Town of Lake Weighs Wake Boat Restrictions as Price County L

Last updated: July 2026

By Price County Fun Editorial Team | Price County, Wisconsin

For six straight months, the Town of Lake board has kept “Enhanced Wake Issue” on its meeting agenda. The item first showed up in February 2026 and hasn’t left since. Now, the town is reviewing a sample ordinance and studying how neighboring communities have handled the same problem.

The issue? Wake boats. They’re boats designed to pump out massive wakes for surfing and wakeboarding, and they’re getting more popular on Price County lakes every year. The problem is that those lakes weren’t built for artificial waves the size of what these boats produce.

What wake boats do

Wake boats use ballast tanks and hull modifications to displace large volumes of water, creating waves big enough for people to surf behind the boat without a rope. It’s a blast for riders. It’s less fun for everyone else on the water.

Those oversized wakes carry enough energy to pound shorelines, accelerate erosion, and churn up shallow water where fish spawn. Smaller watercraft like kayaks, canoes, and fishing boats can get swamped or thrown around. Wildlife habitats along the shore take a beating when waves hit them repeatedly. Safety becomes a real concern on lakes that see a mix of motorized and non-motorized traffic After a day on the water, Ripsaw Saloon serves one of the best fish frys in the county..

Wisconsin doesn’t have a statewide wake boat law. Leaves the job to local towns and municipalities, which means every township with a lake has to figure it out on their own.

Six Months on the Agenda

The Town of Lake first listed the Enhanced Wake Issue as item 7g under Unfinished Business at its February 12, 2026 board meeting. It stayed on the agenda through March, April, and May, appearing at every regular meeting.

The June 11, 2026 agenda shows a shift from discussion to action. Item 7f calls for reviewing a sample ordinance from the BSLA, which stands for the Big/Small Lakes Association, along with a Wake Boat Impact Study. Two weeks later, the June 25 agenda item 5e references “Ordinance/Hearing (Town of Chippewa),” signaling the board is looking at a neighboring town’s approach.

Meeting agendas have a limitation worth noting. They show item titles and brief descriptions, not the actual discussion that happens around the table. The agendas tell us the board has been working on this issue consistently and what materials they’re reviewing. They don’t tell us what individual board members said, what arguments were made, or where each person stands. The votes and detailed minutes would tell that story, but those aren’t what we have here.

What the agendas do show is a clear progression. The issue started as a general discussion item and evolved into reviewing a specific sample ordinance and studying another town’s hearing process. That’s a board moving toward some kind of action.

The BSLA Sample Ordinance

The Big/Small Lakes Association has been active on the wake boat issue across Wisconsin. Their sample ordinance gives towns a starting point instead of having to draft language from scratch. The Town of Lake board reviewing this document at their June 11 meeting suggests they’re getting serious about putting regulations in place.

A sample ordinance from a lakes association typically addresses things like how far wake boats must stay from shore, speed restrictions, time-of-day limitations, and which lakes are subject to the rules. The specifics would depend on what the Town of Lake board decides works for their waters.

The Wake Boat Impact Study referenced on the same agenda item would provide the data backing up whatever regulations the board considers. Studies like that look at measurable effects like shoreline erosion rates, water quality impacts, and fish population changes.

Town of Chippewa Sets the Precedent

The June 25 agenda references the Town of Chippewa, which has already gone through the ordinance and public hearing process. Lake appears to be following that playbook.

A public hearing is the standard process in Wisconsin for adopting a local ordinance. The board drafts the regulation, publishes notice of the hearing, takes public comment, and then votes. It gives lake residents, boaters, and property owners a chance to weigh in before anything becomes law.

Following Chippewa’s approach makes sense for Lake. They can see what worked, what didn’t, and what pushback came up during Chippewa’s hearing process. It also means the legal framework has already been tested, reducing the risk of a challenge after adoption.

Town of Spirit Goes Its Own Way

Not every town in the area is handling this the same way. The Town of Spirit passed a No Wake ordinance covering all lakes within its boundaries. Back in June 2025, Spirit asked the neighboring Town of Hill to join their ordinance, according to Hill’s meeting minutes from June 16, 2025.

Hill voted not to join. Split tells you something about how divided people are on this. Spirit decided to restrict wake activity across the board. Hill decided it wasn’t worth signing on. Lake is somewhere in the middle, taking a measured approach with months of review before making a decision.

The result is a patchwork of regulations across neighboring towns. A boater on one lake might face strict no-wake rules while a lake a few miles away has nothing on the books. Inconsistency creates confusion and makes enforcement harder for everyone.

What comes next

The Town of Lake has been deliberate. Six months of continuous agenda items shows a board that doesn’t want to rush into something it can’t undo. The June meetings mark a turning point from general concern to specific ordinance review.

If Lake follows Chippewa’s path, the next steps would be drafting an ordinance based on the BSLA sample, scheduling a public hearing, and taking community input before a final vote. Process typically takes a month or two once the board decides to move forward.

For now, wake boats can operate on Town of Lake waters without local restrictions. How long that lasts depends on how quickly the board moves from reviewing sample ordinances to writing their own.

What’s clear is that the pressure isn’t going away. Wake boats are getting more popular, not less. Price County’s lakes are a draw for recreation, and that brings more traffic every season. The towns that act now will have an easier time managing the impacts than the ones that wait until the damage is obvious.

The Town of Lake’s next regular meeting will show whether the board is ready to move from review to drafting, or whether the Enhanced Wake Issue will stay on the agenda for another month.