People who live in and visit one city on the banks of Table Rock Lake say the water's right there, but they can’t get in.

Kimberling City claims there is not enough free, public access to the lake and too many restrictions on some of the access they do have.

Table Rock Lake provides 40,000 acres of free water, courtesy of Mother Nature.

But if you're in Kimberling City, getting in it is going to cost you, courtesy of the city.

“They used to be able to go in there for free.”

Those were the good old days, says Kimberling City alderwoman Betty Kowalewich.

Now, the only place where boaters have public access to the lake is a marina, and there's a fee to use it.

For decades the end of Bridgeview Street has been a solution.

The problem is because there's so little access to the lake, people go there.

They drop their boats in there, and leave their vehicles there, and that takes parking away from people who own the dock- who aren't supposed to be parking there anyway.

It is Army Corps of Engineers Property.

“Parking on Corps property strictly for community or private boat docks, we don't allow that,” explains Table Rock Lake Manager Greg Oller.

So the city wants to lease some land- maybe that land- from the Corps, to manage and build a boat ramp.

It's a solution that floats with lake day-users, but sinks with some long-time residents who live near the shoreline.

“I don't think I'd be for it. I retired 13 years ago, and I used this thing for 13 years and so has everybody else,” says Dick Collier, who lives in the Bridgeview area.

Many like Collier say they've parked on Corps property for years without trouble.

The city fears that will change, so they're making waves now, before it's too late.

The Corps of Engineers says in order for the city to lease land for access there has to be a need, and they are open to evaluating that.

There also has to be a parking lot.

That could pose a problem because Kimberling City forbids parking lots in residential areas.