Town Commission gives higher boat lift ordinance first approval

Longboat Key town commissioners unanimously voted in favor of a new ordinance raising the maximum allowable height of boat lifts and docks at its Feb. 3 meeting. 

The ordinance not only standardizes the measurement of dock and lift height but also raises the allowable height of both structures in response to residents’ experiences of losing or having boats damaged in Hurricane Helene. 

With the new ordinance, dock heights can not be higher than 5 feet above the mean high water line, and boat lift pilings can not be higher than 11 feet above the mean high water line, excluding lift mechanics like guides, motors and beams. 

In December 2024, the town commission urged staff to draft the ordinance along with the Planning and Zoning Board in an expedited manner. 

“The reason that we have undertaken this on an expedited basis is because people who lost their docks, people who lost their boats, people who lost both are interested and some of them are ready to go rebuild,” Mayor Ken Schneier said at the Feb. 3 meeting. “While they have their contractor in hand, they would like to get the ball rolling on this, so we’re trying to accommodate that.”

The Planning and Zoning Board workshopped the ordinance and then approved it on Jan. 17, which put it in front of the town commission. 

The expedited ordinance will go before the commission for a second hearing on Feb. 18 in a special meeting. If approved, that would be the final hearing for the ordinance. 

Chapter 158 of the town’s code states the highest walking surface of a dock should not exceed the top of a seawall cap. If a property does not have a seawall, the highest walking surface of the dock should be no higher than 5 feet above the mean high water line. 

For boat lifts, the current code states that lifts can not exceed 5 feet above the highest walking surface of the dock. If the property does not have a dock but is adjacent to a seawall, then the dock can not be higher than 5 feet above the seawall. 

Director of Planning, Zoning and Building Allen Parsons said the Planning and Zoning Board attempted to create a uniform measurement method and increase the allowable heights in this ordinance. 

The new ordinance standardizes the measurement method so all height maximums are measured from the mean high water line. 

In the proposed ordinance, the highest walking surface of a dock can not exceed 5 feet above the mean high water line, and the top of the boat lift can not exceed 11 feet above the mean high water line. 

According to Parsons, the mean high water line is a commonly accepted measurement that is a long-term average of the high water line in an area. Over time, that measurement may change and, if so, then the ordinance would adhere to new measurements. 

Town commissioners and Parsons clarified that this new ordinance gives homeowners about 1-3 feet of additional height to boat lifts. 

If a dock is built 5 feet above the mean high water line and a new lift is built 11 feet above, that would put the lift at about 6 feet above the walking surface of the dock. That’s about a one-foot difference compared to what’s currently allowed. 

Vice Mayor Mike Haycock, who is also an avid boater, added that most boaters would not have their boats raised to the top of the lift on an everyday basis. 

“We want to make sure the boat is up high enough to be higher than the high tides…but we don’t raise it all the way up to the top until hurricanes come in,” Haycock said. “I don’t think people will be raising these to the top.”

Haycock agreed with Schneier's sentiment that an expedited review of the ordinance was in the residents’ best interest. 

“I’m very much in favor of these changes and I’m really in favor of doing it now as we have so many docks that are damaged and need to be replaced,” Haycock said.

Some residents showed up to the Feb. 3 meeting to voice their opinions, including Kip and Cathy Becker, who said the town should remain cognizant of others’ enjoyment of waterfront views. 

Kip Becker also said he was wary of the commission moving forward with the ordinance’s exception of the lift motors and guides as part of the height maximum. 

Photo by Carter Weinhofer

“I’d like to caution you about putting mechanics in a waiver of height requirements,” Kip Becker said. “I’d like to see some sort of restrictions put on those mechanics.”

Other residents came to show support for the ordinance, including some from the island’s lowest-lying areas of Sleepy Lagoon and the Village. 

Resident Jim Haft’s boat was dislodged and damaged during Helene. He spoke in favor of the ordinance and said the waterfront views would not be impacted for many others except for the boat owners themselves. 

“I’m fully supportive of the ordinance as it’s been proposed,” Haft said. “You’re being asked to make a tradeoff, I guess, between protecting boats and the impact on views. And the incremental impact on views here is pretty negligible and, for the most part, it’s going to be limited to the property owner who’s got the boat.”

The commission voted 5-0 in favor of moving the ordinance to the Feb. 18 meeting. District 5 Commissioner Sarah Karon and Commission-At-Large BJ Bishop were absent.