Ordinance 03-075 Establishes Water Safety Regulations CITY OF SPOKANE VALLEY
SPOKANE COUNTY WASHINGTON
ORDINANCE NO. 03-075
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SPOKANE VALLEY,WASHINGTON,ESTABLISHING
WATER SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR THE
CITY OF SPOKANE VALLEY.
WHEREAS, the Spokane River, and other waterways within the city limits flow through the City
of Spokane Valley, and may be used for recreational purposes;
WHEREAS, water safety regulations are necessary to protect the health, welfare and safety of the
public; and
WHEREAS, the City Council desires to establish water safety regulations to accomplish that
goal;
NOW THEREFORE., the City Council of the City of Spokane Valley, Washington, ordains as follows:
Section 1. intent. The City of Spokane Valley declares that adequate water safety
regulations are necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Therefore, the intent of
this Ordinance is to promote safe recreational use of the waterways of the City.
Section 2. Definitions. In construing the provisions of this Ordinance, except where
otherwise plainly declared or clearly apparent from the context, words used in this Ordinance shall he
given their common and ordinary meaning and in addition,the following definitions shall apply:
(I) "Buoy" means a floating device or marker anchored in the water. All buoys, except for
recreational buoys, shall comply with the Uniform State Waterway Marking System (USWMS).
Additionally all buoys are subject to the Spokane County Shoreline Master Program which is
administered by the City of Spokane Valley Planning Department.
(2)"Buoy line" means a straight line that would exist if drawn between adjacent buoys.
(3)"Motorboat"means all boats and vessels that are self-propelled.
(4) "Moving water" shall be the Spokane River within the City limits, excluding the north half of
the Spokane River where Spokane County continues to have jurisdiction.
(5) "Operate" means to steer, direct or otherwise have physical control of a vessel that is
underway.
(6) "Personal flotation device" means a buoyancy device, life preserver, buoyant vest, ring buoy
or buoy cushion that is designed to float a person in the water and that has United Suites Coast Guard
approval.
(7) "Personal watercraft" means a vessel of less than sixteen feet that uses a motor powering and
water jet pump, as its primary source of motive power and that is designed to be operated by a person
sitting, standing or kneeling, or being towed behind the vessel, rather than in the conventional manner of
sitting or standing inside the vessel.
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(8) "Shoreline" means the existing intersection of water, which includes permitted appendenees,
with the ground surface.
(9)"Underway" means that a vessel is not at anchor,or made fast to the shore, or aground.
(10) "Vessel" means every description of watercraft on the water, other than a seaplane, used or
capable of being used as a means of transportation on the water. It does not include inner tubes, air
mattresses,small rafts, flotation devices or toys customarily used by swimmers.
(1 1) "Wake speed" means a speed not to exceed five miles per hour and not producing a wake to
exceed six inches in height at its apex.
(12) "Water skiing" means the physical act of being towed behind a vessel on, but not limited to,
any skis, aquaplane, kneeboard, tube or a device that requires the use of a tow prior to release such as a
surfboard or any other similar device.
(13) "Waterway" means any waters, lake, river, tributary canal, lagoon or connecting waters
within the City.
Section 3. Personal Flotation Device Required.
(I)No person may operate or permit to be operated a vessel underway, unless each person twelve
years of age or younger thereon is wearing a personal flotation device.
(2) All persons regardless of age shall wear a personal flotation device while on moving water.
Section 4. Speed Restrictions.
(1)No person shall operate a vessel at a speed greater than fifty miles per hour on any waterway.
(2)No person shall operate a vessel in excess of wake speed within one-hundred feet of:
(a)Any shoreline;
(b) Another moving or stationary vessel;
(c) Swimmer;
(d) S.C.U.B.A. dive flag; or
(e) Buoy line.
(3) No person shall operate a vessel on any waterway that has a width of two hundred feet or less
at its widest point at a speed in excess of wake speed within fifty feet of any:
(a)Shoreline;
(b)Another moving or stationary vessel;
(c) Swimmer;
(d) Buoy line.
(4) No person shall operate a vessel on any waterway from one-half hour after sunset to one-half
hour before sunrise at a speed in excess of fifteen miles per hour.
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Section 5. SCUBA Diving.
(1)Any person engaged in SCUBA diving shall mark the area in which such operations are being
conducted by the use of a diver's flag, which is red with a white diagonal stripe, at least twelve by twelve
inches.
(2) Any person engaged in SCUBA diving operations between sunset and sunrise shall mark such
location in which such operations are being conducted by the use of the diver's flag which is illuminated
and visible for a distance of one mile.
