[YachtForum]

Big news for South Florida boaters, but the manatees are mad...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines

[airship]

"We are very excited," said Hebert, president of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. "We've been here 56 years, and we work on the boats. This development will allow us to keep those boats coming."

We've been here 56 years... One wonders how long the manatee have been there...?! I don't suppose it really matters though. Sooner or later we all disappear, just ask a dinosaur next time you see one...nuff said.

[YachtForum]

A follow up article was just published in the Sun-Sentinal...

For Broward boaters, dock space becomes more scarce and more expensive...

By Robert Nolin
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted March 23 2007

It's no secret there's a shortage of places to dock a boat in South Florida. It's also no secret how some boat owners are dealing with it: renting private docks from homeowners, sometimes in violation of local ordinances.

While unlawful in Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach and Pompano Beach, the renting of private docks relieves marina crowding and provides a monthly income for homeowners.

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City officials rarely enforce the ban, preferring to turn a blind eye unless there's a problem. The maritime community also prefers not to rock the boat, lest it antagonize city leaders.

However, the majority of Broward County's cities, and unincorporated Broward, allow dock rentals.

But lack of dock space -- and boat storage -- is a growing problem. Several marinas on valuable waterfront property are selling out to high-rise developers.

Others are adapting their facilities to handle the lucrative mega-yacht trade, outfitting and maintaining vessels 80 feet or longer.

A county plan to allow construction of almost 7,000 new docks in South Broward was shot down in January by the state, which feared the increase in boat traffic would increase manatee deaths.

Now, two members of the county's Marine Advisory Board have raised the issue of private docks before that panel, which advises the County Commission on marine issues. Board member Bernie Gartner, a longtime sailor, said if cities relax their bans on dock rentals, it could open up space for vessels between 35 and 70 feet.

"That will increase some of the dockage available for those mid-sized boats," Gartner said. "Any additional dockage will help."

About half of Broward's estimated 31,000 boat slips are behind single-family homes, marine industry officials say.

Sailboat owners especially have a hard time finding dockage because they usually require deeper water, drawbridges between dock and sea, and cannot simply be hauled in and out of the water.

"The dockage is disappearing," Gartner said. "We just don't have a place to put boats."

Some yacht brokers rent private docks for boats they are selling for owners, who are often out of town. Private dock rentals are about a quarter the cost of marina slip space, said Andrew Cilla, owner of Luke Brown & Associates yacht brokers in Fort Lauderdale.

Private dock owners can charge monthly rents of $350 to $450, Gartner said, or more if a dock is close to the Intracoastal Waterway. Gartner said he pays $250 a month to keep his 42-foot sailboat tied up at a friend's dock on the New River in Fort Lauderdale.

Another Marine Advisory Board member, Fort Lauderdale maritime lawyer Mark Ercolin, would like to see dock rental bans repealed for a different reason -- concerns about insurance.

"You can't get insurance for doing that because it's not allowed," Ercolin said of dock renting.

Insurance companies won't honor claims if a boat owner is hurt on the dock or if his boat damages the structure, he said. "People are renting their docks and it's a danger to the community and to the boat owner and the homeowner."

Gartner expects the issue will be discussed further by the Marine Advisory Board. But the most it can do is recommend the County Commission support lifting city bans on dock rentals. The commission cannot force cities to repeal their bans.

Frank Herhold, director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, said the marine community has agitated twice before, in the early and mid-'90s, to get cities to relax their bans on dock rentals. Both efforts failed.

"The issue of allowing dock rentals has been divisive and controversial in the past," Herhold said. "I for one prefer the status quo."

Dock rentals are commonplace and bother no one, he said.

"This is not a problem and it's not a priority," Herhold said.

Cities that permit dock rentals -- Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hollywood and Plantation among them -- report no problems. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle and John Rayson, who until Tuesday was mayor of Pompano Beach, said their cities enacted bans on dock rentals to protect neighbors from strangers walking through side yards, parking on swales or having noisy parties on boats. Both cities enforce their bans only when there's a complaint, and those are very rare, the mayors said.

Neither could recall a recent case in which a homeowner was issued a citation for renting a dock.

Naugle, who ties up his 36-foot Hatteras sport fisher behind his riverfront home, cites the need for dock space and is warm to the idea of lifting the ban. "I would be receptive to it, but I doubt a majority of my commission would," he said.

Rayson cautioned against efforts to relax dock rental bans. "It could have the opposite effect than what they're seeking. There could be a crackdown ... ," he said. "I just think they need to keep it under the radar."