bookcases or hanging baskets for her to use as 

 stowage. 



The situation is similar at Andy and Suzan's. Even 

 with 800 square feet of space, it seems they always 

 need more. The closets are packed, and things are 

 tucked here and there all over the house. 



Residents never hesitate to tell visitors one other 

 thing about the boat yard — it has a monster. The il- 

 lusive Masonboro Monster lurks underneath the 

 boats that moor there, grasps onto them and never 

 lets them go. Sailors come intending to stay only a 

 night or two and end up docking for years. People 

 take trips and come back, and others come back 

 seasonally. 



Bob Pierce was one of those who became perma- 

 nently entangled in the tentacles of the monster. He 

 first came to the boat yard in 1972 when he and his 

 wife were sailing the coast. They liked the place so 

 much that every time they traveled by it they would 

 stop and stay awhile. When Pierce and his wife stop- 

 ped sailing, the tides carried them back to Masonboro, 

 where they built their floating home. 



"We had been cruising, and we'd been on the water 

 for 14 or 15 years," Pierce says. "We liked being on 

 the water. We liked waterfront property, but we 



Photo by Kathy Hart 



Mary Jo Bennett 



didn't like to rake leaves or mow the lawn." 



Like Pierce, "People just keep coming back," says 

 Mary Jo. "Yes, that's the charm of the yard." 



— Sarah Friday 



New wave in housing 



Regulating life on the water 



Most people prefer to live on dry 

 land. But others like a wetter 

 environment. They'll choose a house 

 that rolls with the swells over one on 

 solid ground any day. 



More people are moving into 

 floating homes as a way to obtain low- 

 cost waterfront housing. But the in- 

 crease is causing some headaches for 

 state and local governments as they 

 struggle to regulate waterborne hous- 

 ing. 



At the base of the struggle lie three 

 main questions: what is a floating 

 home, who has the authority to 

 regulate it, and why does it need 

 regulation? 



Take the first question. What is the 

 difference between a floating home, a 

 houseboat and a boat? The answer de- 

 pends on who is doing the defining. 



According to the N.C. Coastal 

 Resources Commission, a boat is a self- 

 propelled vessel that is used to travel 

 from place to place by water. 



Sailboats, power boats and what most 

 people consider as houseboats — self- 

 propelled trailer-like structures at- 

 tached to a hull — fall into this 

 category. 



On the other hand, a floating home, 

 called a "floating structure" by the 

 CRC, is a vessel that has no means of 

 operative propulsion, is inhabited or 

 used commercially in one place for 

 more than 30 days, and contains more 

 than 200 square feet of living space. 

 For the most part, a floating home 

 looks like a house built on a barge. 



New Hanover County, the only 

 county in North Carolina to 

 regulate floating homes (see story, 

 page 5), considers a floating structure 

 any "primarily immobile" vessel or 

 structure used as a permanent 

 residence, business or club site. It 

 makes no difference whether the vessel 

 or structure has a means of propulsion. 



The definitions for floating homes 

 also vary from state to state. In Seat- 

 tle, Wash., a floating home is a 

 building constructed on a float, which 

 is used partially or entirely as a single- 

 family dwelling. 



Federally, no distinction exists be- 

 tween floating homes and boats. 

 Anything that floats is considered a 

 vessel. 



Why all the definitions? Govern- 

 ments need to define floating homes to 

 regulate them. States such as Califor- 

 nia, Washington and New Jersey were 

 faced with growing numbers of floating 

 homes using their waters as a full-time 

 residence and no means to govern 

 them. Land-based laws didn't apply. 

 And federal maritime laws didn't 

 tackle pertinent local concerns — 

 density, zoning, water quality and 

 provision of land-based services (trash 

 collection, sewer and water service, 

 police and fire protection). 



Continued on next page 



