Carter Lake neighbors were fed up with having conflicting laws governing their docks based on which side of the state line they lived on. In certain cases, buildings and docks are in Iowa yet sit on Nebraska water. Furthermore, Iowa was the only state in the nation that required soft canopies on private docks located on state lakes.
- Eric Armstrong made 25 trips to Des Moines to talk to state lawmakers about bringing Iowa’s regulations in line with neighboring states.
- “This is important because it gives people in Iowa a choice in how they want to protect their boats and their watercraft,” Armstrong said.
- Armstrong’s wife, Hillary Parker, says they got creative: “We made several hundred cookies and we brought them in with our bill number on them. And we enticed legislators as they were running through doing their thing to grab one.”
- State Rep. Josh Turek “This is a bill that is doing away with unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation.”
Sometimes grassroots political efforts pay dividends. I am Katrina Markel, the Southwest Iowa Neighborhood Reporter. And Carter Lake locals’ persistent visits to the state Capitol yielded results, bringing Iowa dock restrictions in line with their physical neighbors in Nebraska.
Eric Armstrong, a Carter Lake homeowner, made two dozen trips to the Capitol to advocate for changes to Iowa dock owners’ limitations on public lakes. Unlike every other state, they were only allowed soft dock canopies.
“This is important because it gives people in Iowa a choice in how they want to protect their boats and their watercraft,” Mr. Armstrong stated.
In stormy weather, dock owners risk losing their pricey canopies, which frequently end up at the bottom of the lake.
He highlighted to lawmakers that it is especially confusing in areas like Carter Lake.
“We have a neighbor whose land is clearly divided between state waters in Iowa and Nebraska. “So technically, they could have a hard cover in Nebraska but not in Iowa,” Armstrong explained.
Josh Turek, who represents Carter Lake in the Iowa House, worked across the aisle to get the bill on the governor’s desk, saying, “I think this is a great example of what the legislative process should be and what grassroots advocacy is.”
Armstrong’s wife, Hillary Parker, says they got creative: “We baked several hundred cookies and brought them in with our bill number on them.” And we enticed politicians to take one while they were going about doing their job.
“It is important that you are nudging things forward all the time and getting visibility,” Armstrong told the crowd.
Turek “This is a bill that is doing away with unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation.”
Parker: “And it was really nice to see people come together and say, ‘This is a common sense change.'” “Why do not we just do it?”
Gov. Reynolds signed the bill into law this week.