Pittsburgh Issues Boat Removal Notices After American Heritage Blocked
Under Act 28, qualifying abandoned vessels require fourteen days' notice before removal and thirty days' notice before disposal.
The 150-passenger American Heritage was blocked from docking along Pittsburgh’s North Shore on Friday morning after encountering two boats moored where they were not permitted. Workers from the river cruise ship moved the boats.
Pennsylvania’s Act 28 expanded the removal process for abandoned boats in January, but a vessel generally must remain on public property for more than 48 hours before it can be presumed abandoned.
Built in 2015, the 3,800-gross-ton American Heritage is a 295-foot paddlewheeler.
Posted rules for North Shore Riverfront Park prohibit recreational boaters from blocking or interfering with commercially licensed users of the park and riverfront. The Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County regulates the area.
Authority starts abandoned-boat notification process
Act 28 allows the authority to remove qualifying abandoned vessels without liability. The law requires 14 days’ notice before a boat can be removed and 30 days’ notice before it can be disposed of, after which ownership can be relinquished and penalties imposed.
The authority said it had identified the vessels violating the park’s rules and had “initiated the at-risk, derelict, and abandoned boat notification process” with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. It gave the commission contact information for the owners, and removal notices were issued.
Under commission guidance, municipalities and law enforcement agencies must notify the commission within seven calendar days of identifying an abandoned or derelict vessel on Commonwealth waters or public property.
The Fish and Boat Commission typically acts within one day of receiving the required information. It then sends a certified letter to the owner, beginning a 14-calendar-day period in which the vessel must be removed.
