THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250408
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 65 lines
New Army Corps of Engineers regulations covering docks, moorings, boathouses and other private marine structures will go into effect next month on civilian property along North Carolina's navigable waters.
The revised construction rules are contained in proposed modifications to the regional permits that have been issued by the Corps of Engineers since 1978 to allow construction in coastal waters.
``Structures authorized . . . are piers, docks, boathouses, boat shelters, mooring piles, dolphins, jetties and breakwater structures,'' the new proposed new regulations say.
Clifford Winefordner, a chief regulator at the district headquarters of the Corps of Engineers in Wilmington, said Tuesday that the new rules should go into effect next month.
``We'd like to see them on the books at least by the middle of October,'' he said.
The Corps of Engineers set 4:15 p.m. Oct. 4 as the deadline for comments on the proposed permit changes. Winefordner may be reached by telephone at (901) 251-4631.
Some proposed rule changes may generate comment if not outright contention.
This is the formula governing how close a private dock or other structure can be built near a federal navigation channel less than 18 feet deep:
No pier, dock or other waterfront structure will extend closer to the near edge of a Shallow Draft Navigation Federal Channel than the sum of three times the project depth plus two feet over depth, plus 10 feet (Example: 3 times the 6-foot project depth plus 2-foot over depth equal 24 feet, plus 10-feet equal a 34-foot setback from the near edge of channel).
On the Intracoastal Waterway, the new rules do not allow any structure closer than 80 feet ``to the near bottom edge of the federally maintained, 12-foot deep, 90-feet wide channel of the Intracoastal Water except where an official Corps of Engineer approved `No Wake Zone' sign is present.''
The engineers are particularly fretful over the large number of illegal ``No Wake'' signs that have been privately installed along coastal waterways.
``These signs and buoys are authorized by the Corps of Engineers to enhance safety,'' Winefordner said.
Other rules in the new permit regulations include:
Wooden jetties will not extend farther than 100 feet waterward of mean high water.
General permits do not authorize installation of fueling facilities on authorized structures.
All wood will be pressure-treated except in areas protected from the weather.
Breakwaters will be no longer than 500 feet, with a minimum of one-inch openings between standard width sheathing boards and at least one five-foot wide opening for each 100 linear feet of structure.
The new rules conclude with a warning not to use any authorized dock or related waterfront facility for ``nonwater-related use.''
The rules specify that the width of a pier will not exceed six feet, ``except if a greater width is necessary for safer use.''
The dock rules continue: ``Any portion of a pier, fixed or floating, extending from the main structure and six feet or less in width is a ``T'' or ``L'' section or a finger pier. Any portion of a dock or pier greater than six-feet wide is a platform or deck.
``Adjoining platforms, decks, boat houses, boat shelters, docks and ``L'' and ``T'' sections will not have a cumulative maximum floor area larger than 400 square feet, except if a greater area is necessary for safer use . . .'' by CNB