Anchoring Ordinance May Be Introduced Monday

Boaters will get their next chance to weigh in on proposed bayfront anchoring regulations and mooring fields at Monday’s City Commission meeting.

Board members of the Bayfront Harbor Community Association hope that the anchoring ordinance fails; it would regulate where and how long a boat can drop anchor.

“We’re against outlawing free anchoring,” said Bayfront Harbor board president Ken DeLacy, after the association’s Tuesday meeting at .

The City Commission is expected to introduce the ordinance under new business at Monday’s meeting, said Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown.

The public will be able to speak on the agenda item, but it is not a public hearing. The commission would have to vote to introduce the ordinance before it can move to a public hearing.

There are two components to the mooring issue:

• The mooring field is established, and the city cannot show a profit from the field. It must break even or any additional revenue has to be used to sustain operations and maintenance.

• Regulations of where and how long someone can drop anchor in city waters outside of the mooring fields.

A mooring field is where permanent anchors tied to floating balls are placed, and sailors can tie a rope to the ball for a fee, like a floating parking garage. The city contracted  to manage the mooring field

One boater at the meeting said he was upset about regulating where he can drop anchor, because he can’t afford to dock.

“It’s the way I prefer to live,” he said.

Vice Mayor Terry Turner, who attended the meeting, pointed out that the current commission had nothing to do with the original motion for a mooring field and ordinance.

“There is nobody on the current commission that was involved when that contract was signed, and nobody on the current commission has that viewpoint toward the boaters,” he said.

But since there is a legal, binding contract with Marina Jack and the state, the current officials have to honor that, he said.

Regulating outside of mooring fields

Sarasota’s previous commission opted into a pilot program with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to establish a mooring field and create an ordinance to regulate anchoring outside of those fields.

Monroe County (Marathon/Key West), St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Stuart chose to participate in the program.

The state conservation commission also has say in what goes in the ordinance.

The state commission is telling other cities that if they create an ordinance, it must say a boat can anchor for 30 consecutive days in any 45-day period, said Tony Russo, the city’s project manager for the mooring issue.

If Sarasota goes through with the ordinance, it could dictate stiffer regulations or just say "you may boat in Sarasota," Russo said.

The intention of that limit is to eliminate derelict boats on the water, but board members at the meeting wanted to know how the law distinguishes between a derelict boat – which is stationary – and someone living on a boat, which also may be stationary.

“The provisions for derelict boats is almost identical to someone living on a boat,” Russo said. “It’s hard to distinguish the two from the black-and-white text.”

For the everyday sailor, that battle may end up in court and be costly for a boater to defend, he added.

A proposed setback of 150 feet from shoreline is expected to be included in the proposed ordinance, Russo added.

That was reduced in response from initial input, Brown said.

“We knew the 500-foot setback was too much, and we wanted to do something to give boaters the ability to anchor,” he said.

Bayfront board members are expected to meet with City Attorney Robert Fournier on Thursday to discuss the ordinance.

“I don’t feel that in any sense of imagination that there’s a pre-destination of this ordinance,” Russo said.

Regulating the mooring fields

Derelict boats can also be an issue inside of a mooring field, but because the city contracted with Marina Jack, the expectation in the contract is that the harbor master must keep a log of renting space for boats.

The management company also has to watch out for people “illegally parking.”

“Nothing will preclude human beings doing something we don’t want,” Russo said. “It’ll be more less likely because it’s managed.”

But not every boat can rent a ball, Russo said. Boaters must carry liability insurance on their boats to rent.

“I’m very personally impacted in this,” Russo said. “I do not carry the insurance on my boat that’s required to rent a ball.”

He added that his family won’t be sailing into Sarasota for their vacations or holidays now. 

The mooring will be done in phases, and the City Commission approved 35 mooring balls in August 2010. When those are filled up, the mooring field will be expanded, Russo said.

The pilot program is scheduled to end July 1, 2014, when all local ordinances enacted will expire and will be unenforceable, unless the Florida State Legislature reactivates the program.