WINTHROP — Town officials are discussing details of draft rules for houseboats on Winthrop’s lakes and streams.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit houseboats from being tethered or moored overnight on the town’s water bodies. Preserving water quality and aquatic life, along with ensuring that houseboats don’t infringe on the rights and privacy of the shoreland property owners, are the primary motivations behind the ordinance.
A similar ordinance approved by Belgrade a few years ago has been serving as a road map.
“There was an environmental concern about the overnight discharge of waste on these houseboats,” said Town Council Chair Anthony Wess.
According to the draft of the ordinance, a houseboat is defined as “any watercraft that has a flat main deck with a beam of 7 feet or greater and has above its main deck a superstructure that contains a head and/or a galley and/or sleeping quarters designed or modified for temporary or permanent living.”
Personal watercraft that do not meet the defined standard of a houseboat will be allowed overnight mooring as long as they are within 200 feet of the shoreline or tethered to a dock with the owner’s permission.
“As luck would have it, I helped craft the Belgrade ordinance,” said Winthrop Town Manager Anthony Wilson, who served as Belgrade’s manager for nearly three years. “So now, it’s an easy list to take what we did in Belgrade, modify it slightly to suit Winthrop’s needs.”
Unlike in Belgrade, where the ordinance was devised following a call from a businessman looking to rent out houseboats as Airbnb spots, the Winthrop ordinance is more of a proactive step to ensure the safety of the town waters, said Wilson.
Another issue officials are trying to address is who will enforce the regulations. Wilson noted in a meeting that the town’s code enforcer is eligible to hold the mantle of a Harbormaster, according to state laws.
But previously, when a controversial mooring ordinance was announced, some residents disputed the legality of the town’s actions and questioned whether a municipal official could serve as a mooring officer charged with enforcing the rules. To avoid repeating the same episode, officials and the town attorney are looking at alternatives, Wilson said. They are also exploring to see if the person responsible for enforcement would need special harbormaster training.
“This is why we sent this draft back for legal review, to see if the code enforcement officer can enforce these regulations, but there were also questions raised if our police officers can do that. And I have asked the attorney to review that,” said Wilson.
Pending the final legal review, council members are expected to put up a public notice, host a public hearing and vote on the ordinance soon after.
“I would anticipate by the end of the summer,” Wilson said, “we might have a houseboat ordinance in effect.”
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