462A.31 - ARTIFICIAL LAKES. - Iowa Statutes

462A.31 ARTIFICIAL LAKES. 1. Except as provided in rules adopted under this chapter, a motorboat shall not be permitted on any artificial lake under the jurisdiction of the commission except the following: a. A motorboat equipped with one or more outboard battery operated electric trolling motors. b. A motorboat equipped with any power unit mounted or carried aboard the vessel may be operated at a no-wake speed on all artificial lakes of more than one hundred acres in size under the custody of the department. However, on lake Macbride, a motorboat with a power unit exceeding ten horsepower may be operated only when permitted by rule and the rule shall not authorize such use during the period beginning on the Friday before Memorial Day and ending on Labor Day inclusively. This paragraph does not limit motorboat horsepower on natural lakes under the custody of the department or limit the department's authority to establish special speed zoning regulations. 2. All privately owned vessels on artificial lakes under the jurisdiction of the commission shall be kept at locations designated by the commission. 3. All privately owned vessels, used on or kept at the artificial lakes under the jurisdiction of the commission, shall be seaworthy for the waters where they are kept and used. All such vessels shall be removed from state property whenever ordered by the commission, and, in any event, shall be removed from such property not later than December 15 of each year. 4. Upon construction of an artificial lake by a political subdivision of this state, the subdivision may, after publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the subdivision, make formal application to the commission for special rules relating to the operation of watercraft on the lake, and shall set forth therein the reasons which make such special rules necessary or appropriate. The commission may promulgate the special rules as provided in this chapter, concerning the operation of watercraft on a lake constructed and maintained by a subdivision of this state. Such special rules may include the following: a. Zoning by area and time to regulate navigation and other types of activity. b. Regulating the horsepower, size and type of watercraft. 5. As provided in section 350.5, county conservation boards may make regulations concerning horsepower limits and no-wake speeds on artificial lakes under their jurisdiction, except for state-owned artificial lakes managed by a county conservation board under a management agreement.          Section History: Early Form [C39, § 1703.16; C46, 50, 54, 58, § 106.16; C62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 106.31; 82 Acts, ch 1028, § 26]          Section History: Recent Form 86 Acts, ch 1227, § 1; 87 Acts, ch 124, § 1, 2; 92 Acts, ch 1101, § 2, 3 C93, § 462A.31 97 Acts, ch 91, § 1 Referred to in § 805.8B(1b, 1e) For applicable scheduled fines, see §805.8B, subsection 1, paragraphs b and e