIONS. In addition to the speed restrictions set forth in
Section 10.03 of this ordinance adopting Wisconsin Statute 30.66 no person shall
operate a boat on the Silver Lake in excess of the slow no wake speed either:
a. Within the shore zone at any time, or
b. Between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. on any portion of the lake.
(amendment with Ordinance No. 405, adopted 07-05-00, begins)
c. Authorizing the Village President to declare a Slow No Wake Emergency.
1. When lake levels are higher than normal due to flooding or unusual
weather conditions and when the operation of a boat at a speed in excess of the slow
no wake speed has the potential of causing property damage or shore erosion, the
Village Board President may declare a slow no wake emergency prohibiting the
operation of any boat on Silver Lake in excess of the slow no wake speed for the
duration of the emergency. If the Village President cannot be located within one (1)
hour of the onset of the emergency conditions, the Chairperson of the Parks Committee
may act in the President’s place to declare a slow no wake emergency. If neither the
Village President nor the Chairperson of the Parks Committee is available within one (1)
hour of the onset of the emergency conditions, the Village Chief of Police may act in
their place to declare a slow no wake emergency. If none of the above-named persons
are available within one (1) hour of the onset of the emergency, an emergency special
Board Meeting may be called and a majority of the Board members may declare a slow
no wake emergency. Those who may rescind should be in the same order and ranking
as those who can declare an emergency.
2. Slow No Wake level of Silver Lake shall be determined by standards set
by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 1943. The measurement gauge
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to be used to make this determination is located on the South side of the lake on the
Silver Lake Marina property adjacent to the Silver Lake Dam. Maximum summer level is
99.64 PSC datum (8.50 on the gauge). Minimum summer level is 99.14 PSC datum
(7.55 on the gauge).
3. Notices of Slow No Wake shall be posted at all boat landings, including,
but not limited to: DNR Boat Launch, Silver Lake Boat Launch and the Silver Lake
Marina Boat Launch.
4. Any person violating the provisions of this ordinance shall be subject to
the penalties set forth in Section 10.14 of Ordinance Number 307. (amendment with
Ordinance No. 405 ends)
10.06 - WATER-SKIING. In addition to the restrictions set out in Wisconsin Statutes
Section 30.69 the following restrictions apply:
a. Hours. No person shall operate a boat for the purpose of towing a water
skier, aquaplane or similar device or engage in water skiing between the hours of 7:00
p.m. and 10:00 a.m.
b. Traffic Lane. Any boat engaged in towing a person on water skis, aquaplane
or similar device must conform to all sections of this ordinance and in addition must
operate in a counterclockwise direction on the lake and in the traffic lane. There shall
be no water skiing, aquaplaning or similar activity within the shore zone.
c. Towing. There shall not be more than two (2) persons being towed by one
(1) boat.
d. Flotation Devices. Each person being towed must wear a United States Coast
Guard approved type 1, 2, or 3 personal flotation device.
e. Exceptions. The limitations of this section shall not apply to participants in
skiing meets or exhibitions authorized and conducted as provided by this ordinance.
10.07 - RACES, REGATTAS and SPECIAL EVENTS.
a. Permit Required. No person shall direct or participate in any boat race,
regatta, water ski meet or other water sporting events or exhibitions unless such event
has been authorized by the Village Board of the Village of Silver Lake and a permit
issued by the Clerk-Treasurer of the Village of Silver Lake.
b. A permit issued under this section shall specify the course or area of water to
be used by participants of such event and the permittee may be required to place
markers, flags or buoys designating the specified area. The permit may also grant a
waiver of the restrictions contained in Sections 10.05 and 10.06 to the permittee and
any participants.
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c. Right-of-Way of Participants. Boats and participants in any such permitted
event shall have the right-of-way on the marked area and no other person shall
obstruct such area during the race or event or interfere therewith.
10.08 - SWIMMING.
a. Swimming From Boats Prohibited. No person shall swim from any unmanned
boat or raft unless said boat or raft is anchored and the swimmer remains within twenty
five (25) feet of the anchored boat or raft.
b. Distance From Shore or Boat. No person shall swim beyond the shore zone
or more than twenty five (25) feet from any anchored boat or raft unless accompanied
by a boat manned by a competent person having a readily available type four (4)
personal flotation device. Such boat shall stay reasonably close to enguard such
swimmer and there shall not be less than one (1) boat for each two (2) swimmers.
c. Hours Limited. No person shall swim outside the shore zone between the
hours of 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m.
10.09 - SWIMMING AREAS ESTABLISHED. The following described area is hereby
declared a swimming area and shall be buoyed according to the permit issued for the
area.
