Georgia flip-flops on private dock length rule proposed for coast

Private docks that stretch farther than an aircraft carrier is long won’t be built along the Georgia coast after all.

The board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday amended a proposal that would have allowed docks up to 1,500 feet in length — 1,650 feet in special circumstances — to cross state-owned marshlands.

It now is recommending instead to keep the existing 1,000-foot restriction — but to allow the width to double.

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The DNR’s latest proposal will be published for public comment and will return to the board for consideration at its Dec. 1 meeting.

The move is the latest in an evolving effort to revise the state’s permitting rules for private docks that link waterfront homes and other upland properties to deep-water rivers and creeks. The state agency launched the effort in 2022, convened a stakeholder committee in 2024 and has twice previously published proposals regarding dock sizes.

The change from 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet, proposed in August, stoked controversy and public pushback, particularly following the emergence of emails obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act. One exchange involved former and current DNR officials appealing to a DNR board member, Bill Jones III, for longer walkways to benefit two marshfront property owners currently prohibited from building docks.

The Current, a coastal Georgia-based online news organization, was the first to obtain and publish those emails.

Public comment on the 1,500-foot allowance drew 342 responses, all but four of them negative. Eight attendees at Tuesday’s DNR board meeting spoke against the proposal, with several denouncing what they perceive as backroom dealings revealed in the emails.

The widespread public opposition led Jones III, who lives on St. Simons Island and is the board’s coastal district representative, to open board discussion on the rule by making a motion to alter the proposal to 1,000 feet.

The amendment passed, with another board member, Harley Yancey, calling Jones’ proposal a “happy medium” when it comes to dock length.

“We aren’t going to make everyone happy,” he said.

The latest proposal is still likely to draw criticism from conservationists and environmentalists because it does not address another dock size issue: total dock footprint.

The most prominent argument against the 1,500-foot-long docks was the impact of walkway shading on the marsh ecosystem. Studies by the University of Georgia indicate marsh grass that receives limited direct sunlight is significantly less dense than unshaded marshland.

The amended rule would allow 1,000-foot-long docks to be up to 6 feet in width, meant to be enough to accommodate golf carts and ATVs to move gear or older or disabled family members along the walkway.