Pontoon Repairs FAQ — Port Stephens

Yes. NSW DPI includes the whole Port Stephens estuary in the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, along with the Karuah and Myall Rivers up to the tidal limit. DPI says a marine parks permit is needed for works that damage, take or interfere with habitat, including sand and shells. Its examples include driving posts or piles, building pontoons or jetties, and installing or relocating a mooring. Applications go to DPI Fisheries on the fisheries and marine protected area permit form. If your job involves any of these, check with DPI Fisheries before work starts.

Under NSW Crown Lands' Domestic Waterfront Licences Guidelines (February 2023 edition), minor repairs count as exempt development, provided they use similar materials and don't enlarge the footprint or change the height. The examples given are replacing timber boards, decking or other non-load-bearing parts, and painting. Larger works may need Crown Lands landowner's consent, followed by a complying development certificate (CDC) or a development application (DA). These rules cover structures on Crown land or Crown waterways, not council-owned waterways such as some canal estates. Separately, DPI lists driving posts or piles in the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park as work that needs a marine parks permit.

Under the Crown Lands guidelines, that depends on the waterway's Domestic Waterfront Structures Land Owner's Consent Strategy. If there is no strategy, or your frontage is mapped orange, you need letters of advice from DPI Fisheries and Transport for NSW (Maritime) before lodging for landowner's consent to build a pontoon. A frontage mapped green can go straight to lodgement, and one mapped red should not proceed. Check the Fisheries Spatial Data Portal to see whether and how your Port Stephens frontage is mapped. Domestic waterfront licences are granted for 20 years, or the remaining life of the structure if that is shorter, and Crown Lands can cancel them at any time.

Not on Crown land or a Crown waterway, going by the Crown Lands guidelines. They do not permit floating air docks, dry docks, or modular or storage pontoons used to store or antifoul boats. Modular or floating pontoons used as a walkway for water access are not permitted either. A single floating pontoon at the end of a ramp may be permitted, and it can be stabilised by pylons, but multiple pontoons joined together are not. These rules don't cover council-owned waterways, such as some canal estates, so check who owns the water in front of your property.

NSW DPI's guidance on moorings in marine parks says a mooring cannot be installed or relocated in a sanctuary zone, except in areas the rules set aside. Every mooring application is referred for native title notification, which takes at least 28 days. DPI will not grant consent until any required council development consent and a Transport for NSW mooring licence are in place. For the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, DPI lists Port Stephens Council and MidCoast Council as the councils to check with, and councils must refer mooring development applications in marine parks to DPI Fisheries for concurrence.

Generally, yes, if the frame and decking above the floats are still sound. Float replacement is priced on how many floats need replacing and their size. A new pontoon is priced on its size, materials, the site and the pile or mooring system it needs. Routine upkeep such as deck repairs, hardware checks and corrosion treatment is priced on size, age and exposure. In Port Stephens, a job that drives piles or builds a pontoon also needs a DPI marine parks permit, which adds a step before work starts.