TRPA cracking down on buoy owners

By TRPA staff

Orange notice tags have been showing up on buoys around Lake Tahoe and will continue all month as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency gets the word out that a permitting and registration deadline is approaching for all Lake Tahoe moorings such as buoys and boatlifts.

TRPA’s Watercraft Enforcement Team started attaching the notices to buoys and other moorings such as boatlifts and boathouses at the end of August. Buoy and mooring owners have until Oct. 15 to begin the permitting and registration process required under the agency’s shorezone ordinances.

The permitting and registration program will help fund enforcement on the lake to address the proliferation of unauthorized buoys in Tahoe. The agency’s rules on boat mooring were updated in December 2008 in part to create an effective, locally operated buoy enforcement program.

Those who fail to meet the deadline risk penalties that could include buoy removal.

The orange tags being attached to buoys are a follow-up notification to buoy owners. Notifications were mailed to lakefront property owners in November and July.

Permitting and registration may be completed over-the-counter and applicants with minimum requirements are usually issued TRPA registration tags the same day. Latitude and longitude coordinates for buoys are one requirement of the application which TRPA customer service staff can help property owners gather.

There are approximately 4,400 mooring buoys in Lake Tahoe.

New registration and mitigation fees for buoys will help fund the watercraft enforcement program, buoy enforcement as well as scientific monitoring programs.

Owners of buoys and other moorings such as boatlifts and boathouses can access electronic forms at www.trpa.org and may submit the appropriate forms by mail or in person at the TRPA office at 128 Market Street in Stateline.

For additional information, call Dennis Oliver at (775) 589.5235 or email doliver@trpa.org.