THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9509300312
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUNSET BEACH LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
If the state restricts individual mooring buoys, will local governments take on the responsibility of providing mooring fields for their residents who do not own waterfront property?
That is the question one member of the state Coastal Resources Commission wants answered before the panel votes on a proposal to restrict mooring buoy use to waterfront property owners and local governments that sponsor mooring buoy fields.
``Unless local government accept that responsibility, moorings will be limited to riparian owners,'' said commission member Courtney Hackney Friday at a commission meeting at Sea Trail Plantation in Sunset Beach.
Hackney asked the Division of Coastal Management staff to poll local governments within the coastal region before the next commission meeting, in November, to see if they would provide mooring fields for residents who own boats but don't own waterfront property.
The commission could vote on the new rules when it meets Nov. 16-17 in Kill Devil Hills.
The panel delayed the vote after members learned that copies of the latest version of the new mooring rules - including changes suggested by the U.S. Coast Guard - were not available.
Proponents of the rules have said they are needed because the proliferation of mooring buoys in recent years has been so great in some coastal communities that the buoys have become a navigation hazard. But opponents, including some of the state's commercial fishermen, say the proposed rules they could leave many fishermen without convenient anchorage.
And other members feared local governments would not go to the trouble or expense to provide mooring fields for their residents who own boats but don't own waterfront property.
The rules would require waterfront property owners to obtain general permits at a cost of $50 fee to install up to four moorings for their use in waterways in front of their homes. The rules would not keep boat owners from anchoring their boats in coastal waterways. The ruleswould prohibit boat owners from tying their boats to mooring buoys in state waters if they do not also own the adjacent waterfront property - unless they receive sponsorship from a local government. by CNB