What Constitutes a 'Floating Home'?

For more than a year, city officials have been drafting an ordinance that defines exactly what floating dwellings are and where they should be allowed to be built.

The ordinance's third and final reading will be presented before City Council Oct. 14, when council members must vote yea or nay.

'It took us that long to get the ordinance prepared,' Ms. Burris said.

The zoning inspector said city officials wanted to make sure the floating dwelling definition did not allow for any person with a boat to park his or her floating craft along the shore and call it a house.

'Floating dwellings cannot be self-propelled. They cannot have a motor,' she said. 'They have to be built to the state of Ohio building standards.'"