There’s been a law in Georgia for about the last 20 years that you cannot live on your boat. Not officially, anyway. Lot’s of people find ways around this law, just like any other law. As we’re often sticklers for following the rules (even stupid rules) we never really pursued living on a boat in Savannah. We love Savannah, and have always wanted to live on a boat – but obviously the two were not compatible. Until now (or 8 months ago). Rumor has it that a law was passed and took effect in January 2012 that allows boaters to officially live on their boats.
I decided to Google that law for two reasons:
1. I never understood why a state would FORBID a boater to live on the water, and I want the backstory.
2. Still a stickler for rule following, I want to be sure I don’t go buy a boat only to find out that I can’t really live on it. (That would seriously suck.)
So here’s what Mrs. Google has shared with me today:
Here’s an exert from another article:
The law’s original intent when it was passed in the early 1990s as an amendment to the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act was to address a
problem of people living aboard makeshift rafts and stilt houses on the Altamaha River and discharging untreated sewage overboard.
I mean, really people. If waste disposal is an issue – fine those found to be breaking waste disposal laws. Don’t forbid people from living on a boat. Surely there is some other (perhaps, gasp, $$ based) reason for prohibiting liveaboards?
I love Savannah. It’s a gorgeous place. We’ve spent 14 years here – almost more time than I’ve spent anywhere else. We have loads of friends. We have loads of access to water. But I want to be IN water. ON water. SURROUNDED by water. I promise promise promise I will dispose of my waste properly (ew).
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