Watch CBS News

Boat Owners, Home Owners Clash Over Anchored Liveaboards

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - Fred Karlton told a House committee Thursday he has lined up a row of sailboats to separate his backyard from boaters who anchor for weeks at a time just feet from his waterfront Miami Beach property.

But while Karlton supports the state giving South Florida governments some authority to enact new anchoring rules, Brian Davidson, an attorney from Panama City who lives on a 46-foot sailboat with his wife, two children and a cat, said the state should give law enforcement more resources to address issues involving anchored boaters.

"If we're going to do a local bill, let's … make sure that there is a problem," said Davidson of the Seven Seas Cruising Association. "Because we're not hearing there is a statewide problem at all, except in Broward and the Miami Beach area. Let's make sure that those local bills serve a large enough swath so it doesn't make a navigation nightmare."

The House State Affairs Committee on Thursday started to discuss a potential measure by Rep. George Moraitis, of Fort Lauderdale, that would carve out an exemption for Broward and Miami-Dade counties from a 2009 state law that prohibits local governments from preventing liveaboards or "cruising boats" from anchoring in their waters.

Moraitis noted that Fort Lauderdale officials would like to prohibit boats from being anchored in the recreational portion of the Middle River.

"I think most people legitimately want to use these anchorages for a day or so and then move along," Moraitis said. "Our problem has been that people use this as Campground America, where they kind of literally park there for months."

Karlton said the "shantytown" atmosphere from the anchored boats often makes it uncomfortable at night for property owners.

"I had to go buy 30, 12-foot sailboats, at a tremendous cost, in order to protect my right to privacy," Karlton said. "I understand that the Florida waterways are deemed public, but I don't differentiate between the public swale, where there is protection for homeowners, and the waterway and canal areas."

Mark Gold, an attorney who lives along another stretch of water in Miami-Dade County, said liveaboard vessels are anchored each winter for three or four months at a time, many with Canadian flags. He said they dump waste, blare music at all hours and include people walking around nude.

"Three months a year I have a trailer park in my backyard, some are multimillion dollar yachts to Chinese junks," Gold told the committee. "I won't let my kids jump in the water because of feces and waste."

Moraitis' proposal --- still being drafted --- already has attracted concerns from the boating community, which believes such a measure could be used to address a statewide problem that doesn't exist, or worse, could once again allow every community to set up their own anchoring laws.

David Childs, a lobbyist for the National Marine Manufacturers Association, said the committee needs to be careful in quickly enacting a law for one area that simply ends up "squeezing" boaters to other areas.

Other boaters said lawmakers should hold off on creating any new anchoring laws until the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission completes an ongoing study --- due in 2017 --- on its pilot mooring field programs in St. Augustine, Martin County, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and the Florida Keys.

Kraig Conn, a lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities, outlined a list of proposals the group would like the committee to consider, including imposing anchoring distances from boat ramps and mooring fields, establishing nighttime anchoring distances from residential property and limiting the time in which a vessel could be anchored in one location.

Davidson, who said he understands the need to address the South Florida issue, joined others in saying that the state should enforce existing laws.

"We do not feel that closing down safe anchorages is reasonable," Davidson said. "If you build a nice new fancy subdivision, with great schools and great amenities, everybody is going to flock there. We see that in urban areas all the time, which creates traffic issues and all kinds of headaches."

Fort Lauderdale Marine Police Officer Quinton Waters told the committee the problem with existing laws about anchored liveaboards is "there is no power behind it."

Waters said the owner of an anchored boat found blocking navigation can be issued a $90 ticket, but doesn't have to move.

Waters noted that he unsuccessfully asked one boater anchored in Lake Sylvia for two years to move.

"I asked the gentlemen to move to the other side of the lake, just so he's not in one citizen's backyard," Waters said. "And he goes 'Officer I'd love to move, but if I move I won't have Wi-Fi, because (Hyatt Regency) Pier Sixty-Six, the hotel is in the southwest corner of Lake Sylvia.' "

The News Service of Florida's Jim Turner contributed to this report.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.