The Annapolis City Council wants to study marine residential vessels, including houseboats, and their potential impact on businesses and city services.

The request for more information is included in a resolution, sponsored by Ward 8 Alderman Ross Arnett, a Democrat, introduced at Monday night’s council meeting. It would establish a task force “to make informed decisions about residential and commercial marine vessels in city waters.” Alderman Rob Savidge, a Democrat representing Ward 7, is a co-sponsor.

If adopted, the task force would include representatives from the maritime industry, recreational, commercial and waterside boating communities, city residents, the port warden and Maritime Advisory Board. The city harbormaster, Beth Bellis, would oversee the body, which would have a year to gather information and submit a report to the council for “possible action.”

The task force will look at what benefits and drawbacks houseboats, floating homes and other marine vessels bring to the city’s maritime industry.

Currently, the city regulates what they call “housebarges,” defined as any vessel, boat, craft or structure designed to be used as a residential, business or social club structure. Housebarges should not have “self-propelled navigation,” the law states.

“One of the things that we do not know is marina by marina, how many slips they have… and therefore, we don’t know how many slips there are in the city,” Arnett said Wednesday.

Evan Thalenberg, an Eastport resident, asked the council to study the issue. He pointed to places such as Ocean City, which banned commercial houseboats from its marinas earlier this summer.

“I am not saying that we need a permanent ban. That’s not what I am arguing for, but I am saying that basic due diligence and good governance requires the formation of a task force to at least look into the basis for the decision made by Ocean City… ” he said.

Alderwoman Shelia Finlayson, a Democrat representing Ward 4, said Monday that she was involved in meetings around August “to bring everyone together who had any knowledge, historical references or data about housebarges [or] houseboats.” The purpose of those meetings was to “try to quell the concerns about houseboats destroying the sailing industry of Annapolis.”

“I thought that if I brought all the stakeholders together, then we could talk through what all the issues were [and] come to some compromising position,” Finlayson said.

“Obviously, that did not work,” she said at Monday’s meeting. Despite voting to introduce the resolution, she wants the task force to not operate for a year. She cited her concern that the current council would not be able to act on the data by the time the report is issued, referring to next year’s municipal election. The council cannot leave legislation for the next elected council to pass, according to Michael Lyles, the city attorney.

Current city code limits a housebarge’s dimensions and where they can be located. Measured from the waterline, housebarges within 20 feet in width, 46 feet in length or 14 feet in height may be docked or moored for 48 hours. Conforming housebarges can access waterfront facilities only if they are docked in a commercial or public marina with 50 or more slips. However, housebarges cannot take up more than 2% of the facility’s slips, according to the law.

Last year, Daniel Roche, owner of the Eastport Yacht Center, challenged the current regulations by suing the city after he was fined $2,600 for docking housebarges in city waters. Roche argued that his vessel — which he rented out overnight — was a houseboat rather than a housebarge because there was a motor attached to it, and that there was no permitting process for him to follow.

The city denied that a permitting system did not exist, according to court records. Jacqueline Guild, deputy city manager for Resilience and Sustainability, said in an email Monday that there is a permit for residential and occupancy uses that applies to housebarges on the city’s online permit application portal.

The case was dismissed last year, according to court documents. Roche did not have to pay the fines, Guild said in an email. Roche said he wants the task force to be established so that the council can address what he views as conflicts within the code as to how these types of vessels are defined, and hopefully, pave the way for more of them in the city.

“I think the code needs to be fixed. And then I hope the city would take the approach of, ‘Yeah, let’s make sure people can do this in a nice, safe, appropriate way and fix our code,’” he said Friday.

Mayor Gavin Buckley said that he is working on legislation that could address what he identifies as “anomalies” in the current code.

“We are working through the details carefully because the goal is to ensure consistency and equity,” he said in an email statement. “There are a number of anomalies in our current definitions and requirements for houseboats and I want to make sure that our definitions are consistent; that our code complies with state, safety, and other requirements; and that we provide maximum clarity and equity for everyone.”

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