This is about a meeting taking place this Wednesday in San Joaquin County, the time and place are at the end of the message. But, it seems to me to be a larger issue, that of taking away the rights of boaters overall. The regulation I mention below has already been passed in Contra Costa Co., and I have been told, in Sacramento and Alameda Counties.
An FYI to all boaters who boat the Delta. You may be unaware that some time ago, Contra Costa passed a boating ordinance that stated, among other things, that:
410-8.002 General restriction.
Except as otherwise permitted by this chapter, no vessel shall be moored, anchored, grounded, placed or otherwise located in any waterway for a period exceeding ninety-six hours. (Ord. 2005-02 В§ 12).
The CC boating regulation is on line at the CC county web site. I was unaware of this government imposition on the rights of responsible boaters to use what is usually referred to as public waterways. Now, San Joaquin County is proposing to adopt a similar ordinance, one that will limit vessels from anchoring in San Joaquin County waters for longer than 96 hours, unless that vessel is a houseboat, in which case, if it has an approved sanitation device, will be allowed to anchor for a limit of 30 days. The regulation is very difficult to decipher and what it states may be incorrect as it may just be sloppy writing. But, does this mean that all of us who boat at Mandeville Tip area (which is in San Joaquin County) for the 4th of July could be breaking the law if we stay longer than 4 days?
The draft ordinance also talks at great length about sanitation devices and requires vessels and housboat/floating homes to have such a device, but the wording is very unclear and separates houseboat/floating homes from other vessels. I believe the intent of these ordinances is to stop "squatters" from defiling our waterways. I think the goal is a good one, but the action being taken by all of these counties punishes responsible boaters along with those who are not responsible.
Current law allows law enforcement to board a boat if the officer believes that the boat is not equipped with a proper marine sanitation device, so there is already a law to stop the illegal dumping of sewage. Officers do not do this now, so I'm not sure how putting in a stricter law will assure that they do this after the law changes.
The SJ County ordinance also states that "Within visual distance of any law enforcement vessel with activated blue lights and or siren in accordance with H&N code 652.5" a boat must slow down to 5 miles per hour, this goes above and beyond what the H&N code requires, so that if you were on the Deep Water Channel at a point where you could see a long distance away, you would be required to slow your boat down to 5 miles per hour because you could see a law enforcement boat underway with activated lights, even if you were literally a mile or two away. This is overkill to the maximum.
The proposed SJ law states that a houseboat/liveaboard must have one of three choices for a marine sanitation device: an operable CG certified device, a self-contained portable reception system (which someone from DBW told me could actually amount to a bucket!), or a legal connection to a sewer or it cannot be docked at a marina or anchored on the water. So, if you had a floating clubhouse your club used, and everyone used their boats when they needed to use the head, you would be illegally docking your floating clubhouse.
I absolutely believe that every boater should have the proper marine sanitation device on their boat and that NO ONE should dump raw sewage or sewage that is not properly treated as per the law. But, this regulation goes beyond what is reasonable, as does the already passed Contra Costa regulation. This proposed regulation requires that if such a boat is docked or anchored it must show proof of sewage disposal (such as a receipt from a marina), no matter that many systems legally discharge sewage and there would be no need of such proof. I can only assume that the people who wrote this regulation are unaware of the types of legal sewage disposal systems used in boats.
This regulation is poorly written by people who do not understand how responsible people use their boat. It is intended to punish all of the responsible boaters along with the few who act irresponsibly and illegally. I've tried for two days to talk to someone in the SJ County Boating Unit and no one would respond to me. I'm now also trying to get someone from Contra Costa to call me back and have had no luck so far. This is simply irresponsible government.
I urge you to show up for the Wednesday meeting at the SJ County Sheriff's Department, Multipurpose Room, at 6:30 p.m. The building is located in French Camp on Canlis Blvd., near San Joaquin General Hospital off of I-5, south of Stockton. Or, if you cannot attend, at least call the SJ County Sheriff Office Public Information Officer to obtain a copy of the proposed regulations so that you can review then and respond in writing. Please pass this on to whomever you think might be interested. Thanks,
An interested boater,
Connie Cassinetto
An FYI to all boaters who boat the Delta. You may be unaware that some time ago, Contra Costa passed a boating ordinance that stated, among other things, that:
410-8.002 General restriction.
