Sec. 388.201. - Prohibitions; Exceptions.

(a) Except in case of emergency, a person may not anchor, moor, or ground, or allow to be anchored, moored, or aground, a floating structure on the waters of the county. (b) Except in case of emergency, a person may not anchor, moor, or ground, or allow to be anchored, moored, or aground, a floating structure on the waters of the county in a manner which unreasonably or unnecessarily constitutes a navigational hazard, hinders access to a public right-of-way or to public utilities, or creates an imminent danger to public safety or to the environment. (c) It is unlawful for any person who finds any lost or abandoned floating structure anchored, moored, or aground, on the waters of the county to appropriate the same to his or her own use or to refuse to deliver the same when required by law. Any person who unlawfully appropriates a lost or abandoned floating structure to his or her own use, or refuses to deliver such property when required, commits theft, as defined in F.S. § 812.014, punishable as provided by law. As used in this subsection, the terms, abandoned floating structure and lost floating structure , are defined in Section 388.206 (e), Ordinance Code. (d) Commercial or governmental floating structures that are designed for, and in use by, a licensed marine contractor for water-dependent construction or shoreside vessel operation are exempt from the prohibition on floating structures under subsection (a). However, inactivity of such a floating structure anchored or moored on the waters of the county outside of a commercial marina or a sovereign submerged land lease for a period greater than ten days within a 30-day period, within an eight nautical mile radius, will be considered to be not in use by a licensed marine contractor.(e) Floating structures on the waters of the county owned or operated by the City of Jacksonville to which watercraft are permitted to be moored, such as within the definition of dock , in Section 28.701 , Ordinance Code, are exempt from the prohibition on floating structures under this Part. (Ord. 2025-432-E , § 3)