SNOW HILL – The Worcester County Commissioners voted this week to update boat ramp regulations to address commercial use.
On Tuesday, the commissioners voted 4-2 to update boat ramp regulations to address commercial use. The new language will allow commercial use as long as it doesn’t interfere with recreational use.
“This does not impact at all recreational users,” Commissioner Chip Bertino said.
County officials have been considering changes to boat ramp regulations since the start of the year. While they initially considered creation of a commercial use permit, that was deemed too restrictive. Staff returned with language to update the existing code in June. The proposed changes would allow commercial use at the county’s ramps as long as it doesn’t interfere with recreational use. It would limit commercial users to one parking space and would require heavy equipment operators to be registered with the county.
When the bill was presented last month, officials opted to delay consideration as staff looked at what other jurisdictions had done. When it came back up for consideration this week, Commissioner Joe Mitrecic quickly made a motion to approve the new language with a minor change, increasing the parking permitted to those users from one parking space to two spaces. He pointed out that the boat ramps were already being used by commercial entities.
“We have a number of different commercial users throughout the county,” he said.
Commissioner Jim Bunting said the county had recently striped the Shell Mill ramp, where vehicles from out-of-state will eventually be charged parking fees, so that it featured 19 boat and trailer spaces, three car spaces and two handicap accessible spaces. He expressed frustration that in the wake of the striping he’d seen cars using the designated trailer spots.
Roscoe Leslie, the county attorney, pointed out that the new language being considered didn’t impact recreational users at all.
“There’s no restriction on parking for recreational users,” he said, adding that the county could add signage stipulating that the trailer spaces were not meant for cars.
Commissioner Caryn Abbott said the state required the county to allow commercial use at boat ramps. A 2008 letter from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources makes that clear.
“Since both commercial boats and recreational boats contribute to the Waterway Improvement Fund, the commercial watermen cannot be denied access to use these facilities,” the 2008 letter reads. “Worcester County can restrict the storage of gear and equipment at these facilities, however the launching facilities must be available to everyone.”
She asked if the county’s existing signage, which prohibits commercial use, would be removed following passage of the updated language. She added that she didn’t mind commercial users having access to two spaces.
“Hopefully people will be respectful,” she said.
Mitrecic said two spaces should be sufficient for any commercial user, whether it was a fishing guide or boat dealer. He said he thought there would always be a scarcity of parking at the ramps until the county started charging for parking.
“Once we do get parking fees across the board at all of them I think things are going to change,” he said. “People that have to pay for their friends to meet them at the boat ramp …they’re going to try to get it down to one car.”
Abbott asked if there was a way to keep businesses from designating a county ramp as their business location.
“I provided some examples for some jurisdictions that put that into their code,” Leslie said. “In theory you could write a citation for that.”
Leslie said that if the updates being considered Tuesday passed, the county would update its signs with the new rules. As far as enforcement, he said a county employee, someone from the recreation and parks department or someone from development review and permitting, could be trained on how to properly write citations for vehicles that weren’t properly parked.
Bunting reiterated his concerns about the now striped lot at Shell Mill. He asked if the county had to have enough car-sized spaces to accommodate the extra parking allowed by the updated regulations.
“The county can stripe however they want,” Leslie said.
Bertino said the spaces were first come first serve. He added that the county could stipulate that the larger spaces for boats and trailers were not meant to be used by cars.
“We can require that those parking spaces for boats and trailers are only for boats and trailers,” he said.
Leslie agreed.
“If that’s how the commissioners would like the boat ramp to run that’s how it can be run,” he said.
The commissioners voted 4-2, with Bunting and Bertino opposed, to approve the updated regulations allowing for commercial users to have two parking spaces. Commissioner Eric Fiori, who has recused himself from recent votes on the issue, was absent.