Amendment establishes first “no wake zone” in New Kent

After listening to residents about safety concerns along Diascund Creek during Monday night’s meeting, New Kent supervisors voted unanimously to amend an ordinance and establish a “no wake” zone in the county.

The “no wake” zone becomes the first in New Kent, meaning boats cannot produce waves that affect shorelines or they may be fined and/or pay for damages to property. The amendment to the ordinance also establishes a process for other residents who wish to have the designation on waterways in the county. For Diascund Creek in particular, the area begins 370 yards south of the CSX bridge and extends an additional 630 yards, roughly one-third of a mile.

County residents who live along the creek converged during the public hearing on the proposal. Leading the charge was Jonathan Edmonds, who brought the concern to the board.

A nine-second clip presented showed a speeding boat blasting through a narrow portion of the creek with wakes crashing along the shoreline. Edmonds read two letters from colleagues who could not attend before making a statement about the issue.

“As you can see from the video, this is the only section of the creek that has boats, docks, and activity on both sides,” he said.

Other residents followed suit, reiterating Edmonds’ stance and how the area has become dangerous for homeowners both from a living standpoint and for recreational activities.

“I had an incident last Sunday trying to fuel up my boat,” said Joshua Perry. “I was in my boat when a wake came up and it caused me to fall off it. There have been other incidents as well as wakes have come up into boats and sank at least three of mine.”

“The portion I live on is the narrowest navigational part of the creek,” chimed in Joseph Mauro, mentioning the width was roughly 50 feet. “Children are swimming all the time and the law says you can’t create a wave within 50 feet of swimmers.”

Other residents’ stories echoed around being knocked off boats to plummeting into the creek while working on docks.

After closing the public hearing, supervisors had little trouble passing the amendment with a 5-0 approval.