Community Guide to Creating a Managed Anchorage and Mooring Field

1

Community Guide to Creating a Managed Anchorage and Mooring Field

Conservation Clinic

University of Florida College of Law

Boating and Waterway Management Program

Florida Sea Grant

2

A well planned and executed Managed Anchorage and Mooring field (MAMF) can be beneficial to residents, boaters and the local government by encouraging tourism and providing for the efficient use of waterfront resources to enhance public access to the marine environment.

3

Overview

• 2 Step Process in creating a MAMF– Project Initiation

• Technical• Legal• Public (Educational)

– Project Development • Legal• Technical • Public (Legal)

4

Florida Sea Grant and Conservation Clinic Experience

The Conservation Clinic and Florida Sea Grant have worked with communities to address harbor management around Florida.

5

Existing & Proposed Florida MAMFs

• Fort Myers (****) 49 moorings

• Fort Myers Beach (2004) 70 moorings

• Key West (2004/5) 49 moorings, 24.3 acres

• Marathon Boot Key (2002) 64 moorings, 250 anchor

• Sarasota (pending 2005) 109 moorings, 110 acres

• Sarasota Sailing Squadron (pending 2005)• Stuart (2001) 69 moorings, 26.1 acres

• Vero Beach (1988) 57 moorings, 9 acres

6

MAMF Administration

Vero Beach – municipal

Fort Myers Beach – concessioned

Sarasota City Island – not for profit

7

Matanzas Pass, Fort Myers Beach

8

Vero Beach Municipal• Mooring Field offers long-term and transient moorings.• Anchoring limited outside mooring field by city ordinance (Length

of Stay Regulation).• Fees support facilities including fueling facility, pump-out facility

and restrooms.• Employees include harbormaster, assistant harbor master and

part time employees.• Harbormaster resides at the anchorage.• There is also an advisory board to the anchorage.• Establishes Enterprise Fund – money that it earns goes back to

support the anchorage and harbor.

9

Fort Myers Beach Concession

• 70 moorings• Fees depend on size and length of stay –

vary between $6.50 and $10.00 per day.• Facilities include dinghy docks,

restrooms, and garbage disposal.• Private Marina manages mooring field

under concession from city.

10

Sarasota City Island Not for Profit

• Sarasota Sailing Squadron seeking to formalize its historic anchorage

• Membership based

• Still in the permit process

11

Introductory Principles

• Two sets of introductory principles are useful to keep in mind throughout the process of creating a mooring field. – Principles of Anchoring– Principles of Harbor Management

• See Thomas Ankersen and Richard Hamann, Anchoring Away: Government Regulation and the Rights of Navigation in Florida, Sea Grant (August 1999).

12

Principles of Anchoring

1. Federal, state and local laws apply to anchored boats.

2. Boats must anchor so that they are not harming any other vessels, damaging property or injuring people, or preventing access to boats or property.

13

Principles of Anchoring

3. Boats should not anchor in sea grass or coral areas because of the damage that the anchors can do to these habitats.

4. Boats should be able to get underway within a reasonable amount of time.

5. Safety of the crew and boat is a primary concern.

14

Principles of Harbor Management

1. A harbor management plan should be developed.

2. The plan should be based on objective data obtained by inventories of natural and cultural resources.

3. The plan should be based on consensus.

15

Principles Harbor Management

4. A local board should be created that includes boaters in order to create the local harbor management plan.

5. The local board should appoint a harbormaster to implement the harbor management plan.

6. The harbor management plan should focus on providing adequate space via moorings or anchoring areas both for transient boaters and for safe shelter during storm events.

16

Principles Harbor Management

7. The harbor management plan should provide for a dinghy dock and on-shore facilities for boaters.

8. The harbor management plan should provide for signage in the harbor.

9. The board should inquire into funding mechanisms for harbor signs, moorings, improvements and amenities (dinghy dock, showers, laundry facilities, etc.).

17

Principles of Harbor Management

10.Try to get Special Anchorage Designation.

