The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Town of Cathlamet Attorney Bill Faubion proposed Tuesday the town adopt an ordinance regulating long term moorage in waters of the Columbia under town jurisdiction.

The ordinance would allow boats, houseboats and other vessels to moor only seven days in a month, unless they were at a marina or a moorage owned by the owner of the vessel.

The ordinance would also make it unlawful to use a vessel as a residence on the parts of the Columbia or its sloughs under town jurisdiction unless the vessel were moored at a marina or a dock belonging to the vessel’s owner.

Councilmembers John Hannah, Bill Talbot, David Goodroe and Danielle Erickson—Wally Wright was ill and absent—passed a motion to accept the ordinance for its first reading. It could be adopted at the town’s March meeting.

Faubion said he decided to propose the ordinance because of a boat that has been anchored for months in Elochoman Slough.

“My concern is that when others find out, they’ll all be there,” he said. “That has been a problem in the Portland area.”

Several years ago, a trimaran was abandoned at anchor in the slough; it eventually sank.

“Most of these aren’t high end vessels,” he said. “If something happens, the owners walk away and leave the problems to us.”

Todd Nicholson, who is nearly finished with setting up a development, Marina Estates, along the slough, supported the ordinance.

“I guarantee that if that boat is still out there dumping sewage when those houses are built, you’ll hear about it,” Nicholson said.

“As an owner of a subdivision who is trying to sell houses, I don’t want somebody living in front of my dock,” he said.

The state Department of Natural Resources, which administers aquatic lands, also has rules about how long a vessel may anchor without having to lease a permanent site. The agency, Faubion said, doesn’t have a way of enforcing their rules other than notifying the vessel owners of the violations.

Sheriff Dan Bardsley commented that a violation of the proposed ordinance is only a misdemeanor, not an arrestable offense.

“This is something I can’t arrest on,” he said. “For addressing only one or two people, it doesn’t make sense to have it just to make one or two people feel good.

“Is it the right thing to do for that situation? I guess that’s my opinion.”