When used in this article, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
Boat.
A watercraft or vessel designed for use on water.
Devil’s cove.
Area of Lake Travis in Travis County, Texas that is within the corporate limits of the city popularly known as Devil’s Cove and which is more specifically identified and depicted on the map that is contained in and incorporated into this article 8.09.
Dock.
Piers, platforms, or other structures designed to extend into or float on the surface of the water, often used for the mooring of boats, swimming, and fishing.
Emergency.
Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or imminent physical trauma or property damage or loss that demands immediate action.
Emergency work.
Any work performed for the purpose of:
(1) 
Preventing or alleviating the physical trauma or property damage threatened or caused by an emergency;
(2) 
Restoring property to a safe condition following a fire, accident, or natural disaster;
(3) 
Protecting persons or property from exposure to danger; or
(4) 
Restoring public utilities.
Little Devil’s Cove.
Area of Lake Travis in Travis County, Texas that is within the corporate limits of the City of Jonestown popularly known as Little Devil’s Cove and which is more specifically identified and depicted on the map that is contained in and incorporated into this article 8.09.
Shoreline.
The point at which the waters of any lake or body of water meets the land regardless of current water levels.
Vessel.
Any watercraft, other than a seaplane on water, used or capable of being used for transportation on water.
Wake-enhancing device.
A bladder, ballast tank, wedge, hydrofoil or other hydraulic or mechanical device, or uneven loading of persons, gear, or foreign material that alters the way a boat planes to create large wakes or artificial bow height.
Wake surfing.
A water sport in which a rider trails behind a boat on a board designed for wakes, riding the boat’s wake without being directly pulled by the boat. After getting up on the wake, typically by use of a tow rope, the wake surfer will drop the rope and ride the steep face below the wave’s peak in a fashion reminiscent of surfing.
Wake surfing boat.
A motorboat or other watercraft used for wake surfing, typically designed, or modified by the use of a wake-enhancing device to create or maintain a wake larger than that created by watercraft not used for wake surfing or wake boarding. For the purposes of this ordinance a wakeboard boat and a wake surfing boat shall be considered legally synonymous.
Wakeboard.
A small, mostly rectangular, thin board with very little displacement and shoe-like bindings mounted to it used in the water sport of wakeboarding, developed from a combination of water skiing, snowboarding, and surfing techniques.
Wakeboard boat.
A motorboat artificially filled with water, other liquid or other material in a cavity chamber ballast tanks designed to artificially hold water or other liquid on or within the motorboat or artificially weighted with foreign material on or in the motorboat. For the purposes of this ordinance a wakeboard boat and a wake surfing boat shall be considered legally synonymous.
Wakeboarding.
Riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water, usually towed behind and riding on the wake of a motorboat (but possibly a closed course cable system or other water craft), typically at speeds of 18–25 mph depending on the board size, weight, type of sport, make and model of boat, and comfort.
(Ordinance 2020-O-558 adopted 6/29/20)
The following prohibitions, restricted areas, and distance requirements are established:
(1) 
It shall be unlawful for any person to anchor or secure a boat to another boat, or cause the anchoring, or securing of a boat to another boat within one hundred (100) feet of any boat dock located within the corporate limits of the city.
(2) 
It shall be unlawful for any person to tie off, stake, or otherwise secure a boat, or cause the tying off, staking, or securing of a boat upon or to any shoreline within the corporate limits of the city without the consent of the owner of the property forming the shoreline.
(3) 
Consistent with state law, it shall be unlawful for any boat or groups of boats to block navigable waterways.
(4) 
No person shall operate a wakeboard boat, wake surfing boat, or otherwise employ a wake-enhancing device to create large wakes on waters within the corporate limits of the city where the city has posted that such operation is prohibited.
(Ordinance 2020-O-558 adopted 6/29/20; Ordinance 2022-O-618 adopted 5/12/2022)
(a) 
All regulations, restrictions, and obligations contained in this article shall apply to Devil’s Cove and Little Devil’s Cove.
(b) 
Boats exceeding 45 feet in length are prohibited in Devil’s Cove and in Little Devil’s Cove at all times.
(c) 
In addition to the prohibitions and restrictions regarding noise contained in article 8.05 of this code, it shall be unlawful for any person to make, continue, or cause to be made or continued any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise or to play or transmit music, songs or other recordings on or near Devil’s Cove that annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of persons residing near Devil’s Cove. Any sound levels emitted on or from Devil’s Cove exceeding 75 decibels shall be considered a prima facie violation of this section. Sound level readings may be taken from 300 feet or greater from the source of the sound when on the water in the cove or from any distance when measured from the adjacent shoreline.
(d) 
The following activities and actions are specifically prohibited on or near Devil’s Cove and Little Devil’s Cove and may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law:
(1) 
Causing damage to docks;
(2) 
Anchoring of a boat or boats to city ordinance signs;
(3) 
Causing a city sign to be flipped, pulled underwater, or moved from its proper location;
(4) 
Entering private property on shore without permission;
(5) 
Defecating or urinating on private property;
(6) 
Leaving trash or litter in the water, on shore, or on a dock;
(7) 
Public exposure;
(8) 
Navigation in a manner that prohibits boats from entering or exiting the cove, or that endangers swimmers, bathers, or fishermen, or that prevents or hinders owners of docks along the shoreline from using their docks or boats.
(e) 
Persons boating on Lake Travis shall be responsible for knowing the location of both Devil’s Cove and Little Devil’s Cove. The city shall place signs, buoys, or other suitable markers to inform persons of their locations, but it shall not be a defense to prosecution of this ordinance that such a sign, buoy or marker was difficult to read, damaged, or had been moved from its proper location.
(Ordinance 2020-O-558 adopted 6/29/20)
(a) 
It shall be an exception to the application of section 8.09.002(1) or (2) if the person that owns the boat or the person operating the boat also owns the boat dock and the property forming the shoreline and either resides or maintains a home upon the property, or maintains and conducts a business upon and from the property and the property is properly zoned for such business use; provided however, that this person complies with the restricted area and distance requirements set forth in section 8.09.002 for any adjacent shoreline or boat dock not owned by the person.
(b) 
It shall be an exception to section 8.09.002(4) to operate a wakeboard boat, wake surfing boat, or wake-enhancing device within the corporate limits of the city with an empty or substantially empty ballast, or without sufficient weight, so that such operation does not create large wakes.
(Ordinance 2020-O-558 adopted 6/29/20)
It shall constitute an affirmative defense to prosecution of a violation of this article if any person uses, operates, anchors, or secures a boat, or causes the use, operation, anchoring, or securing of a boat in violation of this article as a result of an emergency or for the sole and immediate purpose of performing emergency work.
(Ordinance 2020-O-558 adopted 6/29/20)
(a) 
A person commits an offense if the person violates or permits a violation of any provision of this article.
(b) 
An offense under this article is a class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $500.00.
(c) 
Each occurrence of a violation, or, in the case of continuous violations, each day a violation occurs or continues, constitutes a separate offense, and may be punished separately.
(d) 
The prosecution of an offense under this article does not limit the city’s right to seek injunctive or other civil relief for a violation of this article, in addition, no provision of this article shall be construed to impair any common law or statutory cause of action, or legal remedy therefrom, of any person, for injury or damage arising from any violation of this article or from other law.
(Ordinance 2020-O-558 adopted 6/29/20)