Name:   dogleg - Subject:   It's not all gloom and doom Date:   7/8/2017 6:51:49 AM

A little earlier in this thread I was comparing the huge increase in boat traffic and apparent increase in ignorance of lake etiquette amongst boat operators with an algae bloom....that's the doom and gloom of the excelerated shoreline development as in, "what a difference ten years makes", not water quality. We have been here since '61 and understand development is what we did and others have every right to as well. My issue is more with multi-family dwellings...condos. Old timers may remember that Alabama Power and Russel Lands once proudly held forth about how much undeveloped shoreline they maintained and they squelched commercial multi family development. All that went out the window after a couple of bad hurricane seasons in Florida drove lakefront property demand to new heights (I'm sure there were other factors as well). 150' of waterfront and a McMansion may put a boat or two, pwcs included, on the lake. Each 150' of lakefront associated with a more densely populated condominium development inevitably puts a lot more boats on the lake per foot of shoreline development. Yeah, turbidity may be up but that's a lot easier to deal with than overpopulation and overuse. Without some consideration of this issue, The Gem here is headed for a fate similar to, say, Lake Sidney Lanier where, on a summer weekend, you can walk from boat to boat to get to the other shore (well, just about).