TITLE 12 CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Section 3. Parks, Historic Areas, Memorials, and Recreation, 12-3-1 through 12-3-708.

ARTICLE 2 STATE PARKS AND RECREATIONAL AREAS GENERALLY

12-3-34. Permits for construction, maintenance, and use of boat docks and boat shelters on High Falls Lake.

1. The Department of Natural Resources is authorized to issue revocable permits for the construction, maintenance, and use of boat docks and boat shelters on High Falls Lake by the owners or lessees of private property abutting the high-water mark of such lake. Such permits shall constitute limited revocable licenses. Such permits shall be issued for periods of three years from the date of issuance and shall be transferable; provided, however, that in order to stagger the renewal periods, the department is authorized to issue permits of one- or two-year duration with the fee prorated appropriately. The fee for such permit for each three-year period shall be fixed by rule or regulation of the Board of Natural Resources in a reasonable amount not to exceed $75.00 for boat docks and $75.00 for boat shelters. The fees collected for such permits shall be miscellaneous funds for purposes of use by the Department of Natural Resources pursuant to Code Section 12-3-2.
2. No person shall construct or maintain a boat dock or boat shelter below the high-water mark of High Falls Lake without a valid permit from the Department of Natural Resources. It shall be the duty of the owner of any boat dock or boat shelter on High Falls Lake to keep such dock or shelter in good repair. All such boat docks and boat shelters shall conform to standards for construction, design, maintenance, and repair specified in rules and regulations of the department and restrictions or conditions in the permit. It shall be the duty of the owner of such boat dock or boat shelter to remove any such dock or shelter which is not in compliance with such rules and regulations or permit.
3. It shall be the duty of the owner of any boat dock or boat shelter or the holder of any permit issued under this Code section to notify the department when he or she sells or otherwise transfers the property for which the boat dock or boat shelter is permitted.
4. The department and any official or employee thereof is authorized to inspect any boat dock or boat shelter on High Falls Lake and to remove or cause to be removed any such dock or shelter for which a permit is not in effect or which violates the standards for construction, design, maintenance, and repair or the permit conditions imposed by the department.
5. The Board of Natural Resources is authorized to adopt rules and regulations necessary or convenient to carry out this Code section and is authorized to impose reasonable terms and conditions on the granting of permits and the construction of boat docks and boat shelters on High Falls Lake by the owners or lessees of private property abutting the high-water mark of such lake.
6. Any permit may be revoked by the department for any violation of this Code section, any rule or regulation of the Board of Natural Resources, or any condition contained in such permit.

(Code 1981, §12-3-34, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 396, § 1; Ga. L. 2010, p. 118, § 1/SB 99.)

The 2010 amendment, effective May 20, 2010, throughout this Code section, inserted "and boat shelters", inserted "boat", inserted "or boat shelter", and inserted "or shelter"; in subsection (a), added the proviso at the end of the third sentence and substituted "$75.00 for boat docks and $75.00 for boat shelters" for "$50.00" at the end of the fourth sentence; substituted "such dock" for "dock" in the last sentence of subsection (b); deleted former subsection (e), which read: "This Code section shall not affect the validity of any permit in effect on March 1, 1993, and the owners of docks for which such permits are in effect on March 1, 1993, may maintain such docks and enjoy the use thereof for the remainder of the period for which such permits were issued, subject to the terms and conditions thereof."; and redesignated former subsections (f) and (g) as present subsections (e) and (f), respectively.