11.Create a dispute resolution mechanism.

12.Obtain the right to use the submerged lands.

18

Project Initiation: Develop Baseline

• First, a community should develop baseline technical and legal data.

• This first step will determine the legal and technical feasibility of going forward and should provide for public input.

19

Develop Baseline Technical Data• Preliminary technical review. Develop baseline

information for the public process. • Create maps of your harbor that:

– Locate current obstructions– Locate regulatory jurisdictions– Locate environmental restraints e.g., sea grasses, oyster beds– Locate access to channels, channel markers, – Show depths– Illustrate navigation constraints– Illustrate physical constraints e.g., bottom holding

characteristics

20

Example St. Johns River Water Management District Depth Data: St. Augustine Harbor

21

Boater Characteristics

• Boat traffic• Types of patrons:

transient versus local• Current use• Expected use• Seasonality• Assess boater needs

22

Consider Shoreline Resident Needs and Expectations

23

Potential Recreational Boater Needs and Wants

• Mooring Master (office)• Security measures• Hot showers and restrooms• Drinking water• Secure dinghy docks• Pump-out station (or boat)• Fueling• Groceries, ship stores• Boat yard for repairs• Laundry facilities• Trash pickup, recycling• Recreational opportunities• Shore-side transportation• Bicycle racks

Services and Amenities

24

Develop Baseline Technical Data

Harbor Maps that:• Show study area boundaries• Locate current obstructions (e.g., shoals)• Locate regulatory jurisdictions and zones• Locate environmental restraints e.g., sea grasses,

oyster beds• Show navigation and anchoring constraints• Localized damage (e.g., seagrass scarring)

25

Develop Baseline Legal Data

• Determine jurisdiction of bottom land– Political (local government authority)– Regulatory (DEP, USCG, ACOE etc.)

• Determine ownership of bottom land

• Include these determinations in the maps created in the baseline technical data

26

OWNERSHIP OF SUBMERGED LANDS AND

OVERLYING WATERS

• State of Florida owns the submerged lands– administered by Governor and Cabinet sitting as the

Board of Trustees of Internal Improvement Trust Fund.

• DEP serves as staff

• Overlying waters also subject to public trust– Administered by DEP

27

Permitting of Mooring Field

• DEP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - have permitting authority over submerged lands and overlying waters

• Aquatic Preserve designation presents an additional regulatory overlay

• U.S. Coast Guard – has authority over navigation safety and signage

• US FWS & Fl. FWCC have authority over protected species (e.g. Manatees)

28

Aquatic Preserves

• MAMF’s located within aquatic preserves will be subject to the Florida Aquatic Preserve Act and DEP Regulations. – This will impose separate criteria for obtaining a permit.– For approval of the project it must be found to be IN the public

interest.– Public Interest determination is based on a balancing of

factors as outlined in 18-20.004(2) of the Florida Administrative Code.

– Projects in more pristine and less developed aquatic preserves are subject to and even higher standard in the public interest analysis.

29

Aquatic Preserves and the Public InterestImportant Factors to Consider

• Benefits– Public access.– Improve & enhance public

health, safety,and welfare.– Improve public land

management.– Improve & enhance public

navigation.– Improve & enhance water

quality.

• Costs– Reduced or degraded

water quality.– Reduced or degraded

natural habitat and function.

– Harm to endangered species or their habitats.

– Adverse cumulative impacts.

30

Other Important Aquatic Preserve Considerations

• Activities in aquatic preserves with management plans must be consistent with the preserve management plan.

• Docking facilities (moorings included) are subject to additional criteria in 18-20.004(5) of the F.A.C.

• Revenue generating docking facilities are subject to additional criteria in 18-20.004(5)(d)of the F.A.C.

31

So What About MAMFs in Aquatic Preserves?

• Public recreation is allowable within aquatic preserves.

• Important Aquatic Preserve Goals– Protect waters through regulation of human activity,

so that the public may continue to use the waters for recreation including boating.

