Homeowner Spent Years Trying to Get Floating Eyesore Removed

Dr. Jim Edmiston called NBC 6 Responds as a last-ditch effort to try to get a floating dock and boat hoist removed.

It was visible from his home that backs up to Biscayne Bay.

About two years ago, while sitting on his dock he noticed what looked like another dock floating freely in the bay.

He says the dilapidated and rusted out dock and boat lift appeared after a storm in late 2017 and it traveled the bay ever since.

He says it was spotted near Pelican Harbor Marina, then the center of the bay, after that he says neighbors spotted it in the 90th street canal, and then it wound up back in the bay where he could see it from his yard.

"Besides being an eyesore, the thing is dangerous to boaters," Edmiston said.

Jim says he reported this issue to the Coast Guard, then Miami-Dade County's Marine Patrol, and then Miami-Dade County's Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources (DERM).

But he says he was never able to track down an agency responsible for removing it.

So he decided to make one more phone call.

"I was watching one of your stories one night and I said what the hell, I will try calling you guys," Edmiston said.

When we reached out to Miami-Dade County, a county representative sent us the following response by email.

"DERM has not received any complaints about this object, but staff had discovered it recently and has been trying to remove it. It’s a hydro hoist that seems to have been abandoned in the bay. As I mentioned, DERM staff has been trying to remove it, but the mechanism is stuck in the bottom, and they haven’t been able to. Instead, they’re in the process of hiring a contractor to remove it, so we hope to have it removed soon."

In a separate email we were told, "As I had mentioned, DERM staff found it in the last few months. One thing to note, DERM is not the agency responsible for its removal, although we intend to remove it. There really is no agency that is 'officially' designated responsibility for removing items such as these in the open Bay. However, when we find them, or we are notified about them, we remove them when and if we can, understanding that it’s the right thing to do."

Within weeks of our email, a work crew showed up to dismantle the floating eyesore.

"You spend a lot of time trying to get something done and nobody cares, you guys come along and magically gets done," Edmiston said.