On Saturday, May 12, at 1:30 PM, the annual meeting of the Protect Lake Travis Association (PLTA) will be held.  The meeting will be in the Annex Hall at St. Luke's On The Lake Church, 5600 Ranch Road 620 North, overlooking Lake Travis between Comanche Trail and Quinlan Park Road.  Parking is on the lower level on the south side of the church and there will be signs directing you to the Annex Hall.  Anyone needing handicap parking will be allowed to park on the main parking lot in the reserved spaces.

 PLTA will have a special guest speaker, Cole Rowland, President of the Highland Lakes Group, to give our members an update on the changes proposed by the Texas Legislature that may affect lake levels in the Highland Lakes and plans developed by Region K's Water Planning Group for the construction of off-channel reservoirs in the lower Colorado River basin to be operated by LCRA to assist in future wholesale water sales to San Antonio and others.  Cole Rowland is also a member of the Region K Water Planning Group and he represents recreational lake interests.

 Other items to be considered at this meeting will be the counting of the ballots for PLTA's Directors election, election of officers, PLTA's financial report, and other items of interest to our members.  If you have not attended a PLTA Annual Meeting, or it has been awhile, please come join us on May 12.  It will be informative and interesting as usual!

Check your mailing label to see if your membership dues need to be renewed.  The date you see after your name is the date your membership expires.  Staying current on your membership dues enables PLTA to stay active in all the problems that come up that can adversely effect your Lake Travis!  Please remember that donations of any amount can be made at any time.  PLTA is a 501.c.3. non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.

 During this past year PLTA has moved forward on the issue of protecting some coves on Lake Travis.  The following is the text of our letter that got this started and is followed by the Lower Colorado River Authority's (LCRA) response:

 "The Protect Lake Travis Association (PLTA) has voted to encourage the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) to use the current revision work being done to the Highland Lakes Marina Ordinance and Technical Manual as a spring board to move forward on the proposal brought up at the recent Stakeholders meeting -- that LCRA must begin to speedily plan to "build" water parks on Lake Travis and the other Highland Lakes.  The water parks we request LCRA to pursue will require the possible purchase of waterfront lands surrounding certain coves that could then be kept in a natural "primitive" state, i.e., not filled in with commercial or private marinas.  This will allow the continuation of a long held, sacred tradition practiced on these State Waters we call the Highland Lakes -- boating to these beautiful coves to swim, or spend the night, undisturbed by the increasing traffic on the main body of the lakes.

 "LCRA has done an excellent job recently in providing, increasing and improving the "land" parks along the Colorado River, but it has become time for LCRA to expand and improve that "parks vision" to protect the aesthetic natural beauty and recreational quality of as many of the remaining natural cove areas left on Lake Travis and the other lakes.  Seize the moment before these coves are lost forever to the public."

LCRA's response:

 "Thank you very much for your encouragement to the LCRA to take steps to protect cove areas on Lake Travis from future development.  Preservation of coves is also one of LCRA's long-term goals.  LCRA currently utilizes two tools to help manage development on the lake: 1) leasing guidelines for LCRA-owned properties; and 2) the Highland Lakes Marina Ordinance to assure that public safety standards are met by existing and future marina developments.  As you may know, LCRA does not have land-use zoning authority.

 "LCRA, through its' voluntary restriction of development on LCRA-owned lands, is striving to gradually reduce intense activity in high use/high conflict areas of Lake Travis.  As of December 21, 1998, new requests to lease LCRA land or to expand existing leases in the high use/high conflict areas of Lake Travis will be denied.  LCRA currently has no plans to permit any marina development in cove areas owned by the LCRA on Lake Travis.

 "LCRA's marina ordinance currently states that at locations where the main body of the lake has a width of 1,000 feet or less, no marina facility shall extend more than 10 percent of the width of the lake from shoreline to shoreline.  LCRA is currently amending the Marina Ordinance and one proposed change includes extending this requirement to coves.  The amended Ordinance is to be presented to LCRA's Board of Director's for their final consideration on May 23. (Bold added)

 "Your suggestion to purchase additional cove areas is a good one.  Unfortunately, the high cost of lakefront property on Lake Travis makes it an expensive proposition.  LCRA has attempted to work with area land owners in the past to obtain conservation easements to preserve the character of selected coves, a recent example being Rough Hollow Cove.  While that negotiation was unsuccessful, LCRA is open to accepting conservation easements to protect selected shoreline areas.  If you know of anyone interested in donating a conservation easement, or if you know of any source of funding to assist in the purchase of cove lands, please let us know."

 Contact person at LCRA is Kirk Cowan, Manager of LCRA's Resource Planning and Development Division.  He, or the General Manager of LCRA, can be reached at 1-800-776-5272, P.O. Box 220, Austin, TX 78767, or www.lcra.org.

The lakes are great for boaters, sailors, swimmers, skiers, and divers -- but if you do not use common sense when you share the water with others, the lakes can be deadly.