Lake Audubon residents protest order to remove boats off shoreline

Lake Audubon Terrace residents are protesting Reston Association’s decision to order the removal of their boats on the organization’s shoreline — a practice residents say they had been doing for years without issue.

In a petition discussed before RA’s Board of Directors in late June, the Lake Audubon Terrace Cluster asked permission to access the shoreline. They say the order has increased overcrowding, undermined their ability to offer mooring spots to owners near their homes, and “directly diminished” property values of owners who can’t access the shoreline.

“We believe that RA’s consideration of our request should rest primarily on what is fair and right by its directly impacted constituents, not how the outcome is perceived by others,” said the Feb. 6 letter submitted to the board by Cris Revaz, the cluster’s vice president.

The petition has the signatures of nearly all lakefront and Lakeview owners.

The discussion follows a failed motion to allow the cluster to continue using the shoreline for boat mooring in October 2021. RA staff and board directors said then that allowing residents to maintain access to the shoreline would set a precedent for other residents’ to seek similar relief.

In recent years, RA began a concerted attempt to implement and streamline its boat and docking procedures, many of which previously were not enforced. The association sought to refine its policies to address enforcement and oversight issues involving lake use and access.

So far, there has been no resolution on the issue, according to RA’s spokesperson Mike Leone.

“It is my understanding that the Board plans to discuss this in Executive Session during their July 28 Board of Directors meeting,” Leone wrote in a statement to FFXnow.

As a part of the negotiation, residents say they are prepared to beautify part of the slope leading to the shore, rehabilitate mooring spots and eroded docking points, install a fish habitat, and preserve landscaping and vegetation along the shoreline.

“We believe our request for reconsideration is very fair and reasonable, would have a positive impact on the environmental health of the shore and the lake, holds no adverse precedent for RA, and reflects a position outcome that avoids further contention between our cluster and he RA board,” the petition states.