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Annapolis harbor staff urges ban on short‑term rentals of house barges, recommends winter anchoring limits
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Summary
Harbormaster and staff presented a task‑force recommendation to prohibit house barges and floating platforms from operating as short‑term rentals in Annapolis waters, urged a winter anchoring ban, and proposed a mooring‑spacing code correction to avoid unintentionally penalizing existing moorings.
Harbormaster Beth Bellas told the City Council that a 15‑member task force convened in April 2025 recommended an ordinance prohibiting the use of house barges and similar floating platforms as short‑term rentals in Annapolis waters. Bellas said the recommendation aims to close gaps in Title 15 that currently make enforcement difficult and to protect navigation, marinas and long‑standing live‑aboard communities.
“Based on the task force report, our office supports prohibiting short‑term rentals on houseboats and other vessels,” Bellas said, describing examples the staff documented and noting the group’s 50‑page report. Harbormaster staff and planning officials emphasized the difficulty of certifying floating platforms for safe, residential occupancy and the potential for short‑term renters unfamiliar with boat systems to cause safety and environmental problems.
Task‑force and staff presenters raised several concerns: gray water and sewage management on rented platforms; navigational hazards when non‑self‑propelled platforms are tied to vessels; the possibility that slip scarcity and marina fees would rise if house barges proliferate; and the city’s limited staff capacity for ongoing vessel surveying and permitting. Tim Jacobs, a staff presenter, said the permutations of platforms, private piers and rentals require careful definitions before the city writes enforceable code.
Bellas also asked council for direction on two related items. First, staff recommended a seasonal prohibition on anchored vessels in city waters during winter months to reduce welfare and rescue calls; a December 1–March 20 window was discussed as a starting point. Tim Jacobs cautioned that the office would need lead time to help affected people plan winter storage and social‑service transitions.
Second, staff pointed to a drafting error in Title 15 that measures spacing relative to vessels rather than to moorings or shoreline features. “If we enforced the code as written, every mooring would be in violation,” Bellas said; staff proposed language to measure spacing between moorings or between moorings and structures rather than between vessels, and characterized that change as a corrective cleanup rather than a policy shift.
Council members broadly praised the staff’s research and the task force’s work but differed on some details. Several members supported the recommendation to prohibit short‑term rental use of house barges, citing public‑safety, environmental and equity concerns. Others said narrowly defined maritime uses (seasonal worker housing, maritime offices) might be considered under a strict permitting and inspection regime.
Staff noted there are effectively no platforms grandfathered under the pre‑1984 exception; they estimated the present number of house‑boat/house‑barge short‑term rental listings on commercial platforms is small but growing and that enforcement tools are limited without clearer code language. Bellas asked whether the council wanted staff to pursue ordinance language that would implement the task‑force recommendations and the mooring cleanup; council members referred related first‑reader code language on moorings to Environmental Matters and the Maritime Advisory Board for further review.
The council did not adopt final code changes at the meeting; instead, city staff will develop draft ordinances and next steps for committee consideration.
