§200-10 Permits and fees for state small boat harbors; permit transfers. (a) No person shall moor a vessel in a state small boat harbor without:
(b) In order to obtain a permit or a permit renewal, the owner of a vessel shall provide, at the owner's own expense:
(c) The permittee shall pay moorage fees to the department for the use permit that shall be based on but not limited to the use of the vessel, the vessel's effect on the harbor, use of facilities, and the cost of administering the mooring program; provided that:
(d) The department shall not renew or issue a permit to a person who is not the owner of the vessel which is moored or which the person desires to moor in a state small boat harbor. No use permit may be transferred unless specifically provided by law. Any individual who is an owner of a vessel used for commercial purposes, including commercial fishing as a principal means of livelihood, and possesses a valid mooring permit or commercial permit, or both, in accordance with the rules adopted by the chairperson pursuant to chapter 91, may transfer ownership of the vessel from personal ownership to corporate or other business ownership without terminating the right to moor or operate the vessel under the permit or permits. The existing permit or permits shall be reissued in the name of the transferee corporation or other business entity.
(e) For the purposes of this section, "person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, trust, association, joint venture, organization, institution, or any other legal entity, and "owner" includes the legal owner of a vessel where there is no security interest held by anyone on the vessel, a buyer under a purchase money security interest, a debtor under any security interest, a demise charterer of a vessel, or a lessee or charterer of a vessel under a lease or charter which provides the lessee or charterer with exclusive right to possession of the vessel to the exclusion of the lessor or the person from whom the vessel is chartered. "Controlled group" means parent-subsidiary corporations, brother-sister corporations, or constructive owner. "Transfer" includes any change in control, by whatever means, of any entity that owns or controls, directly or indirectly, a use permit. No permittee shall be allowed to moor a leased vessel in a berth unless the terms of the lease are set at fair market value. A "legal owner" includes a person who holds unencumbered title to a vessel or is a secured party under a security interest in the vessel. An owner who is issued a permit to moor a vessel in a state small boat harbor shall notify the department in writing of a transfer of interest or possession in the vessel within seven days of transfer.
(f) Any person who owns an interest in a corporation or other business entity or is part of a controlled group possessing a valid commercial permit issued by the department, in accordance with rules adopted by the chairperson pursuant to chapter 91, may transfer any or all stock or other interest to another person without terminating the right of the corporation or business entity to retain or renew its commercial permit or any other permit issued to it by the department; provided that:
Any person possessing a commercial permit shall be required to meet minimum revenue standards, as a condition of retaining or renewing the commercial permit.
When an application for renewal of a commercial permit is made at least sixty days prior to expiration of the commercial permit, the department shall review the application and, within thirty days of receipt of the application, shall renew the permit or notify the applicant that the application is incomplete or cannot be renewed and explain any reasons for nonrenewal. Within thirty days of receipt of the applicant's amended application, the department shall either renew the permit or notify the applicant that the permit will not be renewed.
If the holder of a commercial permit fails to timely obtain renewal of a commercial permit, the holder of the permit shall automatically be granted a thirty-day extension from the date of the existing permit's expiration to obtain a permit renewal.
(g) The department may designate moorage space within state small boat harbors to accommodate commercial fishing vessels and transient vessels.
(h) All revenues from the foregoing operations shall be deposited in the boating special fund. [L 1991, c 272, pt of §2; am L 2005, c 126, §1; am L 2011, c 197, §7; am L 2014, c 10, §1 and c 84, §1; am L 2015, c 90, §1; am L 2016, c 219, §1; am L 2021, c 42, §2]