Kayakers, Canoers, Kiteboarders, Paddleboarders Can Use Lake Elsinore For Free

The City of Lake Elsinore continues ratcheting up its extreme sports image with a new promo announced Wednesday.

Now through Dec. 31, 2013, kayaks, canoes, paddleboards, kiteboards, small sailboats and other non-motorized vessels will be allowed on Lake Elsinore without lake use fees.

A $15 daily fee or $40 annual fee had been in place for the various watercraft. 

“The City has declared a ‘Fee Holiday’ for all non-motorized vessels that are not required to be registered by the DMV,” according to Wednesday’s announcement from the city.

The free lake use is available for non-motorized vessels launched from a public beach on Lake Elsinore, according to the announcement.

An exception to the free use is sailboats over 8-feet in length that require DMV registration. According to Wednesday's announcement, a lake use pass is required for those vessels.

City staff will be evaluating all lake use fees to determine how to proceed with them for the next calendar year.

The city's annual revenues from all lake use fees is approximately $380,000, according to city documents. In 2012, the city received approximately $3,200 from the sale of annual lake use passes for non-motorized vessels, according to the documents.

There are no records for sales of daily lake use passes for non-motorized vessels, although the figure is believed to be "insignificant," according to city documents.

The decision to try cutting the lake use fees came out of discussion at the July 23 City Council meeting when Mayor Bob Magee directed city staff to review the fees. Although the issue is still be analyzed by city staff, City Manager Grant Yates wrote in an Aug. 13 memo that daily use fees for non-motorized vessels seemed "disproportionately high."

"The high daily lake use fee of $15 for a one-time use by a non-motorized vessel may unnecessarily discourage the enjoyment of beautiful Lake Elsinore," Yates wrote.

As a reminder, California boating laws require all non-motorized vessels to have personal floatation devices onboard.