FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 There may be relief on the horizon for Florida homeowners who say their waterfront properties have turned into “dumping grounds” for abandoned boats.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis officially signed House Bill 1103 into law, a move that grants local municipalities significantly more power to clear derelict boats from their waterways. For residents along the Caloosahatchee River and across Southwest Florida, the news couldn’t come at a more critical time.<\/p>\n
A Growing Problem<\/p>\n
Jeff East, a resident living off McGregor Boulevard in Lee County, has watched his backyard view deteriorate over the last two years. What began as one washed-up sailboat has turned into a recurring nightmare.<\/p>\n
“About two years ago, we had our first sailboat wash ashore,” East said. “Five weeks ago, we had another. Last week, a third. It\u2019s become a dumping ground.”<\/p>\n
The issue isn’t just aesthetic; it\u2019s a matter of property damage and environmental safety. During this past weekend, East watched as an anchored, abandoned boat began to drift, eventually wedging itself against his seawall and a remaining dock structure.<\/p>\n
Despite immediate calls to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), East says the red tape involved in removing these vessels has historically been a slow, frustrating process.<\/p>\n
What HB 1103 Changes<\/p>\n
Previously, the authority to designate and remove derelict vessels rested primarily with state-level agencies. House Bill 1103 shifts that dynamic by allowing counties and municipalities to pass their own ordinances to take charge of the problem.<\/p>\n
Under the new law:<\/p>\n
Local Enforcement: Local jurisdictions can authorize code enforcement officers to administer and enforce provisions relating to vessels at risk of becoming derelict.Faster Intervention: By empowering local officers, the state aims to identify “at-risk” boats\u2014those taking on water or poorly anchored\u2014before they become full-blown derelict hazards.FWC Oversight: While local governments gain power, their specific ordinances must still be reviewed and approved by the FWC to ensure statewide consistency.<\/p>\n
The law is set to officially take effect on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
While the law won’t be fully active for a few months, local agencies in Southwest Florida are already pivoting to address the backlog.<\/p>\n
The Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office (LCSO) confirmed they are working in lockstep with the FWC to mitigate environmental impacts. LCSO has already designated a specialized detective within its Marine Unit specifically to handle derelict boat cases.<\/p>\n
In a statement to WINK Investigates, the Sheriff\u2019s Office noted that their partnership is “constantly ongoing,” with plans to remove 15 derelict boats from Lee County waterways in the coming week alone.<\/p>\n
The Race Against Hurricane Season<\/p>\n
For homeowners like East, the legislative win is a victory, but the timeline remains a concern. With hurricane season beginning June 1, there is an urgent need to clear these vessels before they can be transformed into floating projectiles by storm surges.<\/p>\n
“We need as many people saying the same thing as possible to get people to respond,” East said. “We’d like to have this resolved before the summer storms come up.”<\/p>\n
East\u2019s neighbor Jake Goldberger is also worried and hoping for a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery destructive, there\u2019s no question we\u2019ve seen it. It\u2019s a terrible thing to have to deal with after a storm,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WINK Investigates reached out to the FWC regarding the upcoming rule-making process for local ordinances but has not yet received a response.<\/p>\n
Lee County said the matter hasn\u2019t been discussed yet by the Board of Supervisors so would not lay out any plans on how it will utilize the new law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 There may be relief on the horizon for Florida homeowners who say their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[106705,38574,209,211,210,106704,11578,3961,28,897,6281,106706,356,2094,26067,412,106703,1521,21351],"class_list":{"0":"post-241352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-board-of-supervisors","9":"tag-caloosahatchee-river","10":"tag-cape-coral","11":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","12":"tag-cape-coral-news","13":"tag-derelict","14":"tag-detective","15":"tag-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission","16":"tag-florida","17":"tag-fort-myers","18":"tag-governor","19":"tag-law-targets","20":"tag-lee-county","21":"tag-lee-county-sheriffs-office","22":"tag-marine-unit","23":"tag-ron-desantis","24":"tag-south-west-football-league","25":"tag-southwest-florida","26":"tag-u-s-coast-guard"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}