RANGELEY – Residents here have approved a mooring ordinance that prohibits boaters from anchoring within 200 feet of private property without a landowner’s consent.
At a special town meeting last week, voters wondered if the town had authority to develop such an ordinance. But Code Enforcement Officer Bob Griscom assured them they could.
“No person may moor, anchor or otherwise affix or secure any boat or any other floating object within a mooring control area without explicit consent of the owner of the adjacent shorefront property,” the ordinance reads.
A mooring control area is defined as being within 200 feet of any privately owned property on any navigable water in the town.
There have been several incidents of people putting moorings in front of shorefront homes, Griscom told the crowd of more than 150 voters.
Selectman Jim Jannace was concerned that the ordinance would limit people’s ability to anchor for a few hours for a picnic on the water.
An unidentified shorefront homeowner said she had no objection to people fishing in front of her home for the day.
“I just don’t want to see them there the next morning or a week later,” she said.
The ordinance will be enforced by the Police Department, which must notify the owner of a boat or “floating object” that it will be removed and impounded within 24 hours of finding it in violation.
If the owner cannot be identified, the town will publish a notice in the local newspaper of the object’s removal.
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