Alachua County loses appeal on airboat restriction ordinance

A panel of three appellate judges affirmed an earlier ruling that Alachua County’s airboat noise ordinance, which sought to prohibit the use of the vessels during certain hours, is unconstitutional.  

The ordinance was in conflict with state laws about airboat operations, Circuit Judges David Kreider, James Nilon and Craig DeThomasis wrote in a ruling signed Sept. 29.

The ordinance, originally approved by Alachua County voters in November 2010, prohibited the use of airboats between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. as the “most appropriate solution to the disturbance of sleep, peace, and welfare of residents caused by the excessive noise generated by airboats.”

Residents who live near lakes frequented by airboats have said in past county meetings that the noise can be excessive, sometimes rattling their windows and keeping them awake. 

The ordinance was largely unenforced for years, until last year the board of commissioners voted to have the sheriff’s office send deputies to patrol the waters and penalize boaters at Orange Lake out past the curfew.   

An Interlachen resident, William “Smokey” Schaus, received the first ticket for violating the ordinance a few weeks later on July 17, 2019.

In December, a county judge ruled that the ordinance conflicted with the state’s standard for vessel noise. Under the state law, a maximum sound level of 90 decibels at 50 feet from the vessel is allowed. For comparison, the sound of a lawn mower is about 90 decibels. 

The county ordinance conflicts with this, the court ruled, by effectively making the sound limit zero decibels. 

Schaus, who also lives around Orange Lake, said very few people filed official complaints about airboat noise at night around the lake in the past year. 

“I’m sure they have more complaints about people doing doughnuts in the road,” he said. “I don’t see where it’s a really big problem.”  

County spokesman Mark Sexton said it’s possible the county will appeal by the Dec. 3 deadline or rework the current ordinance so that it’s in line with state laws. 

“They’re looking into the available options right now,” he said.