[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Brookhaven 6-16-1987 by L.L. No. 7-1987. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
The regulations established by this chapter
shall apply to all navigable waters located within the boundary lines
of the Town of Brookhaven, except when the provisions thereof are
in conflict with the laws or ordinances of the United States or the
State of New York or any municipal corporation or administrative authority
thereof having jurisdiction thereover.
All provisions of the Navigation Law of this
state, of the inland rules enacted by Congress and governing the navigation
of the inland waters of the United States and of Pilot Rules for United
States Inland Waters, applicable to the channel systems relative to
the rules for vessels passing each other and other matters consistent
with the proper use of the channel systems, shall be complied with
by all boats using the navigable waters within the boundary lines
of the Town of Brookhaven.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Includes every description of watercraft or other contrivance
used on or capable of being used as a means of transportation in water.
Includes any vessel propelled in whole or part by an engine
or motor, whether inboard or outboard.
Includes the person under whose name the vessel was last
registered with the United States Coast Guard or the New York Conservation
Department, Division of Motor Boats, and in any other case the last
known owner.
A.
Every person operating a boat shall at all times operate
it in a careful and prudent manner and at such a rate of speed as
not to disturb the reasonable comfort or endanger the property of
another or the life or limb of any person or so as to interfere with
the free and proper use of the navigable waters within the Town of
Brookhaven.
B.
No person shall fail to comply with any lawful order
or direction of any police officer, bay constable, harbormaster, dock
master or other person duly empowered to regulate boat traffic in
the navigable waters within the Town of Brookhaven and at any marina
and dock facilities under the ownership and jurisdiction of the Town
of Brookhaven.
C.
Police authority during emergency conditions. Whenever
the commanding officer or executive officer of the Suffolk County
Police Marine Bureau shall deem it advisable during a fire or storm
or at a time of any accident or special emergency, and only for such
period of time as is necessitated thereby for the public safety or
convenience, to temporarily close any harbor, channel, inlet or waterway
in the navigable waters within the Town of Brookhaven or regulate,
direct and divert boating traffic, such police officer shall have
the power and authority to do so.
[Amended 10-18-1988 by L.L. No. 25-1988; 7-6-1993 by L.L. No. 16-1993, effective 7-9-1993; 6-12-2012 by L.L. No. 14-2012, effective 6-22-2012]
No person shall operate a boat at a speed in
excess of 12 miles per hour in any channel or at a speed in excess
of five miles per hour within 100 feet of any area designated as a
boat basin, marina, harbor, river, stream, creek or bathing area,
or an anchored or moored vessel, provided that any such area in which
speed limit signs are posted, no person shall operate a boat at a
speed in excess of the speed limit posted.
A.
No person
shall operate (start/run) or permit to be operated a motor, other
than an electric motor, to propel a vessel on water areas in and/or
on the waters designated as Peconic Lake.
[Added 1-23-2007 by L.L. No. 1-2007,
effective 1-29-2007; amended 6-4-2013 by L.L. No. 28-2013, effective 6-17-2013]
No person shall operate (start/run) or permit
to be operated a motorboat, other than an electric motor to propel
a motorboat, on the Peconic River, Willow Lake or Lilly Lake f/k/a
Upper and Lower Yaphank Lakes within the Town of Brookhaven. This
restriction shall not apply to emergency personnel in the performance
of emergency activities that are necessary to protect the public health,
safety and welfare and in furtherance of activities pursuant to a
lawfully issued permit.
No person shall operate a boat with an outboard
motor or an inboard motor unless equipped with an adequately muffled
exhaust, nor shall any such person use any siren or other noise-producing
or noise-amplifying instrument on a boat in such a manner that the
peace and good order of the neighborhood is disturbed; provided, however,
that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the use
of whistles, bells or horns as signals as required by the United States
Motorboat Act or other federal law for the safe navigation of motorboats
or vessels.
No person shall operate a boat which does not
meet all applicable equipment requirements of the United States Coast
Guard.
No person shall operate a boat while under the
influence of intoxicating liquor, narcotic drugs or opiates.
No person shall operate a boat in such a manner
as to unjustifiably or unnecessarily annoy or frighten or endanger
the occupants of any other boat or throw up a dangerous wake when
approaching another boat.
No person operating a boat shall use searchlights
indiscriminately or in such a manner as to annoy or disturb other
persons or boats.
No person shall run or operate any boat engine
for the purpose of charging batteries, running auxiliary equipment
or testing between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
No boat shall be moored or anchored in any channel
except at the edges thereof, and in no case closer than 50 feet to
channel markers or so as to interfere with the full use of the channel
by others.
Every boat in the navigable waters of the Town
of Brookhaven which becomes a menace to navigation or unseaworthy
or sinks, grounds or becomes otherwise disabled is hereby declared
to be a nuisance, and the person in charge thereof shall abate such
nuisance within two days after notice from the Town Board.
The provisions of this chapter shall not be
construed to prohibit the running of regattas or boat races under
the auspices of a recognized bona fide boat or yacht club or association
when a permit therefor has been granted by the Town Board and after
prior approval by the United States Coast Guard.
Persons in charge of or occupying boats docked
at or moored to land, docks, piers or wharves abutting navigable waters
shall observe all the health and sanitary regulations of the Town
of Brookhaven and of the County of Suffolk. Discharging of toilets
or of oil is prohibited in areas designated as boat basin anchorage
or bathing areas.
A.
No person shall operate a boat on the navigable waters
of the Town for towing a person on water skis, a surfboard or similar
device unless there is in such boat a person, other than the operator,
of at least 10 years of age, in a position to observe the progress
of the person being towed.
B.
No person shall ride on water skis, a surfboard or
similar device or use or operate a boat to tow a person thereon on
the navigable waters of the Town between the period from one hour
after sunset to one hour after sunrise; provided, however, that the
provisions hereof shall not apply to a paid performer engaged in a
professional exhibition.
Any person violating any of the provisions in
this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a violation and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined in an amount not exceeding $500 or be imprisoned
for a period not exceeding 15 days, or be both so fined and imprisoned.
A separate offense shall be deemed committed upon each day during
or on which a violation occurs or continues.
A.
No person shall willfully remove, deface, cover, alter
or destroy the manufacturer's serial number or any other distinguishing
number or identification mark on any inboard, outboard or inboard-outboard
motor.
B.
No person shall knowingly buy, sell, receive, dispose
of, conceal or knowingly have in his possession any inboard, outboard
or inboard-outboard motor from which the manufacturer's serial number
or any other distinguishing mark or identification mark has been removed,
defaced, covered, altered or destroyed for the purpose of concealing
or misrepresenting the identity of such inboard, outboard or inboard-outboard
motor.
C.
Any person, firm, corporation, partnership or other legal entity whatsoever found in violation of Subsection A or B of this section shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 or imprisonment, not exceeding three months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
