The South Shore News & Tribune
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Boaters Using Alafia As Anchorage
Tribune photo by ROBERT BURKE
A number of boats are anchored in the Alafia River off Williams Park boat ramp and U.S. 41. A sheriff's office official says the waterway is public property and the practice is considered legal.
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Published: May 14, 2008
RIVERVIEW - A sign in the parking lot at Williams Park seems pretty clear: "No loitering."
But it's one rule by land, another by sea.
Or, in this case, the waters of the Alafia River, where some boat owners have hit on a way to avoid marina fees by dropping anchor and effectively parking their vessels for days or even weeks.
It started a few months ago with one or two boats sitting in the water near the park's public boat ramp overnight or for days, said Chris Smith, a spokeswoman for Mosaic Fertilizer, which owns land near the park and operates a private industrial port at its phosphate processing plant next door.
Lately, Smith has seen as many as 10 or 11 vessels at a time clustered just off the shoreline on the north side of the public docks.
"It's free docking is what it is," Smith said.
She said Mosaic officials put notes on the vessels asking owners to move them. Most did not respond.
"There is a definite safety factor ... because of all the boat traffic at Williams Park," Smith said. "We're trying to figure out, from a safety standpoint, what to do."
Smith said the anchored vessels pose a threat to incoming boaters at night or at times when weather conditions hamper visibility.
Records show the park is owned by the Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, with oversight by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The land has been leased to Hillsborough County for recreational use since 1971.
John Brill, spokesman for Hillsborough's Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department, which manages Williams Park, said county employees have reported evidence of people living in boats offshore and using the restroom facilities. They also have had to dispose of damaged boats that washed up on park land.
Park managers can enforce a ban on loitering if someone leaves a motor vehicle in the parking lot for days, Brill said.
"You couldn't take a camper out there and set up shop," Brill said. "There's an ordinance against that."
But that's not the case for boats in the water.
"It's a navigable waterway," Brill said, noting that the state recognizes such water bodies as belonging to the public.
In Hillsborough County, the Tampa Port Authority has jurisdiction over most submerged land, but a spokesman there referred inquiries to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Lt. Jessica Crandell, assistant chief of waterway management for the Coast Guard, said general "rules of the road" that apply to boaters suggest that vessels should not be tied up in navigational waters for more than 24 hours for safety reasons and as a courtesy to fellow nautical buffs.
The Coast Guard enforces those rules in federal channels and sometimes other waters when recreational boats interfere with shipping or pose a safety hazard, she said. The Coast Guard has not received any complaints about Williams Park, she said.
Typically, in a location such as Williams Park, the Coast Guard would defer to local law enforcement, Crandell said.
Debbie Carter, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, said the sheriff has a marine unit that patrols the area. But she said the sheriff has received no complaints about the anchored boats, and the practice is considered legal.
"If they owners have a current registration, if at night they have lights, and if they have the proper sanitation ... it's all legal," Carter said. "There's nothing you can do about it."
She acknowledged that people generally would not be allowed to park their cars in a parking lot indefinitely, but she said the river is different.
"The river is not really owned by anybody," she said. "It's all public property."
Crandell said the Coast Guard routinely deals with fishermen dropping anchor in places where docking is off-limits, usually for security reasons. But she said Tampa Bay has not been a hot spot for people living on boats in public waters or mooring vessels in navigational waterways.
Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.
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