Operation in certain areas prohibited; no wake or idle speed areas; marking by buoys or signs.
Columbus City Codes § 921.08
in effect921.08 - Operation in certain areas prohibited; no wake or idle speed areas; marking by buoys or signs.
(A) No person shall operate a vessel within or through any area that has been buoyed off designating it as an area in which vessels are prohibited.
(B) (1)
No person shall operate a vessel at greater than idle speed or at a speed that creates a wake under any of the following circumstances:
(a) Within three hundred (300) feet of any marina, boat-docking facility, boat gasoline dock, launch ramp, recreational boat harbor:
(b) Within any area buoyed or marked as a no wake area on waterways of the city.
(2) Subsection (B)(1) of this section does not apply in any of the following places:
(a) Any other area designated by the director of recreation and parks unless it is marked by a buoy or sign as a no wake or idle speed area.
(b) Within any waterways of the city as permitted by the director of recreation and parks who has authorized the holding of a special event of a community nature on that water.
(C) No person shall operate a vessel in any area of restricted or controlled operation in violation of the designated restriction.
(D) No person shall operate a vessel within three hundred (300) feet of an official diver's flag unless the person is tendering the diving operation.
(E) All areas of restricted or controlled operation as described in subsection (A) of this section or as provided for in Section 921.14 of the city code or similar statute of the Revised Code shall be marked by a buoy or sign designating the restriction. All waters surrounded by or lying between such a buoy or sign and the closest shoreline are thereby designated as an area in which the designated restrictions shall apply in the operation of any vessel.
Markings or buoys designating areas of restricted or controlled operation shall be so spaced as to show all around the horizon. Lineal spacing between the buoys shall be such that under normal conditions of visibility any buoy shall be readily visible from the next adjacent buoy. No colors or symbols, except as provided for in rules of the Chief of the Division of Watercraft of the state of Ohio, shall be used on buoys or signs for marking closed or controlled areas of boating waters.
(F) No person shall permit any vessel to be operated on the waterways of the city in violation of this section.
(Ord. 805-05 § 1 (part).)
Source: City of Columbus, City Codes and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/oh/columbus/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT9STPAPUPRCO_CH921WARE_921.08OPCEARPRNOWAIDSPARMABUSIFetched: 10/27/2026