Florida Senate - 2022                                     SB 840
       
       
        
       By Senator Albritton
       
       
       
       
       
       26-00971-22                                            2022840__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to residential property riparian
    3         rights; amending s. 253.141, F.S.; requiring land
    4         surveyors to give preference to using the
    5         prolongation-of-property-line method to establish a
    6         property owner’s riparian rights along a channel under
    7         certain circumstances; defining terms; providing
    8         applicability; requiring courts to award reasonable
    9         attorney fees and costs to a prevailing party in a
   10         civil action under certain circumstances; reenacting
   11         ss. 403.813(1)(s) and 403.9323(3), F.S., relating to
   12         permits issued at district centers and legislative
   13         intent in recognizing rights of riparian property
   14         ownership, respectively, to incorporate the amendment
   15         made to s. 253.141, F.S., in references thereto;
   16         providing an effective date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 253.141, Florida
   21  Statutes, is amended to read:
   22         253.141 Riparian rights defined; certain submerged bottoms
   23  subject to private ownership.—
   24         (1)(a) Riparian rights are those incident to land bordering
   25  upon navigable waters. They are rights of ingress, egress,
   26  boating, bathing, and fishing and such others as may be or have
   27  been defined by law. Such rights are not of a proprietary
   28  nature. They are rights inuring to the owner of the riparian
   29  land but are not owned by him or her. They are appurtenant to
   30  and are inseparable from the riparian land. The land to which
   31  the owner holds title must extend to the ordinary high watermark
   32  of the navigable water in order that riparian rights may attach.
   33  Conveyance of title to or lease of the riparian land entitles
   34  the grantee to the riparian rights running therewith whether or
   35  not mentioned in the deed or lease of the upland.
   36         (b)When establishing the boundaries of a residential
   37  property owner’s riparian rights along a channel, for purposes
   38  of the construction of docks, piers, marinas, moorings, pilings,
   39  and other private improvements, land surveyors must give
   40  preference to the prolongation-of-property-line method unless
   41  doing so would result in inequitable apportionment of riparian
   42  rights among property owners along the channel.
   43         1.As used in this paragraph, the term:
   44         a.“Channel” means the marked, buoyed, or artificially
   45  dredged channel, if any, or if none, means a space equal to 20
   46  percent of the average width of the river or stream at the point
   47  concerned which furnishes uninterruptedly, through its course,
   48  the deepest water at ordinary low water.
   49         b.“Prolongation-of-property-line method” means
   50  establishing the boundary of a property owner’s riparian rights
   51  by extending the owner’s property line out into the waterbody at
   52  the same angles at which they intersect the ordinary high
   53  watermark.
   54         2.This paragraph does not apply to littoral waters, such
   55  as a lake, an ocean, or a gulf.
   56         3.This paragraph applies only when establishing the
   57  boundaries of riparian rights after July 1, 2022.
   58         (c)In a civil action relating to the riparian rights of a
   59  residential dock owner, when such rights are exercised with all
   60  appropriate environmental and regulatory approvals and permits,
   61  in which the defendant is the prevailing party, the court shall
   62  award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the prevailing
   63  party.
   64         Section 2. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment
   65  made by this act to section 253.141, Florida Statutes, in a
   66  reference thereto, paragraph (s) of subsection (1) of section
   67  403.813, Florida Statutes, is reenacted to read:
   68         403.813 Permits issued at district centers; exceptions.—
   69         (1) A permit is not required under this chapter, chapter
   70  373, chapter 61-691, Laws of Florida, or chapter 25214 or
   71  chapter 25270, 1949, Laws of Florida, and a local government may
   72  not require a person claiming this exception to provide further
   73  department verification, for activities associated with the
   74  following types of projects; however, except as otherwise
   75  provided in this subsection, this subsection does not relieve an
   76  applicant from any requirement to obtain permission to use or
   77  occupy lands owned by the Board of Trustees of the Internal
   78  Improvement Trust Fund or a water management district in its
   79  governmental or proprietary capacity or from complying with
   80  applicable local pollution control programs authorized under
   81  this chapter or other requirements of county and municipal
   82  governments:
   83         (s) The construction, installation, operation, or
   84  maintenance of floating vessel platforms or floating boat lifts,
   85  provided that such structures:
   86         1. Float at all times in the water for the sole purpose of
   87  supporting a vessel so that the vessel is out of the water when
