Yakima, WA Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

58 RCW, and approved by the Department of Ecology. 030 requires every boating facility and residential moorage structure to be "the minimum size necessary to meet the needs of the use," and new pier or dock construction other than single-family docks must show a specific need for a water-dependent or public-access use. New residential development of two or more dwellings must use a joint-use or community dock "rather than allow individual docks for each residence" when feasible. Docks, piers and any over-water structure for temporary or permanent boat moorage are flatly prohibited on free-flowing streams and rivers under subsection D, which reaches the Yakima and Naches River shorelines within city jurisdiction.

Subsection F sets the only numeric dock limits in the code, and they apply to two specific lakes, not city-wide: on Aspen Lake, dock length is capped at 8 feet measured perpendicular from the OHWM, and no new dock may be built directly across from an existing one; on Willow Lake, the cap is 12 feet perpendicular from the OHWM. Public, commercial or community boating facilities face a longer list of siting, fuel-handling, wastewater and access requirements under subsection E. Violations are enforced under the SMP's own enforcement chapter, and administrative decisions on dock permits can be appealed to the city hearing examiner, then to the state Shoreline Hearings Board.