§200-16  Mooring of unauthorized vessel in
state small boat harbors and offshore mooring areas; impoundment and disposal
proceedings.  (a)  No person shall moor a vessel in a state small boat
harbor or offshore mooring area without obtaining a use permit; nor shall a
person continue to moor a vessel in any state small boat harbor or offshore
mooring area if the use permit authorizing the vessel to moor has expired or
otherwise been terminated.  A vessel moored without a use permit or with a use
permit that has expired or been terminated is an unauthorized vessel and is
subject to this section.



(b)  The department shall cause to be placed
upon, or as near to the unauthorized vessel as possible, a notice to remove
vessel, which shall indicate that the vessel is in violation of this section,
the date and time the notice was posted, and that the vessel must be removed
within seventy-two hours from the time the notice was posted.



(c)  An unauthorized vessel may be impounded by
the department at the sole cost and risk of the owner of the vessel, if the
vessel is not removed after the seventy-two-hour period or if during that
period the vessel is removed and remoored in the harbor or mooring or anchorage
area or any other state harbor or mooring or anchorage area without a use
permit.



(d)  Custody of an unauthorized vessel shall be
returned to the person entitled to possession upon payment to the department of
all fees and costs due, and fines levied by the department or a court.  In
addition, the department, within seventy-two hours of impoundment, shall send
by certified mail, return receipt requested, a notice of impoundment to the
registered or documented owner or any lien holder or operator of the impounded
vessel on record with the department or the United States Coast Guard.  The
owner, lien holder, or operator of the impounded vessel shall have ten days
after receipt of notice of impoundment of the vessel to request in writing an
administrative hearing.  This administrative hearing is solely for the purpose of
allowing the owner, lien holder, or operator of an impounded vessel to contest
the basis given by the department for the impoundment of the vessel.  The
hearing must be held within five working days of the department's receipt of
the written request.  The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91
to implement the requirement for this post-seizure administrative hearing
process.



(e)  Any unauthorized vessel impounded under
this section, which remains unclaimed for more than thirty days by the registered
or documented owner, a lien holder, or operator of record, may be sold by the
department at public auction.  If the department is unable to sell the vessel
at public auction, or if its appraised value is less than $5,000 as determined
by an independent appraiser with at least one year of experience in the sale
and purchase of vessels, the department, after giving public notice of intended
disposition if that notice was not previously included in a public auction
notice, may sell the vessel by negotiation, retain and use the vessel, donate
it to any other government agency, or dispose of it as junk. [L 1991, c 272, pt
of §2; am L 1994, c 113, §2; am L 2004, c 70, §1]



 



Case Notes



 



  Impoundment fees set by State not unlawful where no evidence
to suggest that charges were arbitrary or unfounded.  91 H. 1, 979 P.2d 586.



  Section does not provide statutory mechanism for recouping
fees assessed against vessel owner for unauthorized mooring of vessel prior to
non-repossessed vessel’s impoundment.  91 H. 1, 979 P.2d 586.