Larry Weiss wrote in message ...
"Rosalie B." wrote:

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Larry Weiss wrote:

I understand that it is against maritime law to restrict or prohibit
waterway access. Anyone know if this is true and/or what the law
actually says, and where it may be found?

Larry Weiss
"...Ever After!"
"a little after..."

I think this depends a lot on where it is you are talking about. For
one thing, what country? And why would you think maritime law had
jurisdiction? I would have thought that ordinary laws applied in most
inland or near coastal waters.

We are talking about the US of A, New York State in particular, and
maritime law only because that's where my poor memory recalls it may have
existed.

Basically we are talking about a local town public park and marina on the
waterfront. The park is supposed to be for use by town residents only
(the park land was donated to the town in 1942 by descendants of Teddy
Roosevelt and that strict covenant is in the deed). Over the last few
years, the town has stopped enforcing this restriction. Officials claim
it is because of a law, which they are unable to cite, which states that
they can not restrict access to the water. I believe they may be
misinterpreting a law meant to prohibit restricting a boat's access to
waterways from the water (which I recall hearing about somewhere), rather
than a person's access to the water from land. Nobody on either side
seems to be able to cite any law from either perspective. I'm just
looking for something official to cite, one way or the other.

Some of the cases referenced in this memo may be a start.
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/cnsl/waterway.html

Has the town used any government grant money for improvements to the
marina? That money usually comes with conditions that the courts may
say overrides any covenents. The city of San Francisco banned PWC
with a 1/4 mile of the city shoreline few years ago, and of course
many jetskiers cried foul. The ban went into affect, but access to a
couple of marinas had to be allowed since they used Wallop-Breaux
federal funding to make improvements to the launch ramps and other
facilities. So the restricted area around SF has a couple of
corridors where PWC are allowed to get to the ramp and gas docks.