DeWitt Park located on Cogswell Drive and being the South one-half of lot one of
Silver Lake Shores Subdivision and the North one-half of lot eighteen of Silver Lake
Assessor's Plat.
10.10 - LITTERING. No person shall place, throw or otherwise deposit any cans,
bottles, debris, garbage, refuse, waste, sewage or effluent into or on the waters, ice or
shores of Silver Lake.
10.11 - BUOYS, PIERS AND RAFTS.
a. All buoys, markers and piers and their supports, rafts and boat lifts must be
removed from the water no later than December 1, of each year and remain removed
until April 1, of the following years. Any such item or structure not removed by
December 1, may be removed or caused to be removed by the Village of Silver Lake,
which may charge the cost and expense of such removal to the riparian owner. If such
charges are not paid within thirty (30) days of the date of billing, a penalty of ten
percent (10%) shall be added to such charge and the same shall constitute a lien on
the property of the riparian owner and be inserted on the tax roll after notice to the
riparian owner and upon order of the Village Board of the Village of Silver Lake or the
Town Board of the Town of Salem.
(amendment with Ordinance No. 412, adopted 03-21-01, begins)
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b. All buoys and aids to navigation must comply with applicable Wisconsin
Statutes and administrative regulations. All mooring buoys shall extend at least
eighteen (18) inches above the water line, be white in color with a blue band clearly
visible above the water line and should be spherical or ovate in shape. No person shall
place a mooring buoy or moor a boat to a mooring buoy until the placement of the buoy
is authorized by a written permit from the Clerk of the Village of Silver Lake after
application made by the riparian owner, the buoy owner or person using the buoy, upon
forms provided by the Village Clerk. If the person making the application is other than
the riparian owner, then that person must provide the Village with written permission
from the riparian owner for the placement and use of the buoy. The application form
shall include the applicants name, permanent mailing address, address of the site of the
proposed mooring, telephone numbers, names and addresses of adjacent riparian
landowners on both sides and a detailed map indicating distances to known fixed
objects such as a property line. No buoy shall be permitted in front of any fire lanes,
swimming area, public park or access point. There shall be only one (1) mooring permit
issued for each fifty (50) feet of lake frontage of the riparian owner and no more than
one (1) boat may be attached to a single mooring buoy. No mooring buoy may be
placed that will allow the boat to drift or extend beyond one hundred (100) feet from
the shoreline. Before issuing any mooring permit the Water Patrol may inspect the
location of the proposed mooring and determine if the mooring will be an obstruction or
interfere with boaters, aids to navigation, swim areas, or rights of other riparian owners.
An initial application fee of fifty dollars ($50) shall be paid for each mooring buoy
at the time of application and shall not be refundable.
An annual renewal fee of twenty five ($25) for each mooring buoy shall be
payable to the Village Clerk on or before April 1 of each year.
All permits issued prior to the effective date of this section are void. Permits
already approved by the Town of Salem for the year 2000 are exempt from reapplying
to the Village of Silver, provided, however, that the buoy shall conform with the
requirements of the ordinances of the Village of Silver Lake. After the year 2000, the
annual renewal fee shall be paid for all mooring buoys. If the riparian owner holding
the permit for a mooring buoy, sells, transfers, or assigns his interest in the property,
the new riparian owner must reapply for a permit for a mooring buoy and pay the initial
fifty dollar ($50) application fee. (amendment with Ordinance No. 412 ends)
c. Piers. No person shall construct or maintain a pier which extends more than
one hundred (100) feet from the shoreline. No pier shall be placed in the waters
located within the boundary of the designated fire lane (extended into the water) unless
so authorized in writing by the Village Board of Silver Lake.
(amendment with Ordinance No. 407, adopted 07-19-00, begins)
d. Swimming Rafts. No person shall place or maintain any raft or platform on
Silver Lake more than one hundred (100) feet from the shoreline. Each raft shall have
attached thereto not more than twelve (12) inches from each corner or projection a red
Ordinance 307 – Waters of Silver Lake
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reflector of not less than three (3) inches in diameter. (amendment with Ordinance
No. 407 ends)
(amendment with Ordinance No. 401, adopted 05-17-00, begins)
e. All ice shanties or houses placed on Silver Lake shall have the name, address
and telephone number of the owner conspicuously displayed on the shanty or house
and shall have reflectors placed on all four (4) corners. (amendment with
Ordinance No. 401 ends)
10.12 - REGULATION of SILVER LAKE BOAT LAUNCH. A public boat launch is
hereby created on that access road leading from Cogswell Drive to Silver Lake located
near the intersection of Cogswell Drive and Manor Drive in the Village of Silver Lake.
