OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Annapolis City Council Work Session on Houseboat Task Force Findings – September 18, 2025

City Council — Thursday, September 18, 2025
BodyAnnapolis, Maryland
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, September 18, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:24:59

Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

2025 at 305.

0:05

Sorry for the delay.

0:07

At this time, please uh join me for the pledge of allegiance.

0:16

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic, for which it stands one nation under ballot, indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mr.

0:32

City Attendee, please present the today's item.

0:35

Yes, sir.

0:35

The item on the agenda today is ID 13125 task force to study houseboats, floating homes, and other commercial marine vessels presentation of findings.

0:46

Presenters, Chair Caron, and Vice Chair Jabin Jabin representing the task force.

0:54

Right, look here, Willow Habamaster scrolled up.

0:56

Look at you guys.

0:57

You'd have to share for this.

1:02

If I may, Mr.

1:03

Mayor, yes.

1:04

Jackie Gyle, Deputy City Manager for Resilience Sustainability.

1:08

So this work session was convenient to give the um report recommendations as required by resolution 4624 from the task force to study residential marine vessels.

1:20

And the members of that task force were confirmed by council by resolution 1825 in March of this year.

1:30

And they were tasked with producing their report and recommendations within six months, which very in a very organized, very efficient and very um professional way.

1:44

This task force did put this together.

1:46

I'm extremely impressed with the way they organized themselves and went about their business.

2:00

And also from the city staff, our project lead was Tim Jacobs from the Harbor Master's Office, who also did an exemplary job.

2:07

And I'll turn it over to Tim to kick it off.

2:14

Microphone.

2:23

It is we're on.

2:25

Tim Jacobs from the Annapolis Harbor Master's Office.

2:34

If you've got a chance to review this report of over 50 pages plus a PowerPoint, I met with these guys five times.

2:44

If you look at the detail and intricacies and every facet uh that they've covered in this report, clearly they've put a lot of work outside of those meetings.

2:52

Um, and I just want to take this opportunity to thank uh both Gee and Rod as well as the entire task force for going well beyond what I think anybody would have expected this report.

3:02

Um, the the expertise and especially knowledge of everybody that's involved in this report shows.

3:08

And uh with that, I'd like to just excuse me, introduce uh Mr.

3:12

Gee Carone and Raj Aben, and thank you again.

3:16

If I just interrupt for one moment, I also um neglected to acknowledge all the work the Harbor Master's Office put into this report, including to acting harbormaster Tyler Northfield and operations manager Jacob Gnold.

3:34

Our turn.

3:35

Hey there.

3:36

Okay.

3:37

So I will uh go by the presentation that we have there and just lead through it if that's possible.

3:44

You can see all the folks that you appointed there, and none of this would be possible if it wasn't for the hard work of all the folks that are there.

3:53

Um most of the writings were done by the folks that you see there and came out with a report uh initially.

3:59

So I want to express my gratitude to all of these people who worked diligently throughout uh the last couple of months in uh getting the report done.

4:11

Um I also want to recognize uh John Clinton and uh all the help we have gotten, the support we got when we asked for it.

4:19

It was immediately present.

4:21

Uh the survey that him and the Harbor Master's office uh did and worked with us when we had issues and questions.

4:29

They were immediately addressed uh with no uh delays at all.

4:34

Um the city departments as well uh in the append addendum D, you will see the results of their writings for all the city departments.

4:43

So our thanks there.

4:45

Uh I mentioned already the task force.

4:47

Rod to my right, obviously, with his depth and knowledge of the industry, and two people in particular helped us.

4:55

Uh we had internal meetings uh with Mary O'Brien and Jay Lunsford, who helped us uh collate a lot of these things together as well.

5:04

Lastly but not the least, the people in Annapolis who then responded to the survey, which we've included the results of the survey in this report as well.

5:16

Um, those were the things that we were asked to do.

5:20

Uh, I think you know them very well what they were, and uh I would point you to the report in full to be able to see in detail what some of the findings were.

5:30

Uh we're not going to go through all of them here, uh, but we will show you how we came to it.

5:38

So, our first step is that we took the resolution 46-24 and we split it into 26 different tasks.

5:48

And we assigned to individuals on the task for that were more suited to write in each area, and they did.

