{"id":327150,"date":"2026-07-02T11:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/327150\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:24:09","slug":"orange-county-considers-hiking-boat-dock-ramp-permit-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/327150\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County considers hiking boat dock, ramp permit fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Orange County leaders say permit fees paid for boat docks, ramps and other water-based construction have not gone up since 2007, which is why they are proposing dramatic increases across the board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to information from the county, the current construction and alteration fees are not enough to cover the cost of permit reviews, inspections and other compliance services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Eversten, who\u00a0serves on the Lake Conway Water and Navigation Control District Advisory Board, has been boating and fishing on the waters of Little Lake Conway for decades.\u00a0The fish were jumping, and a kayaker\u00a0paddled across the lake near Orlando, which is lined with boat docks and boat ramps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evertsen said he has seen county staff\u2019s recommendations for higher fees to build boat docks and ramps, and would like to see them reconsider the proposed changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they really need to reassess the pricing levels that they\u2019ve suggested to the (Orange County Board of County Commissioners) for approval,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The current proposal would result in the following permit fee changes:<\/p>\n

Lakeshore Protection \u2014 938% increase from $126 to $1,308
\nBoat dock construction \u2014 1,423% increase from $119 to $1,812
\nBoat ramp construction \u2014 Up to 1,857% increase from $182 to $2,338-$3,562
\nShoreline alteration (hardening) \u2014 1,785% increase from $182 to $3,431
\nShoreline alteration (dredging) \u2014 2,598% increase from $182 to $4,910<\/p>\n

Evertsen said the increase in permit fees would be harder for smaller operations to absorb.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does add to the cost of a boat dock, and if you\u2019re trying to budget for a smaller boat dock, it\u2019s really going to hurt you,\u201d Evertsen said.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the Orange County Government declined an interview but provided a summary of a permit fees study done by the companies Drummond Carpenter and Balmoral Group.<\/p>\n

County officials said that the study showed the current fees don\u2019t cover the cost of reviewing permit applications, performing inspections and providing compliance services. The study concluded that changes would better align fees with the actual cost of providing services.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Mayra Uribe is questioning the proposed increases and said she wants more information on how applications are processed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at technology, things should be happening faster and easier, not longer, slower and costlier,” she said. “So, I have a lot more questions to ask.”<\/p>\n

Uribe said that if the fees go up, they should be phased in. Evertsen said he hopes the county will streamline its processes to keep the fees affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t work for me,” he said. “The math doesn\u2019t math for me.”<\/p>\n

Orange County commissioners are expected to take up the proposed fee increases during their July budget workshop, and again at their September budget public hearings. If commissioners approve the plan, the higher fees would go into effect on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Orange County leaders say permit fees paid for boat docks, ramps and other water-based construction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,28,2161,1337,2287,115,772,1335,139,141,140,99,278,835],"class_list":["post-327150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-top-stories","tag-florida","tag-government","tag-keith-landry","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-on-air-ticker-article","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327150","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=327150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}