Austin police are now cracking down on noisy boaters. Along Lake
Austin, they have begun giving warnings and writing tickets. A new
noise ordinance went into effect earlier this year.
“If I can hear your music or any amplified sound within a hundred
feet of your boat, you are in violation,” said Officer John Scott with
the Austin Police Department. “The first time we are going to give you a
warning. The second time you are going to be cited.”
Some boaters wondered how well the law can be applied in instances
where boats are bunched together.
“They’ll try to pinpoint the boat the sound is coming from,” one
boater told KVUE. “But if there are forty boats out there, which one
will they ticket?”
Police say in recent years the loudest part of Lake Austin has been a
cove known as Bee Creek, which Officer Scott describes as a boat
parking lot. He says between 200 and 300 boats can be there on a busy
summer day.
“Everyone plays their stereo so it kind of gets carried away,” he
says. “We have people with noise complaints in Westlake, which is two
miles from the lake.”
Along Bee Creek, some homeowners have put up signs threatening to
call police on loud boats. One man says his windows rattle.
“It gets really loud down here and it all echoes,” said resident
Antony VanWisse. “It’s a nuisance.”
Police say the problem might have been worse last year when more
boaters came over from a dry Lake Travis.
Seven APD officers with 3 boats are responsible for safety along the
20-miles of Lake Austin.