5:56

And the results of that report then yielded an executive summary.

6:01

Uh, what was interesting uh from that is that that's not actually our recommendation.

6:06

So if you read the report, you might think that's what it is.

6:10

But we then also had input from the public, and there were these surveys, and we took the first 17, excuse me, and went through them, and when we read those, and we reviewed the report as a group, it was clear that there was a sentiment that was coming out both from our meeting and from the public, and that's how we came up with our recommendation in that particular way.

6:36

And the uh addendum D, as I mentioned, has uh the results of that.

6:41

I'm gonna turn it over to Rod for the actual core of the report and have him comment on what we found uh on that end.

6:50

Thank you.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Maritime Management█████████████████████████████████████████████45%
Short Term Rental Regulation████████████████████████████28%
Community Engagement████████████12%
Public Engagement█████████9%
Procedural████4%
Public Safety██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Annapolis City Council Work Session on Houseboat Task Force Findings – September 18, 2025

On September 18, 2025, the Annapolis City Council held a work session to receive the final report and recommendations from the Task Force to Study Houseboats, Floating Homes, and Other Commercial Marine Vessels. The meeting, which began at 3:00 PM in City Council Chambers, featured presentations from Task Force Chair Gee Caron and Vice Chair Rod Jabin, along with remarks from city staff. The public did not have an opportunity to comment. The task force, formed by Resolution 46-24, delivered a comprehensive 50-plus-page report after six months of study, including public surveys and city department input.

Presentation of Findings

  • Chair Caron and Vice Chair Jabin presented the task force's work, emphasizing that the group split Resolution 46-24 into 26 tasks and gathered input from the public, city departments, and the task force itself. They defined key terms: houseboats (navigable, designed to leave dock), house barges (stationary dwelling units on floats, non-navigable, often with a loophole engine), charter boats (regulated by Coast Guard), and liveaboards (primary residence on a recreational vessel).
  • The task force identified short-term rental house barges as the primary concern. They noted that city laws on noise and short-term rentals are unclear about enforcement jurisdiction between the harbormaster, police, and planning and zoning.
  • Statistics: Annapolis has 2,342 slips across 38 marinas (37 private, 1 city). 23 marinas are small (under 50 slips), 15 are large (over 50 slips). Current code allows house barges only in marinas with 50+ slips, limited to 2% of slips (potential maximum of 32 house barges if all large marinas applied).
  • Environmental concerns: Black water (sewage) and gray water (dish/laundry/wash water) disposal challenges, especially in winter when pump-out systems are winterized. Gray water from house barges would be discharged directly into the water.
  • Economic impact: A 40-foot recreational boat slip might generate $153/night, while a similar house barge could bring $1,500/weekend. However, house barges do not contribute to the maritime repair industry (hauling, painting, fiberglass) unlike recreational vessels.
  • Other cities: Ocean City and Beach Haven prohibit commercial house barge rentals; Nantucket, Tisbury (Martha's Vineyard), Newport (RI), and Brookhaven (NY) ban house barges outright. Baltimore, Sausalito, Seattle, and National Harbor allow them. Wilmington (NC) permits STR barges in a dedicated marina away from the main viewshed.
  • Public survey results (summarized via ChatGPT for independence): Majority opposed STR house barges, demanded parity with land-based STR regulations, clearer definitions, stronger pump-out infrastructure, and placement restrictions away from residential areas.
  • City department responses: Generally neutral, noting potential tourism benefits but also concerns about property values, tax revenue, environmental impacts (black/gray water), and enforcement ambiguity. Fire department noted that house barges would fall under its purview if non-propelled, and regulations are often reactive to accidents.

Task Force Recommendations

  • No rentals of house barges (neither short-term nor long-term), to eliminate safety, noise, environmental, and enforcement issues.
  • Alter the 50-slip/2% rule to allow any marina to have at least one house barge (2% or one unit), but only for non-commercial, internal business use (e.g., fuel dock office, staff housing), not for rental to the public.
  • Clarify and modernize city code definitions of houseboats, house barges, charter boats, and liveaboards, and update enforcement mechanisms.
  • Existing city noise, STR, and zoning laws should be enforced; STR licenses can be revoked after violations.