– Encouraging the protection, enhancement, or restoration of aquatic preserves.

32

The Lease is the Law

• The State regulates the MAMF through the Submerged Lands Lease (and the DEP Permit)• These are obtained through a joint application process• The Lease incorporates The DEP Permit, and all local government governance documents•These include

–The authorizing ordinance–The Harbor Management Plan

33

The Lease is the Law•Key lease & permit provisions encountered in MAMF’s surveyed

– Nearly all moorings must be made available to public on a first-come first- serve basis (90% Sarasota & FMB)

– Commercial activities generally prohibited– Use of revenue may be restricted– Manatee education plan must be put in effect

34

THE 2005 WORKING WATERFRONTS LEGISLATIONAND MAMFs

To address concerns over access to marine waters, and the decline in “working waterfronts” the legislature enacted Chapter 2005-955, Florida Statutes

Especially relevant aspects of the law: – Requires DEP to develop a general permit for mooring fields 50,000 sq. feet or less

– General permit is a simplified permit process

– 50,000 sq. ft. is a little less than 1 acre (43,560 sq.ft)

35

Mooring Radius

36

2005 WORKING WATERFRONTS LEGISLATION

The Legislature also requires coastal counties to include “regulatory incentives & criteria” that encourage preservation of recreational and commercial working waterfronts in their future land use element

The express purpose of this is to “provide access to navigable waters of the state for the public.”

Which is something a managed anchorage and mooring field will help to accomplish

37

Establish Parameters of Harbor Management Plan

– Use principles of harbor management– Determine whether mooring field will be

municipal, concession or non-profit– Solicit public input

38

Project Development

The successful establishment of a mooring field requires the completion of three concurrent processes once the baseline data is gathered.– Technical Process– Legal Process– Public Process

39

Technical Process of establishing a mooring field:

• Develop permit(s) application information– Navigational– Biological– Water quality– Hydrology

• This may require a coastal engineering consultant

40

Technical Process: Signs• Establish signage needs and permit

requirements. • Federal Permits

– Rivers and Harbors Act, Section 10, USACOE• State Permits

– “Uniform waterway markers” Fla. Stat. 327.40

• See Thomas Ankersen, Richard Hamann, Melissa Gross-Arnold, Regulatory Requirements for Private Aids to Navigation (Aug. 1998).

41

Legal Steps in establishing a managed mooring field and anchorage

1. Confirm the ownership of submerged lands.2. Confirm relevant political jurisdiction. 3. Review Local Government Comprehensive Plans to determine

whether a MAMF will be consistent with the plan.4. Initiate Drafting of Proposed Ordinance or Resolution

see Thomas Ankersen, Christopher H. Pearce, An Annotated Model Municipal Harbor Management Ordinance (Aug. 2001).

5. Select administration option. 1. Governmental - Municipal2. Concession - Draft agreement between local government and

concessionaire. 3. Not-For Profit Organization

42

Legal Steps in establishing a managed mooring field and anchorage

6. Obtain authorizations.1. Submerged lands lease2. Environmental Resource Permit - DEP3. Obstructions to Navigation – section 10 – Rivers and Harbor

Act (USACOE)4. Special Anchorage Area Designation – U.S. Coast Guard

7. Resource Agency Consultations1. Fish and Wildlife Service 2. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission3. Other

43

Legal: Apply to be a Special Anchorage Area

• Special anchorage areas are designated by the U.S. Coast Guard and provide certain navigational and regulatory benefits. – They become marked on nautical charts– They eliminate the need to display an

anchor light at night

44

Legal: Prepare Rules for Boaters that would be appended to use agreement

• Examples from Fort Myers Beach – Comply with U. S. Coast Guard regulations and safety

standards and Chapter 327 of the Florida Statutes– Be in good operational condition, capable of maneuvering

under its own power– Have current registration or acceptable documentation

otherwise– Have Liability Insurance coverage– Contain a U. S. Coast Guard approved marine sanitation

device, that complies with the U. S. Coast Guard requirements governing the installation and use of such devices upon that particular vessel

45

Legal: Prepare Harbormaster’s Operations and Management Handbook

46

Public Input

• Provide two or three different opportunities for public

input prior to establishing a MAMF. • The public should be provided the opportunity to sit

down with the planners with the maps and the Harbor Management Plan created in the baseline step and determine:– Any information that is missing from the maps such as other

environmental constraints or user conflicts– Location of amenities, e.g., dinghy dock, bathrooms, pump out

station etc.

