HomeMy WebLinkAboutPrivate Docks - Public Rights'~ro~u-~aE 4, ISSUE 6 · MOVEMBER/DECEI
Private
Fighting
~erhaps in an effon to kaptare the feeling that ~is
Oils Reading song inspire;)" more and more people are
buying waterfront prope~ along ou~ nation's coast,
and docks. In the
gets on the
in dock
In what could be a
a U.S. district court
of standards
in the state's
of
The court's decision has "made the prior 10 years
and all the eftbrts we've undertaken in this division in
an attempt to deal with docks worth it,' says Steven
Resler, supervisor of Consistency Review and Analysis
for the New York Coastal Management Program.
He adds, "We and the communities we've dealt
with are much more confident in developing these
types of standards because of this case. ~II~ere is no
other case that we are aware of that focuses on all the
issues touched on in the Stutchin case."
Causes for Concern
The isSUes touched on-by the judge in the Stutchin
vs. the Village of Lloyd Harbor case include the impact
docks may
Carolina,!
coastal
Carolin
"There is no Other case that we are aware of that focuses
on all the issues touched on in the Stutchin case."
Steven Resler, New York Coastal Management Program
Nov./DFC. 2001 (~)
Resource Manageinent, "are dock proliferation--how
many is too many--and closely tied to that is
cumulative impacts."
"This is the shoreline equivalent of urban sprawl,"
agrees Steve Bliven, a research fellow for the Hrban
Harbors Institute at the HniversiW of Massachusetts at
Boston. "A lot of people are wrestling with this issue.'
Stuart Stevens, administrator of the Georgia Coastal
~Management. Program, says, Probably the matn tss
with docks is that people [who own waterfront property]
believe they have a right to build a dock. They think it's
part of their property rights. This is not tree. They have
the right of access, but that doesn't give them the right to
build anything`"
This is the case, Stevens notes, because in most
coastal areas, the state or municipalities own tidal lands,
which are held in the public trust.
On the Court Docket
This property rights question is at the heart of the
New York lawsuit. According to the judge's summary,
the property owners contended that the Village of Lloyd
Harbor's refusal to approve their application for a dock
behind their waterfront home that was longer than the
municipality allows dampened "their legal and
constitutional rights to own and use their property
and its riparian rights." They argued that this
constituted a "taking of their property for public
use without just colnpensation."
The village's dock standards include limiting thei~
length to 75 feet, or to water depths of 2 feet, whichever
comes first. The property owners' permit request to build
a llS-foot dock behind their home to accommodate their
36-foot boat was approved by the coastal program and
the H.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but was denied by the
village. The Stutchins appealed, but filed the lawsuit
before the local zoning board made its decision.
Making the Rules
:: Resler note~:tha~ the village developed its dock
g~dards with the assistance of the New York Coastal
that the coastal
develo[ .which
program
Plq~ram and t
municipality,
"It's one of the carrots that we offer the local
governments," he says. After receiving state and federal
approval, municipalities "wouldn't be out there
attempting to defend their standards on their own. They
have the state and federal government as partners.' The
village's program was approved just a few months after
the Stutchins' state permit was requested.
Resler, who spent four days testifying in the Stutchin
hearing, says the strict dock standards are appropriate for
the village because of its communiW character and
natural resources. He describes the relatively
undeveloped, exclusive residential area on Long Island's
north shore as "unique" and "tranquil." The harbor has
no commercial uses and is a very "shallow, narrow water
body that is fringed by high value, intertidal wetlands.'
The area has been designated by the state as "significant
coastal fish and wildlife habitat," and only has about 45
residential docks.
"When the village decided to participate in the
program with us," Resler says, "we began by assessing the
character of the village, its development patterns,
property values, and natural resource values of everything
seaward of the mean high tide line.'
When addressing docks, the village and coastal
program took into account the possible interference with
navigation and public access, the effects docks may have
on sensitive natural resources and aesthetics, as well as
the issues created by increased boating traffic. "They
recognized that wakes and prop washes would cause
turbidity and erosion problems,' he says. When you
approve docks, "you're not just getting docks alone.
Many of the problems come from all the things
associated with them.'
Resler notes that the village also included public mist
language in its codes, ensuring that "anyone has the right
to traverse the shoreline in that village, to swim, canoe,
take shellfish, or just to stroll unencumbered by
unreasonable interference. ~
The
In his 68- e writes that the
~roperW, but merely had their
to a dinghy launched from
t both the
mre
the protection of the tights
· be."
was "a substantial rational
Nov./DEc. 2001
In South Carolina, 6,700 private docks have been permitted in the past 10 years.
"The decision summarizes the range of issues
that our department addresses when considering
whether a dock and its uses, location, size, and
configuration is appropriate in the area where it is
proposed," Resler says.
The Environmental Question
There is still great debate in the scientific
community about the effects docks have on coastal
ecosystems. Resler says that coastal managers may
be "focusing too much on quantifying to the nth
degree all the eft~cts of docks on the
nearshore environment."
NOAA recently awarded the New York coastal
program a competitive enhancement grant to assess
and attempt to, ~mulative and
secondary effects of, other similar
structures in area.
Whi to develop
better and managing these
effects ~ back to whether a
structure is rea... Science doesn't
tell you that. but you've got to
bring criteria into play." ~'
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