   88  not in use;
   89         2. Are wholly contained within a boat slip previously
   90  permitted under ss. 403.91-403.929, 1984 Supplement to the
   91  Florida Statutes 1983, as amended, or part IV of chapter 373, or
   92  do not exceed a combined total of 500 square feet, or 200 square
   93  feet in an Outstanding Florida Water, when associated with a
   94  dock that is exempt under this subsection or associated with a
   95  permitted dock with no defined boat slip or attached to a
   96  bulkhead on a parcel of land where there is no other docking
   97  structure;
   98         3. Are not used for any commercial purpose or for mooring
   99  vessels that remain in the water when not in use, and do not
  100  substantially impede the flow of water, create a navigational
  101  hazard, or unreasonably infringe upon the riparian rights of
  102  adjacent property owners, as defined in s. 253.141;
  103         4. Are constructed and used so as to minimize adverse
  104  impacts to submerged lands, wetlands, shellfish areas, aquatic
  105  plant and animal species, and other biological communities,
  106  including locating such structures in areas where seagrasses are
  107  least dense adjacent to the dock or bulkhead; and
  108         5. Are not constructed in areas specifically prohibited for
  109  boat mooring under conditions of a permit issued in accordance
  110  with ss. 403.91-403.929, 1984 Supplement to the Florida Statutes
  111  1983, as amended, or part IV of chapter 373, or other form of
  112  authorization issued by a local government.
  113  
  114  Structures that qualify for this exemption are relieved from any
  115  requirement to obtain permission to use or occupy lands owned by
  116  the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund
  117  and, with the exception of those structures attached to a
  118  bulkhead on a parcel of land where there is no docking
  119  structure, may not be subject to any more stringent permitting
  120  requirements, registration requirements, or other regulation by
  121  any local government. Local governments may require either
  122  permitting or one-time registration of floating vessel platforms
  123  to be attached to a bulkhead on a parcel of land where there is
  124  no other docking structure as necessary to ensure compliance
  125  with local ordinances, codes, or regulations. Local governments
  126  may require either permitting or one-time registration of all
  127  other floating vessel platforms as necessary to ensure
  128  compliance with the exemption criteria in this section; to
  129  ensure compliance with local ordinances, codes, or regulations
  130  relating to building or zoning, which are no more stringent than
  131  the exemption criteria in this section or address subjects other
  132  than subjects addressed by the exemption criteria in this
  133  section; and to ensure proper installation, maintenance, and
  134  precautionary or evacuation action following a tropical storm or
  135  hurricane watch of a floating vessel platform or floating boat
  136  lift that is proposed to be attached to a bulkhead or parcel of
  137  land where there is no other docking structure. The exemption
  138  provided in this paragraph shall be in addition to the exemption
  139  provided in paragraph (b). The department shall adopt a general
  140  permit by rule for the construction, installation, operation, or
  141  maintenance of those floating vessel platforms or floating boat
  142  lifts that do not qualify for the exemption provided in this
  143  paragraph but do not cause significant adverse impacts to occur
  144  individually or cumulatively. The issuance of such general
  145  permit shall also constitute permission to use or occupy lands
  146  owned by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust
  147  Fund. Local governments may not impose a more stringent
  148  regulation, permitting requirement, registration requirement, or
  149  other regulation covered by such general permit. Local
  150  governments may require either permitting or one-time
  151  registration of floating vessel platforms as necessary to ensure
  152  compliance with the general permit in this section; to ensure
  153  compliance with local ordinances, codes, or regulations relating
  154  to building or zoning that are no more stringent than the
  155  general permit in this section; and to ensure proper
  156  installation and maintenance of a floating vessel platform or
  157  floating boat lift that is proposed to be attached to a bulkhead
  158  or parcel of land where there is no other docking structure.
  159         Section 3. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment
  160  made by this act to section 253.141, Florida Statutes, in a
  161  reference thereto, subsection (3) of section 403.9323, Florida
  162  Statutes, is reenacted to read:
  163         403.9323 Legislative intent.—
  164         (3) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide
  165  waterfront property owners their riparian right of view, and
  166  other rights of riparian property ownership as recognized by s.
  167  253.141 and any other provision of law, by allowing mangrove
  168  trimming in riparian mangrove fringes without prior government
  169  approval when the trimming activities will not result in the
  170  removal, defoliation, or destruction of the mangroves.
  171         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.