Owner charged with public nuisance count and required to pay for expense of work
For more than three years, a 26-foot, center-console boat was submerged and tethered to a dock in Hudson Bayou. On the morning of Monday, Dec. 1, officers with the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) Marine Patrol lifted the vessel and permanently removed it from the water, a news release says.
“SPD divers lodged inflatable lifting bags under the vessel to stabilize the boat before towing the vessel across Sarasota Bay to the boat ramp at Centennial Park,” the release explains. With the vessel finally on land, the City of Sarasota Public Works Department staff planned to crush it for disposal purposes, the release adds.
The removal of this derelict vessel — and others like it — is part of an effort to remove marine hazards, said SPD Officer Michael Skinner in the release. A grant from the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) “pays for the necessary equipment,” the release notes.
“It’s cost-effective and great training for us,” Skinner said. “We have the equipment to do it, and that way these vessels aren’t sitting for months,” Skinner pointed out. “We are one of a few agencies in the state of Florida that are able to do this.”
This boat had been at a private dock along Hudson Bayou, the release points out. It was in a state of neglect that was not a result of storm damage, the release adds. The manager of the affected property “reached out to SPD in October this year, asking for assistance in removing the derelict vessel after prior attempts to reach the owner were unsuccessful,” the release continues. The Sarasota Police Department notified the vessel’s owner, it says, but the owner never responded.
The vessel owner will be charged with a misdemeanor count of public nuisance and will be responsible for the cost of the removal, the release explains. After the total cost for the undertaking has been determined, the release says, “the owner will have 30 days to pay the total to the WCIND. If not paid,” the release adds, a title hold for a derelict vessel will be placed on the person’s driver’s license. “This prevents the title holder from registering any new vehicles or vessels” in his or her name until the balance is paid in full, the release points out.
“At the end of the day, people are responsible for their property, not the taxpayers,” Skinner said in the release. “The last thing we want to do is take someone’s boat, but if you’re not showing progress to remove it, there is a marine hazard that’s associated with these boats.”