Dock Permits

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Dock Permits

It happens almost weekly. Lakefront landowners find out from AmerenUE that their dock does not match the specs of its permit. Most of the time it’s an innocent mistake. They bought a lake home; the past owner handed over the dock permit with the property, done deal.

Then the other shoe drops.

The old owner — informed or not — had upgraded the dock from a single to double well without shelling out $500 for a new permit from AmerenUE. They took down the old permit sign, unhitched the dock cables and ramp, hired someone to haul off the old dock and install a new dock in its place. The permit sign went back up on the new, larger dock. Then, years later the new owner contacts Ameren because they want to make sure they’re permitted to add PWC lifts. They find out the dock they now own is larger than the specs from its permit or lays outside location guidelines. The new owner could potentially get stuck with the $500 fee for a new permit to become compliant, whether they choose to change the footprint of the dock or not.

“Theoretically, if a dock is one foot wider it requires a new permit,” AmerenUE Shoreline Manager Jeff Green says. “That being said, we try to work with people doing the right thing. We don’t punish people that come to us. We often consider them victims.”

As a couple thousand dock owners over the last five years have encapsulated foam and replaced structures in anticipation of the total ban of non-encapsulated flotation in 2009, it is likely some unreported dock upgrades have occurred without proper permitting.

While AmerenUE’s current priority is to properly document and force action from the few hundred docks failing to comply with this year’s ban of non-encapsulated foam, the three reps surveying lakefront properties are also identifying those with non-conforming shoreline structures of all kinds.

For Additional Information please see:
Ameren UE Lake of the Ozarks Dock Permit Requirements
Source: LakeExpo.com

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