County proposes special-event lake permit, seeks to pass inspection costs to large tournaments

County water resources staff proposed a new special-event lake-access permit and modest application fee to improve scheduling and recover event-related inspection costs. "Currently, CDFW charges $82 to get a permit to have a tournament of any kind on our lake. We charge nothing right now," Thomas Fardig said while explaining the permit structure.

Fardig said the proposed $50 application fee reflects staff time to process permits and that large events (more than 100 participants) would be expected to cover the additional cost of mussel-dog inspections and multiple launch-site staffing. He noted a recent nationwide tournament that cost the county roughly $7,000 in dog-inspection fees and that the county spent about $90,000 this fiscal year on mussel-dog work. Board members and public commenters urged staff to work with tournament organizers and vendors to avoid unintended exclusion of community events.