Except as otherwise permitted by this chapter, no vessel shall be moored, anchored, grounded, placed or otherwise located in any waterway for a period exceeding ninety-six hours. (Ord. 2005-02 В§ 12).
The CC boating regulation is on line at the CC county web site. I was unaware of this government imposition on the rights of responsible boaters to use what is usually referred to as public waterways. Now, San Joaquin County is proposing to adopt a similar ordinance, one that will limit vessels from anchoring in San Joaquin County waters for longer than 96 hours, unless that vessel is a houseboat, in which case, if it has an approved sanitation device, will be allowed to anchor for a limit of 30 days. The regulation is very difficult to decipher and what it states may be incorrect as it may just be sloppy writing. But, does this mean that all of us who boat at Mandeville Tip area (which is in San Joaquin County) for the 4th of July could be breaking the law if we stay longer than 4 days?
The draft ordinance also talks at great length about sanitation devices and requires vessels and housboat/floating homes to have such a device, but the wording is very unclear and separates houseboat/floating homes from other vessels. I believe the intent of these ordinances is to stop "squatters" from defiling our waterways. I think the goal is a good one, but the action being taken by all of these counties punishes responsible boaters along with those who are not responsible.
Current law allows law enforcement to board a boat if the officer believes that the boat is not equipped with a proper marine sanitation device, so there is already a law to stop the illegal dumping of sewage. Officers do not do this now, so I'm not sure how putting in a stricter law will assure that they do this after the law changes.
The SJ County ordinance also states that "Within visual distance of any law enforcement vessel with activated blue lights and or siren in accordance with H&N code 652.5" a boat must slow down to 5 miles per hour, this goes above and beyond what the H&N code requires, so that if you were on the Deep Water Channel at a point where you could see a long distance away, you would be required to slow your boat down to 5 miles per hour because you could see a law enforcement boat underway with activated lights, even if you were literally a mile or two away. This is overkill to the maximum.
The proposed SJ law states that a houseboat/liveaboard must have one of three choices for a marine sanitation device: an operable CG certified device, a self-contained portable reception system (which someone from DBW told me could actually amount to a bucket!), or a legal connection to a sewer or it cannot be docked at a marina or anchored on the water. So, if you had a floating clubhouse your club used, and everyone used their boats when they needed to use the head, you would be illegally docking your floating clubhouse.
I absolutely believe that every boater should have the proper marine sanitation device on their boat and that NO ONE should dump raw sewage or sewage that is not properly treated as per the law. But, this regulation goes beyond what is reasonable, as does the already passed Contra Costa regulation. This proposed regulation requires that if such a boat is docked or anchored it must show proof of sewage disposal (such as a receipt from a marina), no matter that many systems legally discharge sewage and there would be no need of such proof. I can only assume that the people who wrote this regulation are unaware of the types of legal sewage disposal systems used in boats.
This regulation is poorly written by people who do not understand how responsible people use their boat. It is intended to punish all of the responsible boaters along with the few who act irresponsibly and illegally. I've tried for two days to talk to someone in the SJ County Boating Unit and no one would respond to me. I'm now also trying to get someone from Contra Costa to call me back and have had no luck so far. This is simply irresponsible government.
I urge you to show up for the Wednesday meeting at the SJ County Sheriff's Department, Multipurpose Room, at 6:30 p.m. The building is located in French Camp on Canlis Blvd., near San Joaquin General Hospital off of I-5, south of Stockton. Or, if you cannot attend, at least call the SJ County Sheriff Office Public Information Officer to obtain a copy of the proposed regulations so that you can review then and respond in writing. Please pass this on to whomever you think might be interested. Thanks,
An interested boater,
Connie Cassinetto