Boat docks, boathouses and bulkheads on Lake Ray Hubbard.

Lake Ray Hubbard is owned by the City of Dallas and administered through Dallas Water Utilities, Reservoir Management, 405 Long Creek Road, Sunnyvale, TX 75182. But Dallas does not act alone. Under an Interlocal Agreement, any request to alter or construct on the lake or on surrounding City of Dallas property needs the concurrence of both Dallas Water Utilities and the local lake city — Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, Heath or Sunnyvale, depending on where your frontage sits.

Because Dallas owns the lakebed and a take-line strip, nearly every waterfront owner here is operating under a residential sublease rather than owning to the water. That is the frame for everything else. The application itself must carry three signatures — the applicant, the contractor, and the Lake City Representative — and must be approved by Dallas Water Utilities before construction starts. Three scaled drawings are required: a front view, a top view and a cross section.

Two provisions stand out from every other lake we work. First, each structure must be designed by a licensed Texas Professional Engineer, signed and sealed, in accordance with the local city Takeline Overlay, the Residential Sublease Agreement and the Interlocal Agreement. Second, the permit states plainly that the applicant will not perform their own construction — approved structures must be installed by a contractor approved by the local city representative. A homeowner cannot shortcut the design and cannot self-build.

One note on sourcing, because it matters when you are quoting a job. The permit directives read in full for this page are the City of Heath edition revised August 2008. Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall and Sunnyvale operate under the same Interlocal Agreement and the same Dallas Water Utilities directives, but each city keeps its own current forms, fee schedule and any additional local conditions — and current fees were not stated in the document reviewed. Shoretech confirms the live requirements with your specific lake city before anything is drawn.

Ray Hubbard's bottom is soft clay and silt with extensive mud flats. There is no rock to speak of, which changes everything about how a pile is set and how a wall is tied back. Shoreline erosion is not an abstract worry here — it is written into the permit rules as a recognized condition, which is why erosion control is required before a structure can be approved on a badly eroded reach.

The water moves more than a metro lake's reputation suggests. Normal pool is 435.5 feet msl, and the permit directives state the level varies several feet: it can run several feet below normal pool through the summer as water is drawn for supply and evaporation takes its toll, and more than a foot above normal pool in spring during flood release operations. Before the pre-construction inspection, property corners must be marked at the outside corners of the lot and at elevation 435.5 msl.

Dredging is a three-signature affair on this lake — approval from the local city, the City of Dallas and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — and the finished cut must leave a gently sloping bottom with no holes or sudden drop-offs.

On size, published figures disagree and we will not choose between them: 22,745 acres and 21,671 acres both circulate for this reservoir. Shoreline runs about 111 miles, and maximum depth is about 40 feet. The lake was impounded in 1969, on the East Fork of the Trinity River behind the two-mile Rockwall-Forney Dam, and spans Dallas, Rockwall, Collin and Kaufman counties.