§ 8-2. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

BOAT or VESSEL

Any watercraft or other contrivance used on or capable of being used as a means of transportation in water.

CATWALK

An elevated walkway, usually built to gain access to a commercial or residential dock, built at a fixed height above grade and which is constructed landward of the apparent highwater line.

COMMISSIONER

The Commissioner of Planning, Environment and Land Management.

DESIGNATED MOORING AREA

See “mooring area.”

DIRECTOR

The Director of the Division of Environmental Protection or the designee of the Commissioner of Planning, Environmental and Land Management.

[Amended 1-25-2018 by L.L. No. 2-2018, effective 2-6-2018]

DOCK MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR

The customary, usual and normal activity to restore the sound and good state of a dock after normal decay or degradation from normal use or exposure to the elements. This includes the routine maintenance necessary from time to time to keep a structure in a state of good repair, including, but not limited to: the incidental replacement of decking lumber for a dock, catwalk, or floating dock or other alterations which do not require a building permit, increase the square footage of an existing structure, or replace structural supports that are anchored or installed firmly into the ground or provide load-bearing support.

DOCK PERMIT

That form of written Town approval required to place a dock on Town-owned land and underwater lands as specified under this chapter.

FIXED DOCK

An elevated walkway which is constructed at a fixed height above grade and which extends seaward from the apparent high-water line.

FLOATING DOCK

Any structure, raft or floating platform which is designed to float upon the surface of a water body and is secured in place by poles, pilings, anchors, or any other type of mooring system that provides access to the water. A floating dock shall include the float itself, any pilings or mooring system designed to keep the dock at a fixed point and the ramp, which spans the distance from a fixed structure (fixed dock or bulkhead) or shoreline to the floating dock.

FLOATING HOME

Any vessel in fact used, designed or occupied as a dwelling unit, business office or source of any occupation or for any private or social club of whatsoever nature, including but not limited to a structure constructed upon a barge primarily immobile and out of navigation which functions substantially as a land structure while the same is moored or docked within the municipal limits of the Town of Brookhaven, whether or not such vessel is self-propelled.

MOORING

Any anchorage system which by design and/or construction is not capable of or is not normally retrieved when a vessel or boat leaves its anchorage, or is used to semipermanently secure in place any boat, barge, floating home, scow, raft, float, or any other vessel or floating object. A mooring includes, but is not restricted to, an anchorage system consisting of an anchor or weight attached to a length of chain and/or line secured to a mooring buoy or float.

MOORING AREA (also designated mooring area)

Any Town-owned bay or harbor bottom, or other underwater lands, so designated by the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of Brookhaven as such, where mooring may occur without a mooring permit as required by this chapter.

MOORING PERMIT

That form of written Town approval required to place a mooring on Town-owned underwater lands as specified under this chapter.

MOORING TACKLE

Any assemblage of hardware, rope, line, wire or chain which is used to attach a mooring anchor or weight to a float or buoy.

MOUNT SINAI HARBOR MOORING AREA

All that area of land underwater depicted by a map entitled "MOUNT SINAI HARBOR MOORING AREA" as "Mooring Areas - Permit Required" and those lands indicated on said map as "Leased and/or Licensed Underwater Lands No Public Mooring" and further described as located north of the tidal marsh islands and excluding the areas: within the navigational channel; all areas within 100 feet of the apparent low water mark of the shoreline of Mount Sinai Harbor; all areas within 100 feet of any marsh island as measured by the seaward limit of the Spartina alterniflora vegetation; all areas within 100 feet of any Town dock, commercial or private dock, launching ramp or Town-leased and/or -licensed underwater lands.

NAVIGATION LANES

Those channels so designated and identified on federal navigation charts and those channels in common use for local navigation and so identified by navigational buoys or markers.

PERSON

Any firm, partnership, corporation, association or individual.

PORT JEFFERSON COMPLEX MOORING AREA

All that area situate within the area 100 feet east of the main navigational channel and south of the line drawn 1,500 feet north of the existing location of the green navigational "7" buoy to a point of land located at the northernmost point of the bulkhead located at the end of Motts Hollow Road, excluding those areas within 200 feet of the apparent low water mark of any shoreline, within 500 feet of any recreational or commercial dock or pier or within 1,500 feet of the northernmost tip of the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry terminal dock; all that area known as “Setauket Harbor” and located west and south of an imaginary line extending west into the harbor from the intersection of Van Brunt Manor Road and Tinker Lane in Poquott and excluding all areas within one hundred 100 feet of the apparent low water mark of the shoreline, and those areas known as “Little Bay” and “Scott's Cove.”

PORT JEFFERSON HARBOR COMPLEX

The surface waters of Port Jefferson Harbor, Setauket Harbor, Lithe Bay, Conscience Bay, the Narrows and 1,500 feet north of Mount Misery extending west following the shoreline to 1,500 feet northwest of Old Field Point, also known as the "Harbor Complex."

[Added 4-17-2001 by L.L. No. 13-2001, effective 4-20-2001]

POWER DREDGING

The action by which a powered vessel is tied to a dock or anchored to a stationary point while the motor is engaged to blow out or remove sediments using the prop wash to scour the material around a dock to increase water depth.

RESIDENTIAL DOCK

Any fixed dock and/or floating dock designed or constructed as a continuous unit to provide access to the surface waters from a lot that is zoned for residential use. The term "dock" shall include all associated structures such as ramps and mooring piles.

TOWN MOORING AREA

A mooring area designated by the Town Board pursuant to § 10-29D(2) of the Brookhaven Town Code, and any amendments thereto.

[Added 4-17-2001 by L.L. No. 13-2001, effective 4-20-2001]

TOWN-OWNED UNDERWATER LANDS

The bottom of any bay, creek, harbor or tidal wetland over which the tide ebbs and flows, the title to which is vested in the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of Brookhaven or in the Town of Brookhaven.

Added 1-25-2018 by L.L. No. 2-2018, effective 2-6-2018