Rules and Regulations and Restrictions as to dates and hours of operation shall be
established by further action of the Board.
(amendment with Ordinance No. 337, adopted 05-05-92, begins)
No person may launch any watercraft at the boat launch without having first
purchased and affixed to the watercraft a color-coded sticker from the Village
Clerk-Treasurer. The price of the sticker shall be five dollars ($5) for Village residents,
persons who own real estate within the Village of Silver Lake, all Village employees,
including those employed by the Police, Fire Department, Rescue Squad and
Underwater Recovery Team. Watercraft must be registered in Wisconsin to qualify for
the five dollars ($5) price of this sticker. The price of the sticker shall be seventy five
dollars ($75) for non-residents who do not own property within the Village of Silver
Lake. (amendment with Ordinance No. 337 ends)
Watercraft stickers are not transferable and anyone selling a watercraft shall
remove the sticker upon sale.
No parking is allowed on the access road or boat launch. The watercraft sticker
shall only allow the watercraft registered to be launched and a separate sticker is
required for each watercraft.
Watercraft stickers shall be effective for a period beginning on the first day of
April and ending one year later on the last day of March.
Penalties. Any person violating section 10.12 of this ordinance or any rules or
regulations propagated by the Board shall be subject to a forfeiture of not less than fifty
dollars ($50) nor more than one hundred fifty dollars ($150) for each offense.
10.13 - MOTOR VEHICLES ON THE ICE. No person shall operate any motor vehicle
as defined by Wisconsin Statutes 340.01 at a speed in excess of fifteen (15) miles per
hour on the ice of Silver Lake.
(amendment with Ordinance No. 401, adopted 05-17-00, begins)
10.14 - PENALTIES. With the exception of mooring buoys, any person violating the
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provisions of this ordinance for which a penalty is not otherwise specified in this
ordinance or provided for in Wisconsin State Statutes 30.298 shall forfeit not more than
fifty dollars ($50) for the first offense and shall forfeit not more that one hundred
dollars ($100) upon conviction of the same offense or subsequent time within one year.
Each day during which the violation exists constitutes a continuing violation and
separate offense.
Any person violating the provisions of this ordinance relating to mooring buoys
shall forfeit fifty dollars ($50) for each violation and each day during which the violation
exists constitutes a continuing violation and separate offense. In addition to or as an
alternative to, the penalties specified herein, the Village may remove the unlawful
moorings as provided under and pursuant to the procedures of Section 66.0495,
Wisconsin Statutes. (amendment with Ordinance No. 401 ends)
10.15 – SEVERABLILITY. Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase
of this chapter be declared unconstitutional or invalid or be repealed it shall not affect
the validity of this ordinance as a whole or any part thereof other than the part so
declared to be invalid or repealed.
10.16 – REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES. All Ordinances relating to
waters, use and regulation of Silver Lake and all ordinances or parts of ordinances in
conflict with this ordinance heretofore enacted by the Village Board of the Village of
Silver Lake, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, are hereby repealed provided that no
enactment repealed by a subsequent enactment of the Village Board shall be deemed to
be revived by the appeal of such repealed enactment nor shall any section of the
proposed Municipal Code of the Village of Silver Lake, Wisconsin ordinances or any part
of any ordinance heretofore repealed be considered re-enacted by virtue of the
provisions of this section.
INTRODUCED the 21st day of November, 1989.
ADOPTED the 21st day of November, 1989.
Ralph L. Drinkwine Jr.
Village President
Sharon L. Kerkman
Village Clerk-Treasurer
Ordinance 307 – Waters of Silver Lake
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List of Amendments
Ordinance No. 401 in Section 10.11 – Buoys, Piers and Rafts
Amends Section 10.05(e) – Ice Shanties – adopted 05-17-00.
Ordinance No. 401 in Section 10.14 – Penalties
Amends Section 10.14 – Penalties – adopted 05-17-00.
Ordinance No. 405 in Section 10.05 – Speed Restrictions
Amends Section 10.05(c) – adopted 07-05-00.
Ordinance No. 407 in Section 10.11 – Buoys, Piers and Rafts
Amends Section 10.05(d) – Swimming Rafts – adopted 07-19-00.
Ordinance No. 412 in Section 10.11 – Buoys, Piers and Rafts
Amends Section 10.11(b) – adopted 03-21-01.
Other Ordinances amended or repealed in the process:
Ordinance No. 323 – adopted 06-18-91 - repealed
Ordinance No. 337 – adopted 05-05-92 - amended
Ordinance No. 367 – adopted 05-23-96 - repealed
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