47

Public: Potential Issues

• Length of stay• Live aboards

– You may want to encourage some live aboards in order to foster a sense of community and increase security (campground host)

• Fee structure– Tiered fees – graduated downward according to length of stay

• Relationship between harbormaster and boaters.

48

LENGTH OF STAY

• Many jurisdictions regulate length of stay on waters within their jurisdictions

• However, this is not required in order to have a MAMF

49

LIVE-ABOARDS (& length of stay within the

MAMF)•A MAMF may consider restricting & varying length of stay within the mooring field•The State generally discourage live-aboards but they are allowed in some instances (e.g. Ft. Myers Beach)•Pursuant to the FMB Lease a Live-Aboard is:

–“A vessel docked at the facility and inhabited by a person for any 5 consecutive days or a total of 10 within a 30 day period.”–If allowed, “live-aboard status cannot exceed 6 months within any 12 month period”

•There can be significant benefits to at least some live-boards

50

Fee Schedule Considerations

• Different Transient vs. Live-Aboard fees• Reduced rate for off-peak season• Monthly facility fee for amenities not included in

base rateEx.: Vero Beach fees support facilities including fueling facility, pump-out facility and restrooms.

• Reduced rate or tiered fees, graduated down for long-term stayEx: vary between $6.50 and $10.00 per day.

51

Amenity & Service Considerations

• Included Services– Are they covered in the basic fee structure?

• Services Provided at Additional Cost– Will boaters expect the service to be at an

additional cost?

• Consider a monthly flat fee

52

Regulating Activities Within the MAMF

• Reference local noise ordinance in MAMF Ordinance

• Reference Fla. Stat. Chapter 327 regarding vessel operational requirements in MAMF ordinance

• Prohibit other nuisance-like activities in MAMF Ordinance (VB)– Rowdy Conduct (VB, FM)– Hanging laundry (VB, FM, S)

53

Regulating Activities Within the MAMF

– Hours for Repairs, or Not Allow Repairs (VB, FM, S, M)• Consider Major or Refitting Vessels vs. Minor

– Limit For Sale Signage (FM, S)– No Advertising or Soliciting (FM, S)– Leashed pets only (VB, FM, S)– Operational Hours for Noise & Machinery (FM, S, M)– Prohibit grills on the dock (FM, S)– Fishing in designated areas, or not at all (S)– Swimming Prohibited (S, ??)– Feeding Wildlife Prohibited (S)

54

Other Important Considerations In Establishing a MAMF

1. Insurance Requirements Proof of Insurance (M, S, FMB)

2. Clear Dispute Resolution Processes

3. Schedule Inspections & Maintenance During Off-Peak Season (ie, September for VB)

55

Technical Considerations

Vessel Types & Sizes

Subsurface Conditions

Tidal Parameters

Wind Exposure & Fetch

Mooring Radius Overlap

COASTAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS INC.

56

MOORING SYSTEMS

Anchors

Down Lines

Buoys

Pendants

Hardware

COASTAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS INC.

COASTAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS INC. MOORING

COMPONENTS

Town of Ft. Myers Beach

City of Sarasota

58

Technical and Financial Resources

• Technical Assistance Team (FDEP)• Waterfronts Florida• Office of Boating and Waterways (FWC)• Florida Boating Improvements Trust Fund• Florida Inland Navigation District• Clean Vessel Act grant program (FDEP)• Florida Sea Grant (technical)

59

QUESTIONS???