Finding themselves at odds this year are town officials, LOF Adaptive Skiers operations, and neighbors in the vicinity of those operations. The Sandy Hook-based LOF Founder Joel Zeisler has been running his water ski clinics for the blind, disabled, and veterans from alternative locations than his Housatonic Drive address, and on a temporary license. LOF programming has expanded since the not-for-profit began 25 years ago, and recent years' attempts to relocate the LOF along the lakeshore came to a contentious head in August.Police Report/DEEP ReportThe Newtown Bee's requests for the report, stating that the case is "still under investigation," and that The Bee could request a copy of the case report "when it is completed." He stated, "We are investigating an incident. We will provide you a copy of the report, etc, as soon as we are able to." A letter from DEEP police is included with the August 17 Board of Selectman meeting minutes.

Frustrated neighbors who have been watching carefully to see what transpires between the LOF and town officials regarding use of a town-owned Walnut Tree Hill address attended a meeting August 17, where an extension of a temporary permit to use the property was in question. After several hours of discussion and public comment, the Board of Selectmen moved to "grant a temporary license to [LOF] to continue operations … and continue through September 30 with provision for rain dates and conditional with automatic revocation if scope or duration is exceeded."

Days after the meeting Mr Zeisler said, "My priority is getting people with disabilities out there" on the water.

Claiming his organization has been "pushed around long enough," he said that he is tempted to "do what is necessary" to continue his operations, while also searching for a permanent home suitable for his waterskiing programming. "We have no place to go," he said.

Angered neighbors have argued that LOF's use of the lake and neighborhoods along Lake Zoar has compromised their own enjoyment and recreation.

Following a town-issued cease and desist order for operations at Housatonic Drive, officials this season issued the LOF a temporary permit to run programming from 207 Walnut Tree Hill Road abutting Bridge End Farm Lane. The parcel borders Lake Zoar. First Selectman Pat Llodra confirmed that "LOF has been using [the Walnut Tree Hill location] under an event permit" issued by the Parks and Recreation Department.

Land Use Director George Benson said the LOF is "currently under a cease and desist order for the Housatonic Drive address because it's a residential zone and not an allowed use." Mr Benson had received complaints from neighbors and "we told him he had to find another place." The town has "been trying to help him find another place. We are looking at town property, but shoreline is steep."

LOF operations from Walnut Tree Hill also posed problems. Mr Benson said the property "was always for recreational purposes - it was originally for recreation for the town." He said, "We are just trying to find a place for them. I did not think it would be a problem."

Regarding LOF's current location, Mr Benson said, "We thought this was a good fix, but it wasn't. We were trying to help LOF because it's a good cause, and we have been trying for years to find them a place."

People have asked how the town could issue a cease and desist order to LOF, "but we had to move him from residential property."

Mr Benson said he and others are "going to spend the winter trying to find another place for [LOF]."

How is the LOF able to operate a business from the town property? Addressing this and other concerns from neighbors, Mr Benson said, "It's not-for-profit, for one thing, and our zoning allows [use of] parks and open space, and activities are determined by Parks and Recreation… it's up to Parks and Recreation to decide recreational uses or community needs."

Why did the town not notify the neighbors? "It was a temporary permit - it does not require notification, but we should have, I should have," Mr Benson said in hindsight. Mr Benson initially did not feel notice was necessary as "it was a [temporary] fix, we were trying to get [LOF] out of the other area he was in, and many of the complaints were about parking." Complaints from neighbors regarding lake use are a Department of Energy and Environmental Protection(DEEP) matter, he said. The town does not have jurisdiction on the lake, he said.

The LOF got permits through FirstLight Power Resources - the electric utility company using the lake - to put in a dock, and can clear land to put in a dock, Mr Benson explained. Town officials "chose that space because there was no major removal of trees… anyone with a permit from FirstLight has right to clear and put in a dock."

The LOF had a "right to access the lake, and this did not rise to the level of requiring a wetlands permit, it only involved clearing invasives; we monitored the whole process," he said.

State Boating Law Administrator Eleanor Mariani addressed another concern that the LOF might "shut down" or restrict traffic on a portion of the lake during clinics. At its prior location on Housatonic Drive, the LOF had "applied for an events permit through the DEEP for certain marine events," she said. During those events "they requested exclusive use of the water - they have the ability to use those waters and they would have to escort others through the event area; they still would have to bring people through but they would have a quiet event." In the Walnut Tree Hill location "they were not issued that type of permit." She said they "did not have exclusive use of waters and the LOF felt exclusive use would infringe on residents because it's a narrower area."

Her department does "make sure that they are following the laws for waterskiing and regarding distances from shore and speeds. So far we have not seen any unsafe practices."

She said, "I have spoken with LOF several times to confirm compliance." Ms Mariani said the DEEP Environmental Conservation police have stopped at events at the new location and reports include that "at times they observed LOF waterskiing and at one time saw a few boats in the area that were free to utilize the waters."

Can the neighbors petition against LOF operating at Walnut Tree Hill? "It's not binding," Mr Benson said. "It's a town property and the town can decide [uses] within reason, or they may decide it's not suitable to go there."

A temporary and nonrenewable license agreement dated August 21 and signed by both Mrs Llodra and Mr Zeisler allows that the LOF "may, at no cost, use property owned by the town of Newtown … to run events in which it facilitates the recreation of disabled individuals."

The LOF founder and his board members alleged that an incident on the lake this summer endangered one of their blind skiers. Regarding case #17-17070, Colonel Kyle Overturf, Connecticut DEEP Director-State Environmental Conservation Police, on Tuesday, August 29, replied to

Other incidents that took place this summer, which LOF members claim are acts of vandalism, have been confirmed in Newtown Police Department reports. One claim in particular is that a dock installed onsite had been cut loose.

An incident on July 18 is the subject of a police case report signed by Officer Adam Greco, dated July 22. The report state that on July 18 he was "dispatched to the baseball field on Bridge End Farm Lane for the report of a stolen dock." When the officer arrived he encountered two New England Restoration employees who informed him they "had installed a dock … for the Leaps of Faith Adaptive Skiers," several days earlier. The dock measured 16 feet by 16 feet of "new wood boards and covered in new gray carpet. It had been tied between two trees as well as held down by metal stakes that had been driven down into the river bed." They arrived one morning to find the dock gone.

The officer states that the dock was missing and "there were remnants of the gray carpet in the water, as well as the metal stakes. The ropes also appeared to have been cut. There was a small green flashlight in the water, too." Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson took the officer by boat to try to locate the dock. After searching the river, they "finally located the dock in the water," near a Pootatuck Park Road address, "grounded in the sand in the shallow water just on the southern side of the Silver Bridge."

The officer later "observed that the dock was reinstalled." The report concludes, "I conducted a neighborhood canvass of the Bridge End Farm Lane on the river nearest to the dock in questions. No one I spoke to observed anything suspicious but seemed concerned that someone would do something to that charity. Some also expressed support for the organization and no one seemed personally against the dock's presence. Case closed."

For more on this issue, read related story,  "Selectmen Hear Residents' Concerns, Issue Temporary LOF License."