Santa Rosa County approves docking time limits for county-owned boating facilities

Santa Rosa County is cracking down on boaters who tie their vessels to a county dock for extended periods of time, beyond the purpose of loading and unloading.

The board of county commissioners voted 4-1 on Aug. 8 in favor of an emergency ordinance to create docking times for docks at county-owned boating facilities. No specific timeframe was announced, but County Administrator Brad Baker is authorized to set time limits as deemed appropriate at specific docks.

James Calkins was the only commissioner who voted against it. The ordinance was brought forth by Commissioner Kerry Smith, an avid boater, at the Aug. 5 committee meeting. A picture of a boat tied to the dock at Marquis Basin Boat Ramp was used as an example of why the ordinance was needed. The boat had reportedly been parked at the dock for several days, although Calkins argued that he’d been to the dock personally in the days leading up to the meeting and hadn’t seen a boat docked there.

“Since they brought it up (the ordinance), I decided to go there every single day to check on it,” Calkins said, noting there was a “Karen” in that neighborhood who likes to complain and likely brought this issue to the forefront. “And every single day that I went out there, there was no boat staying on the dock.”

Smith said the ordinance is not only for the Marquis Basin Boat Ramp and instead would be for all county-owned ramps. He argued that he wants the boat ramps to be accessible to the public, not blocked by boats that are staying for hours or days at a time.

“Sometimes you’ll have a bad actor that ruins it for everybody. I don’t want to see that happen. I think we need to be against these kind of regulations. I think we need to be for freedom,” Calkins said. “If there’s a serious problem, and it’s consistent and there’s enough evidence to back it up, and it’s really affecting people’s fun and good times out there, then there could be a potential to change something. But in this case, I absolutely do not think we need another ordinance or regulation, anything like that. I think it’s fine the way it is, and I don’t want to see our county become like all these other places where they have rules for everything, no freedom.”

Smith said the ordinance protects other boaters to ensure they can use the county facilities as intended.

“Santa Rosa County is unique in this,” Smith said. “Any other county you go to, you’re going to see a time limit when you’re tied to a dock. The dock is made for convenience on loading the boats, so really it’s nothing more than that.”

Smith noted that the county just opened the dock at Bagdad Mill Site Park, a million-dollar project. Smith said that site has approximately a dozen boat ramps, and he asked what would happen if twelve boaters tied up all the ramps by parking boats there.

“It is county property, and it is for all of us to use,” Smith said. “… I’ve been by one dock, this one in particular, at Marquis Basin. I go by there every evening, and the guys there… It’s not trying to be intrusive. It’s trying to give everybody in the county more freedom to use the facilities that are there for them, not just for one individual to use and monopolize.”

Commissioner Colten Wright likened the ordinance to the ordinance that prohibits camping in county-owned parks.

“We’re not allowed to have homeless people or anybody else camping at our parks,” Wright said. “This is no different. It’s a regulation that would basically just keep people from being able to camp out and monopolize a dock. It’s a public amenity.”

On Aug. 8, before the vote, there was again some discussion between Smith and Calkins, who objected rather than let the vote be unanimous. Smith questioned whether Calkins was actually going out there every day to see if a boat was parked at the Marquis Basin dock.