By JONATHAN COX
CorneliusNews.net
The town of Cornelius and Mecklenburg County are working on the details of an agreement that would place Cornelius in charge of patrolling Lake Norman, with a goal of increasing police presence and enabling a faster response time to 911 calls on the lake. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has been in charge of policing the lake since 1995, but a shortage of staff and resources has led to slow response times.
The new agreement is a victory for Police Chief Bence Hoyle and other Cornelius officials, who have pressed the county for years to let the town handle lake patrols. At the pre-meeting before Monday’s Town Board meeting, Hoyle discussed a draft of the agreement, which will increase the number of patrols and decrease the response time to emergency calls.
A SAFER LAKE
Hoyle said that he believes an increased police presence will serve as a deterrent to intoxicated boaters or criminals who use boats as staging grounds to target houses along the shoreline.
“We have had several burglaries of waterfront homes,” Hoyle said, “and with everything we know about the burglaries, we believe [the criminals] came in by boat.”
CMPD is on duty only 54 percent of the hours in-season, and 42 percent of the hours during the off-season. During off hours, CMPD will not respond to a call for service unless there is an “imminent threat to life or property.” Routine calls – noise complaints or disabled boats – will not get a response.
Hoyle said that while routine calls like noise complaints are low-priority for CMPD, they are important to Cornelius residents’ quality of life. “If a boat is blasting music at 3am close to shore, it’s disturbing lots of houses,” he said.
It is not just routine calls where the CMPD has failed to respond – sometimes emergency calls have gone unanswered. On July 29, a 60-year-old Huntersville man died after suffering what a NC Wildlife investigator called “a massive heart attack” while boating on Lake Norman. His boat ran through a dock at a home at the end of Largo Place, off Nantz Road. With the man unconscious or deceased, the boat continued back onto the lake, circled around and then ran ashore at the same house, NC Wildlife reported.
The resident of the Largo Place home called CMPD, but the lake patrol failed to respond to the accident, leading to an outcry from town officials. Once Cornelius is responsible for policing the lake, Hoyle said, they will be able to respond to emergency calls for service in under 15 minutes..
SUBJECT TO REVISION
Instead of stepping up CMPD’s presence on Lake Norman, which that the town estimates would cost $1 million, Cornelius Police Department has agreed to take over full responsibility for lake patrols, while CMPD will only be responsible for checking infrastructure along the shoreline by McGuire.
The draft of the agreement between Mecklenburg County and Cornelius lays out the details of Cornelius’ responsibilities on the lake.
Cornelius will provide routine patrols of Lake Norman shoreline within Mecklenburg County, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The county will still be responsible for policing Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie, and in the event of a declared state of emergency involving Lake Norman, CMPD will take charge.
According to the terms of the agreement as it stands now, the county will provide Cornelius with annual payments of $367,000 for lake patrol services, while Cornelius will pay an additional $207,000. The county will make an additional $150,000 available in fiscal year 2016 to enlarge the existing boat house at Ramsey Creek Park to add a boat slip. The boat house, pier and fueling system will be leased to Cornelius.
The terms of the agreement are still under discussion, and Hoyle said the town is open to addressing stakeholder concerns. Though there are still details to be resolved, Mayor Chuck Travis praised the progress made toward making the lake safer.
“This is a huge step forward for our community,” he said.
See a draft of the Lake Norman Patrol Agreement at the www.corneliuspublic.novusagenda.com
RELATED COVERAGE
Nov. 20, 2014, “Deal will let Cornelius PD respond to emergency calls on the lake”
Aug. 6, 2014, “Town officials criticize CMPD for not responding to boat wreck”
