A sunken boat disintegrated as it was pulled to the surface by crane in the Ortega River last week, turning a one day salvage job into a week-long one. Extra personnel had to be brought in to haul out it out the pieces by hand, resulting in several extra days work, funded by taxpayers.
The boat had been anchored in front of city-owned Stinson Park for several years with someone living on it. It had no navigational or sanitation equipment, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Coalition (FWC), who is responsible for law enforcement in the Ortega River. The owner was cited nine times in 2018 for lack of a marine sanitation device and title/registration violations, according to a public records request. FWC Officer Richard Gilmore eventually requested an arrest warrant for the owner, but it languished in the state attorney’s office.
The structure, a boat base with a homemade, two-story, wooden living quarters constructed on top, capsized during a wind storm July 2, 2019. Three weeks earlier, a houseboat had also sunk in the same area. Homeowners say the houseboat was towed in on June 7, 2019 and by daybreak was listing up to its port side gunnel. FWC was called to the scene but left to attempt to contact the owner. The boat sunk later that day, and both remained there for five months, partially submerged, until they were hauled out this week as part of a four-boat sweep by the city of Jacksonville. Two boats in the Trout River are also being removed and hauled to a landfill, according to Waterways Coordinator Jim Suber, who called them “sunk junk” in a recent Facebook post.
(photo: Lisa Grubba)
The homemade structure had been anchored in front of Stinson Park and several homes for approximately two years. Anchoring in state waters is legal in Florida, but homeowners complained to law enforcement about the lack of sanitation in an area with families fishing and kayaking. They also complained at times about a loud generator that ran around the clock, lack of lighting at night, and about the owner using Stinson Park for his personal dock and parking space. (Disclosure: the reporter is an area resident.)
Homeowners met with FWC officers in June to express their frustration with what they see as a lack of enforcement of Florida boating statutes. The officers cited numerous agency policies that make it difficult to issue citations, such as the requirement for a vessel owner to be present on the boat before FWC can cite them for lack of lighting. They also said there is a lengthy process for notifying vessel owners and allowing them time to correct problems before officers can declare a vessel derelict and begin the removal process.
Councilwoman Randy DeFoor, District 14, attended the meeting and later asked officials from the law enforcement division of FWC to clarify some of the stated policies. A publicly-noticed meeting was held in October at city hall with the officials, some members of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission, representatives of Parks and Recreation, the Dockmaster and local elected officials. In addition to DeFoor, Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, whose district covers the Trout River, and state House representatives Wyman Duggan (District 15) and Cord Byrd (District 11) attended.
FWC officials agreed more field training of its officers was needed and that the removal process is taking too long. They also urged the city to conduct its own investigations and remove vessels independently of FWC in the future. That would mean the city would fund removals rather than sharing the cost with FWC, but if deteriorating boats are towed before they sink, the cost is thousands of dollars less than having to contract a salvage company to use a crane and barge to remove them.
The concerns about lack of lighting, navigation hazards and sanitation issues in the Ortega River aren’t new: the Jacksonville Waterways Commission heard the same complaints back in 2001 from then-chairman Bronson Lamb, Jr., a local marina owner.
But in the last ten years, the boating lobby has pressured the Florida legislature to restrict local governments’ ability to regulate anchoring, citing the confusion for boaters keeping up with laws in differing jurisdictions. Since then, conflicts with anchored boaters, homeowners (many of whom are also boaters) and law enforcement have risen all over the state.
The city of Jacksonville is now working to tighten its oversight, at the behest of elected officials. The Waterways commission now has a subcommittee to address derelict vessels and floating structures chaired by commissioner Lindsey Brock.
Due to the extra days required to removed the disintegrated structure, it’s not known at this time what the tab for this week’s removals will be.
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