Canoe and kayak liveries will pay a permit fee to conduct business in Milford's Central Park if officials approve a proposed ordinance.
A proposed ordinance regulating canoe rental businesses using Central Park would require livery owners to pay $25 for an annual permit.
Alan Heavner, who runs one of two canoe rental businesses in Milford, welcomes the regulations and permit fee. He picks up some canoe and kayak customers from the park, but operates his business out of Proud Lake Recreation Area.
Village Manager Christian Wuerth said the proposed ordinance limits each canoe livery to two vehicles at a time in the park. It spells out the information needed for a permit application, including a verification of insurance, hours of operation and number of parking spaces used in the park. It also prohibits the businesses and their customers from obstructing public access to the water, sidewalk or driveway, damaging park property, littering, jumping from watercraft, leaving a boat or trailer in the park while it is closed and posting livery company signs.
“The biggest thing from the village perspective is making sure everyone has property insurance and the village is covered,” Wuerth said.
He said the topic of livery regulations grew out of discussions last year over a proposed canoe launch in Central Park’s Pettibone Creek. Officials realized there were no ordinances that related specifically to canoe and kayak rental businesses and their use of public property. They wanted to make sure canoe company employees were properly licensed to drive vehicles in and out of the park and that the companies carried liability insurance.
Wuerth said representatives from both Heavner Canoe & Kayak Rental and Village Canoe Rental attended a recent council meeting to discuss the proposed regulations.
Wuerth said the proposed ordinance likely will come before council for a final vote Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Village Canoe Rental is closed until May and its owner did not respond to a request for an interview. Heavner Canoe & Kayak Rental is open year-round for special events and resumes regular seasonal hours April 1.
Heavner is finalizing plans to expand his summer moonlight canoe events this year by offering a Taste of Milford in the pavilion at Central Park. The moonlight events occur one weekend each month June through August. Paddlers canoe or kayak from his launch in Proud Lake Recreation Area to Central Park, where they stop and enjoy the park or head into downtown Milford, before paddling back to their starting point. Heavner also offers to shuttle weary paddlers from the park to his business, where a bonfire caps the evening. He said the moonlight paddle this summer will feature a different restaurant in the park each month.
Heavner has offered free shuttle rides to and from Thursday concerts for the past two years and plans to continue that service this summer. His customers also will be able to paddle to the concerts and take a shuttle back to their starting point.