Allowing a select few to carve out their own special anchoring restrictions, and bypassing a pilot program designed to provide practical, uniform anchoring regulations statewide is a mistake, says BoatUS president Margaret Bonds Podlich in a letter sent to Florida Governor Rick Scott.
“BoatUS believes that creating special carve outs directly counters the years of effort that have gone into developing rational statewide anchoring regulations,” Podlich said in her letter to Scott.
“For many boat owners one of the joys of boating is to travel to new places, drop anchor, dock or pick up a mooring and then spend time and money exploring the local community,” she further added. “Prior to 2009, boats cruising Florida faced a hodge-podge of inconsistent local anchoring rules that made boaters feel very unwelcome in some of the state’s waters. We heard from many of our members who found communities whose ordinances banned or severely limited anchoring in their jurisdictions.”
The full text of the letter to Governor Scott can be found at BoatUS.com/gov.
