Downsizing

Candlewood Lake is big, but it is not infinite.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and officials in the five towns that border the lake -- New Milford, Sherman, New Fairfield, Brookfield and Danbury -- are right to want some control over the size and speed of boats on the lake.

Whether 26 feet -- the boat-length limit the DEP and area town officials recently agreed on in principle -- is the right number isn't clear. And actual implementation of a length restriction would require action by the state General Assembly. But the DEP sees a correlation between boat size and speed.

As boats get bigger and faster, even the largest inland body of water in the state gets more crowded, more polluted and potentially more dangerous.

There have been accidents and deaths on Candlewood Lake. According to state Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, Candlewood has a high rate of boating accidents per acre of water. The lake, he said, is "out of control" in terms of boating safety.

In August, for example, three men were seriously injured when their boat plowed into a boulder on the isolated shore of Vaughn's Neck peninsula at the lake's northern end.

The grounding occurred a year to the day after the tragedy in which two local men died when the powerboat one was driving collided with a fishing tournament boat near the New Milford side of the lake.

Owners of big boats might see regulation as an infringement on their freedom, but the DEP proposal grandfathers in over-the-limit vessels already used on the lake. Their owners would not be forced to downsize.

The DEP says its staff is too small to adequately patrol the lake for speeders. There is renewed talk about implementing a boat-sticker program with fees used to bolster the Candlewood Lake Authority's efforts to keep speed down -- it's an idea worth considering.

Setting a size limit would hopefully work toward the same goal, or at least keep things from getting wilder.

A maximum size, however it ends up being defined, could stop the escalation of bigger boat sizes and faster speeds on the lake. Boaters wouldn't feel pressured to buy larger vessels in self-defense.

There might be some haggling before the General Assembly votes on any restriction. But this move is, in principle, a step toward a better time for everyone on Candlewood Lake.