FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 17, 2000

CONTACT: Rep. Jim Buck /(360) 786-7916

NEWS RELEASE: Lawmakers join dispute over move to evict live-aboards

A bipartisan coalition of 31 state legislators has joined the battle to block Public Lands Commissioner Jennifer Belcher from proceeding with her campaign to remove live-aboard boat owners from Lake Union and other Puget Sound-area marinas. A letter drafted by Rep. Jim Buck, co-chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and signed by 30 other Republican and Democrat lawmakers, asks that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) develop a new rule that would clarify state law regulating residential uses on state-owned aquatic lands.

As a legislator, Belcher sponsored the law which she is now using to pressure marinas to evict people living on vessels berthed over public aquatic lands. Her stance that people living over state aquatic lands have carved out a residential use on public property has been widely denounced by live-aboards and other boat owners statewide, as well as prompting lawsuits in King and Pierce counties.

Buck, R-Joyce, said the 1984 law should be clarified to eliminate contradictions and ambiguities.

"In the absence of some specificity in the law that defines and addresses live-aboard vessels, the move to kick these people out of their marinas is patently unfair and possibly illegal," he said.

Buck noted that the 30-page law does not prohibit live-aboards, nor does it define terms such as houseboat, barge, or floating homes. The law also makes no references to residential uses.

"Had the Legislature been contemplating prohibition of residential uses, the law would have been more direct and explicit. I see no evidence that the Legislature was thinking in terms of residential users on state-owned aquatic lands when it adopted the legislation," he said. "It is precisely because various interpretations of statutory intent are possible that it is important to develop formal policy for clarifying the appropriate use of state-owned aquatic lands."

"I know what the law meant. I know what the law intended," Belcher remarked in June, suggesting that moorage be allowed for recreational vessels only.

"That may be what she intended," responded Buck, "but that’s not what the law says."

Belcher is also on record saying she views live-aboards living over submerged aquatic land no differently than someone building a house at a state park.

Early this spring, live-aboards at Seattle’s Westlake Marina organized the Live-aboard Association of Puget Sound, and filed a lawsuit against the DNR May 18 to halt evictions at three Lake Union marinas. A similar suit was filed by the group Aug. 11 to fight proposed evictions at Johnny’s Dock in Tacoma.

Buck noted that displaced live-aboards also face the prospect of devastating financial losses if they are unable to find moorage for their boats, barges and houseboats at other ports or marinas. "Since there are virtually no excess moorage slips in the Seattle area — or anywhere else nearby for that matter — the owner of a floating home evicted from its slip faces the very real prospect of having to sell his or her investment for scrap value," wrote Buck. "The challenge is to define what a residential use is, and where and under what circumstances it should be allowed."

Because of the immediate and far-reaching impact of the issue (there are about 270 marinas on state land which allow live-aboards), Buck and the other 30 House members and senators who signed the letter called on Belcher and the Department of Natural Resources to immediately start a formal rule-making process to clarify the law and to repeal or amend existing rules accordingly.

"Formal processes exist for all affected parties to make their case," Buck said. "It’s imperative that Commissioner Belcher responds promptly before people are literally forced out of their homes. I hope our letter will convince her to undertake the process that allows legislative review and public forums to develop clear and consistent policy on the appropriate use of state-owned aquatic lands."