(3) All persons engaged in a SCUBA operation shall remain within fifty feet of their diving flag
upon surfacing.
Section 6. Water Skiing.
(1) No person shall engage in water skiing, except on a take-off, within one hundred feet of the
shoreline. Any take-off from within one hundred feet of the shoreline must be made outward and at right
angles to the shoreline. At no time can such take-off cause risk or hazard to other vessels or persons on
the water.
(2) No person or persons shall engage in water skiing within one hundred feet of any boat
launching ramp, motionless vessel, vessel underway, swimmer, buoy or shoreline.
(3) All persons engaging in water skiing shall comply with speed and distance regulations set
forth in this chapter with respect to buoy lines and shorelines during drop offs,
(4)No person operating a vessel shall follow behind a person (water skiing or being towed in any
manner) closer than three hundred feet nor cross the towing vessel's bow by less than two hundred feet,
nor come within one hundred feet of the person being towed.
(5)No person shall engage in water skiing or any other recreational activity involving the act, of
being towed by a vessel on any waterway from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise.
Section 7. Operator Age Requirements.
(1)No person under the age of ten years shall be allowed to operate a motorboat.
(2) Persons ten years of age to fourteen years of age may operate a motor driven boat of ten
horsepower or less. Persons fourteen years of age and older may operate any motor driven boat.
(3) No owner of any vessel or person who is in control of a vessel shall knowingly permit the
operation of such vessel upon any waterway in violation of the provisions of this section.
Section 8. Buoys.
(1) Speed/no-wake buoys also know as regulatory markers shall be placed one hundred feet from
the established high water mark or seventy-five feet from an appendence. A permitted appendence, such
as a dock, shall constitute the shoreline for the purpose of this section.
(2) Recreational buoys(i.e., slalom courses) shall be placed one hundred feet from the established
high water mark and if left unattended from sunset to sunrise shall be available for public use.
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(3) Mooring buoys shall be placed within fifty feet of the shoreline. Provided, however, mooring
buoys may be placed greater than fifty feet from the shoreline if such buoys are appropriately marked as
provided for in the USWMS, illuminated and maintained with a bright flashing white light during the
hours between sunset and sunrise.
(4) The City Police Department shall attach a bright colored notice giving the owner seven clays
to remove or replace any buoy in violation of the USWMS. After the seventh day, the buoy may be
removed by the City Police Department. Provided, however, the City Police Department may remove any
buoy, at any time, without notification to its owner, when the City Police Department deems the buoy to
be a hazard to navigation.
Section 9. Hazard to Navigation. No person may place or cause to be placed any ski, swim
dock, buoy or floating course in waterways that creates a hazard to navigation.
Section 10. Motorized Vehicles Prohibited Area.
(1) No person shall operate a motor boat or personal water craft on the Spokane River from its
intersection with the west side of the Barker Road Bridge to its intersection with the west side of the
Centennial Trail Bridge at Plante Ferry Park from April 16th to October 14th of any given year.
(2) This section does not apply to police, fire, or emergency vessels in enforcement, training, or
rescue.
Section 11. Violation — Misdemeanor - Penalty. Any person violating any of the provisions
of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished
by imprisonment in the Spokane County Jail for a period of not more than ninety days, or pay a fine not
more than one thousand dollars, or by both such imprisonment and fine.
Section 12. Violation—Civil Tnfraction—Penalty.
(I) in addition to or as an alternative to those provisions set forth in Section I I, a violation of any
of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a civil infraction subject to a monetary penalty in the
amount as provided for in the Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (TRU).
(2) For the purpose of this section, the Spokane Valley Police Department is the person
authorized to enforce the provisions of this Chapter.
(3) The procedures for the issuance of a Notice of Infraction, hearings, assessment and payment
of monetary penalties shall be in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 7.80 RCW.
Section 13. Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence or clause of this chapter is for
any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this
chapter.
Section 14. Additional Provisions. The provisions of this chapter shall be in addition to and
not a substitute for or limited by any other applicable laws.
Section 15. Effective date. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect five days after
publication of this Ordinance or a summary thereof occurs in the official newspaper of the City as
provided by law.
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Passed on this 12th day of August, 2003.
Mayor, Michael DeVI mind
AI TS
ailil
1 f/7r _
ity Clerk, Christine ainbridgc
Approved As To Form:
Wit City Vney. Stanl y M. Schwartz
Date of Publication: (9_ diz 3
Effective Date: — ay-a7-a7
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