Albemarle County, VA Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

Sec. 11-304 regulates uses and activities on the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, one of the public water supply reservoirs the county lists to prevent pollution of the drinking water supply. Subsection B authorizes fishing conducted in compliance with state regulations, canoeing, non-motorized boating, hiking, birdwatching, and picnicking as of right within the reservoir's mapped boundaries. Subsection C requires a permit issued by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority for two specific activities: boating with boats operated by an internal combustion engine, and the establishment of a private boat dock.

Subsection D bans, without exception, any activity not expressly permitted, listing swimming, hunting, trapping, discharging firearms, and camping as examples. Subsection E lets the RWSA, the county's Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries use motorized boats for official purposes, requires that any otherwise-prohibited motor be tilted to a nonoperating position, and requires removable gas tanks to be taken off the boat before entering reservoir waters; it also restricts trailer-launched boats to improved access ramps approved by the RWSA and the county parks department.

Subsection F confines motor vehicles to designated paved or improved roads and parking areas, and subsection G bans fires except in a picnic grill or one approved by the RWSA as part of its watershed management program. 2-2109.