County seeks to rein in liveaboards

New Florida Keys mooring fields may be needed to solve a maritime problem with problem liveaboards, Monroe County commissioners say.

Some concerns about inconsiderate boaters literally lie in the county’s back yard — in a small community park behind the Murray E. Nelson Government and Cultural Center at mile marker 102 on Key Largo.

Liveaboard boaters anchored in the bayside Tarpon Basin there have taken to using a small dock area that came with the government center property formerly occupied by a waterfront restaurant.

“Things are getting a little bit out of control,” Assistant County Administrator Kevin Wilson told commissioners Aug. 16. “People have become so emboldened that they just drop their trash in the [government center] parking lot.”

Beer cans have been found scattered around the no-alcohol park, along with evidence of illegally discarded motor oil along the shore of a protected water body.

“People use the picnic tables to repair their engines,” said County Commissioner Sylvia Murphy, whose office is in the Nelson building.

Dinghies improperly tied to wooden dock railings have caused repeated damage, Murphy said. “It’s like they don’t know how to use cleats,” she said. County maintenance staff is “constantly having to bring in wood to do repairs.”

The county once shrugged at a handful of vehicles owned by liveaboards using parking spaces at the Nelson center. “Now a lot of cars are kind of parked there permanently,” Wilson said.

Many well-behaved boaters once defended by commissioners have moved on from Tarpon Basin and been replaced by a different sort, Murphy said. “The good ones are gone,” she said.

“People on our staff are not comfortable about going out to eat their lunch in the park,” Wilson said.

Wilson recently counted 25 boats, mostly used as liveaboards, anchored in Tarpon Basin. “In the summertime, we usually had eight or nine boats there,” he said.

County Mayor George Neugent voiced his long-held support for creating managed mooring fields in the Keys. County officials have been considering options but identifying a suitable water body with a nearby land based has proven difficult.

County Marine Resources Administrator Rich Jones said state law has strict limits on regulating liveaboard boaters who are not anchored in established mooring fields.

While local jurisdictions have some authority over liveaboard vessels, Jones noted that Florida’s current definition of “live-aboard” does not apply to many boats. State law rule essentially defines live-aboard vessel as being incapable of navigation and registered as a residence, he said.

“What you and I look at and think of as a liveaboard likely is not defined as a liveaboard under the state statute,” Jones said. “Basically, I don’t know if we have a liveaboard vessel in entire Keys. The definition got changed to make it so stringent that very few vessels are going to meet that test.”

County staff said they planned to return with recommendations, which could include seeking new anchorages in areas like Boca Chica Basin in the Lower Keys.

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 8:31 AM with the headline "County seeks to rein in liveaboards."