Statewide Liveaboard Ban Proposed

Boat/US Magazine, Sept, 2000

Citizens in Washington state who live on board boats were blindsided by the state's attempt to ban them from all state-owned aquatic lands. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently interpreted the state's Aquatic Lands Management Act of 1984, which prohibits expansion and new development of non-water-dependent uses on state-owned aquatic land, to mean that residential use (living aboard) is not a water-dependent use. The DNR controls over 2 million acres of aquatic land, including virtually all bottom land underneath the state's marinas. Therefore, as marinas attempt to renew their leases with the state, they will be required to include a no-liveaboards clause in order to retain their leases.

In response to this "radical" interpretation of the law, many Washington boaters got together to form the Liveaboard Association of Puget Sound. Their mission is to challenge the DNR's position so that thousands of potential evictees are allowed to remain aboard. In fact, the association has recently filed suit asking the King County Superior Court to prevent the DNR from evicting those who call their boats home.

Specifically, the suit asks that the DNR be prohibited from enforcing the evictions until the statutory rule-making procedures are followed. There was no public hearing held, and those boaters affected had no way of knowing what the DNR planned to do, nor did they have the opportunity to comment. Richard Stephens, attorney for the liveaboard association, claims that if the current suit does not prevent the evictions, he will seek an injunction.

However, the evictions have already begun in Lake Union where last spring, liveaboards in three separate marinas received eviction notices which, according to the marina owners, were dictated by the DNR.