On Monday, June 10, 2024, Code Enforcement officers recently joined staff from the Environmental Resource Management Dept. and partnering agencies to begin surveying the waters around Peanut Island and provide notice to any illegally anchored or moored floating structures in accordance with PBC Ordinance 2021-017, the Cindy DeFilippo Floating Structure Ordinance. 

Any structure that does not meet the State statutory definition (Florida Statute 327.02) of a vessel may be subject to enforcement.  Floating structures like the one pictured have the potential to sink and impact submerged resources like seagrass and reef habitat, in addition to polluting the waters of Lake Worth Lagoon. 

In response to a noticeable increase in these floating structures, Palm Beach County's Board of County Commissioners passed an initial floating structures ordinance in 2015, which was amended in 2021 to become the current Cindy DeFilippo Floating Structure Ordinance (PBC Ordinance 2021-017).  This ordinance laid the foundation that allows the County and our partners to “notice" and remove these structures, but lacked a dedicated funding source for this work.  Last year, the County and our partners in the Lake Worth Lagoon Initiative (lwli.org) were successful in securing $90,000 in state-appropriated funding to begin this important work. 

Monday's survey and noticing work will be the first concrete step in the process to remove these potentially damaging floating structures, with the hope that this work will also deter future placement of floating structures in the area around Peanut Island, and in Lake Worth Lagoon more broadly.