Posted: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 12:00 AM - 18,456 Readers

By: Reagan Hackleman

The city of Jonestown is telling Lake Travis partygoers to go party somewhere else.

Starting Monday, new rules will go into effect that will limit what boaters can do on parts of Lake Travis that are also inside Jonestown's city limits.

The new rules will mainly affect the hundreds of boaters who anchor in Devil's Hollow.

For years, Devil's Hollow -- also know as Devil's Cove -- has been a popular place for boats filled with people to anchor or tie up to other boats.

But under the new rules, it will be against the law to:

• Operate a party boat within 750 feet of the Jonestown coast. This essentially makes it against the law for party boat operators to enter Devil's Cove.
• Tie a boat to private property in Jonestown with the permission of the property owner.
• Drop anchor 100 feet from an existing boat dock
• Tie up more than five boats together.

Jonestown officials said the new rules are needed for both safety and to maintain quality of life for the increasing number of homeowners surrounding Devil's Hollow.

They acknowledge, however, that  the new rules will be tough to enforce because Jonestown has one police boat on the water during busy weekends.

Pete Clark, the owner of Just For Fun Boat Rentals says he is not happy about the new laws and even believes the City of Jonestown is breaking Texas law by discriminating against certain types of boats.

He also thinks Jonestown is overstepping it’s jurisdiction.
 
“It's public waterway and it belongs to the people of Texas and they are inhibiting the use by the citizens of Texas,” Clark said.

The new rules go into effect on July 11, 2011. The City of Jonestown tell us they’ll put a 4-foot by 6-foot sign attached to a blinking buoy at the entrance of Devil's Hollow to alert boaters to the new rules.

A 4-foot by 6-foot sign attached to a blinking buoy at the entrance of Devil's Hollow will alert boaters to the new rules.

*  Story Contributed by: Reagan Hackleman