Pontoon Approvals

In this weeks blog i wanted to explain a little bit about getting a floating pontoon or fixed timber jetty approved in Southeast Queensland. The process begins by firstly making sure you have enough water space to allow for a pontoon allocation, you can read this post i did in early August on “Can i have a pontoon on my water front block“. The short and sweet of it is that most areas require a minimum distance in from each boundary of 1.5m so if you measured your block width at the waters edge and had for example 10m then you technically can allocate a 7m pontoon for that block. Now keep in mind there are some good options if you have a smaller water front block, for example you could put a 6m x 1.5m finger pontoon in, finger pontoons are installed straight out off your block and allow you to have more space for a boat when on a smaller property. The traditional T-Head pontoon (shape of the letter T) style are more common and are used on average to large properties.

The approval process across the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast vary from council to council with a recent change to the Gold Coast earlier this year bringing in the Gold Coast Waterway Authority who are responsible for the future of the waterways and keeping all pontoons within there entitlements and enforcing those that don’t. Also implemented for most of the Gold Coast recently was an increased fee to SARA (State Assessment and Referral Agency) who now process part of a pontoon of jetty approval and charge either one fee or two fees depending on your location, those on natural waterways and those on man made canals have different fees apply to each. The one off fees have a cost of either $1411.00, $2116.00 or both combined. These fees are above and beyond the standard fees charged by council and other departments.

Every pontoon submitted to council for an approval requires a complete set of engineered drawings that show neighboring structures and boundary information including RL levels and more, we offer all your pontoon approvals in one package and handle all aspects of this process on your behalf. The average time for a Gold Coast pontoon approval is 3-4 weeks with 2-7 days drafting making us one of, if not the quickest turn around in the industry. Brisbane River Pontoons can take up to and beyond 6 months depending on location and have been found to be one of the longest processing times in the Southeast, however it is best to start your approval process immediately to compensate for the time required. Sunshine Coast takes around the same time as Gold Coast and in some cases a little longer, again this is location dependent.

For more information on our pontoon range or any approval questions feel free to give us a call on 1300 207 848 and we would be more than happy to help.