Council Discussion

  • Alderman Arnett praised the thoroughness, noting the distinction between boats (navigable) and barges (residential) and that house barges are visually imposing and do not support the maritime repair industry.
  • Alderman Lyles requested the presentation and report be uploaded to Legistar. He asked for clarification on the recommendation: the final language prohibits all rentals (not just short-term) to close loopholes (e.g., renting for 91+ days to avoid STR rules). The task force confirmed this.
  • Alderman Savage expressed commitment to implement the recommendations in the next council term. He noted the need to clarify definitions in current code and acknowledged that most marinas currently do not allow house barges.
  • Deputy City Manager Jackie Gyle noted the task force is set to disband on December 18, 2025 (three months after the report).
  • Mayor Buckley thanked the task force and city staff, calling the work a city record speed for a task force.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal vote was taken; the work session was for information and discussion.
  • Council members committed to pursuing legislation in the next term to implement the task force's recommendations: banning all rentals of house barges, revising the slip-count rule, and updating definitions and enforcement.
  • The task force’s report and presentation will be uploaded to Legistar for future reference.
  • The task force will remain available for follow-up until its disbandment date in December 2025.

Meeting Transcript

2025 at 305. Sorry for the delay. At this time, please uh join me for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic, for which it stands one nation under ballot, indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mr. City Attendee, please present the today's item. Yes, sir. The item on the agenda today is ID 13125 task force to study houseboats, floating homes, and other commercial marine vessels presentation of findings. Presenters, Chair Caron, and Vice Chair Jabin Jabin representing the task force. Right, look here, Willow Habamaster scrolled up. Look at you guys. You'd have to share for this. If I may, Mr. Mayor, yes. Jackie Gyle, Deputy City Manager for Resilience Sustainability. So this work session was convenient to give the um report recommendations as required by resolution 4624 from the task force to study residential marine vessels. And the members of that task force were confirmed by council by resolution 1825 in March of this year. And they were tasked with producing their report and recommendations within six months, which very in a very organized, very efficient and very um professional way. This task force did put this together. I'm extremely impressed with the way they organized themselves and went about their business. And also from the city staff, our project lead was Tim Jacobs from the Harbor Master's Office, who also did an exemplary job. And I'll turn it over to Tim to kick it off. Microphone. It is we're on. Tim Jacobs from the Annapolis Harbor Master's Office. If you've got a chance to review this report of over 50 pages plus a PowerPoint, I met with these guys five times. If you look at the detail and intricacies and every facet uh that they've covered in this report, clearly they've put a lot of work outside of those meetings. Um, and I just want to take this opportunity to thank uh both Gee and Rod as well as the entire task force for going well beyond what I think anybody would have expected this report. Um, the the expertise and especially knowledge of everybody that's involved in this report shows. And uh with that, I'd like to just excuse me, introduce uh Mr. Gee Carone and Raj Aben, and thank you again. If I just interrupt for one moment, I also um neglected to acknowledge all the work the Harbor Master's Office put into this report, including to acting harbormaster Tyler Northfield and operations manager Jacob Gnold. Our turn. Hey there. Okay. So I will uh go by the presentation that we have there and just lead through it if that's possible. You can see all the folks that you appointed there, and none of this would be possible if it wasn't for the hard work of all the folks that are there. Um most of the writings were done by the folks that you see there and came out with a report uh initially. So I want to express my gratitude to all of these people who worked diligently throughout uh the last couple of months in uh getting the report done. Um I also want to recognize uh John Clinton and uh all the help we have gotten, the support we got when we asked for it. It was immediately present. Uh the survey that him and the Harbor Master's office uh did and worked with us when we had issues and questions. They were immediately addressed uh with no uh delays at all. Um the city departments as well uh in the append addendum D, you will see the results of their writings for all the city departments. So our thanks there. Uh I mentioned already the task force. Rod to my right, obviously, with his depth and knowledge of the industry, and two people in particular helped us. Uh we had internal meetings uh with Mary O'Brien and Jay Lunsford, who helped us uh collate a lot of these things together as well. Lastly but not the least, the people in Annapolis who then responded to the survey, which we've included the results of the survey in this report as well. Um, those were the things that we were asked to do. Uh, I think you know them very well what they were, and uh I would point you to the report in full to be able to see in detail what some of the findings were.

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