The Lake Lanier Association says a taskforce formed in 2015 has made good progress on removing blighted boats and docks from the lake over the last three years.
The LLA's Executive Director, Joanna Cloud, says the Abandoned and Derelict Dock and Vessel taskforce has cleared 60 incidents since it was started.
"I think it's just, we've been paying attention to it. We've focused on it," Cloud said. "The (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers, you know, they've obviously got their hands full with a lot of different things from a shoreline standpoint, the DNR is obviously very busy from a boating standpoint and some of these issues were out there and, just, we didn't have a very cohesive focus on getting it resolved."
She said the taskforce has been a volunteer effort of members of the LLA, Corps of Engineers and DNR who now meet quarterly to discuss and target decaying properties. The group got funding from the Georgia legislature in 2016.
Cloud said the group clears the problems by reaching out to the boats and docks' owners and encouraging them to either repair the properties or remove them. She said sometimes the owners are difficult to find, but many times they are not.
"There's been a surprising number of them that we know who the owner is. The owner is in the picture, it's just a matter of applying pressure," Cloud said.
She said the LLA has been happy with the progress made and hopes to reach a point where all the existing decaying properties have been cleared and the taskforce can get ahead of the problems. She said aging steel-hulled houseboats are a point of emphasis for the group because they create major problems to the surrounding area when abandoned or sunk and are difficult to remove.
In a release Saturday, the LLA says the Hall County Solicitor's Office has started joining the taskforce's quarterly meetings and is encouraging the Gwinnett and Forsyth county offices to do the same.
