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Boat Lift and Boat Dock
Legislation and Permitting
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Boat lift
and boat dock
regulations, permitting procedures and laws are as many
and diverse as the myriad of cities, counties, states
and countries whose citizens have bought Jet Dock. What
is permissible in one river might be restricted in another.
What requires registration in one lake may be irrelevant
in another. Along coastal areas, overlapping city, county,
state and federal jurisdictions can lead to even further
confusion. In all cases, Jet Dock Systems, Inc. requires
each and every customer to examine their local requirements
before we ship or deliver their Jet Dock system. Here
are a few general rules to consider.
Common sense applies: do not allow your Jet Dock boat lift to encroach your neighbor's property or extend too far into the waterway as to impede navigation. If using the Jet Dock floats to build a floating dock or walkway where none other existed before, check to make sure you are allowed to have a dock in that location, and what the dimensional restrictions might be.
For inland lakes and rivers, generally speaking, tying
up your Jet Dock boat lift to an existing legal dock
structure is permissible without significant restriction.
For large navigable lakes and coastal salt waters, further
restrictions can apply, however the greatest leeway
is given to applications in which you are tying-up the
Jet Dock boat lift system to your existing legal docking
structure. This makes sense -- the existing boat slip
or mooring area already anticipates having the hull
of a watercraft placed there. All you are doing is removing
the boat, connecting a Jet Dock environmentally
friendly drive-on docking system in place,
and bringing the boat back, this time safely dry-docked.
On the other hand, if you are creating a new dock or
boat slip where there was none before, you are most
likely to experience regulation and restriction.
In the US, some of the most environmentally-sensitive
waters reside in coastal Florida. In 2002 and again
in 2006, the boat lift industry and the regulatory and
environmental permitting agencies worked together to
create sweeping rules and regulation for floating boat
lift products. The Florida legislature passed 403.813
(2) Fla Stat. (PDF) defining "floating
vessel platorms" and allowing their use statewide
within pre-determined parameters. The law specifically
exempts drive-on docking systems from permitting --
even in environmentally sensitive waters -- so long
as they are within parameters dictated, and used in
connection with an existing docking structure or legal
mooring area that already anticipates the presence of
a watercraft. The law specifically excludes from the
exemption a floating dock or walkway structure that
creates a new slip -- these activities still require
thorough permitting procedures. Thus, the new law accommodates
the citizen's and environment's benefit to having boats
stored in a dry-docked manner, while continuing to follow
the general rule that new docks in coastal waters require
full permitting processes. The laws of the State of
Florida stand as a template for intelligent management
of boat docking and the environment.
No matter where you are, your Jet Dock boat lift or
boat dock system can bring years of use and enjoyment
-- the Lifetime Warranty
guarantees it. Take the time up front to determine the
legal parameters at your water site for boating and
docking activities, and then count on us to provide
any and all information needed about our products to
make for a compliant use at your location. Due to its
benign, non-obtrusive and portable nature, your Jet
Dock should be the most likely docking system to be
approved!
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