When Arkup in 2017 unveiled its idea for a solar-powered, high-tech "livable yacht" — sort of like a houseboat, but luxurious and shaped more like a house than a boat — it was touted as a solution for areas facing climate change. Its inventors imagined whole communities of resilient floating homes.
But now that a prototype has been built and is anchored in Miami Beach, local residents aren't so keen.
An Arkup floating home, for sale for $5.5M, is 75 feet long with four bedrooms spanning 4,350 SF. Like a boat, it can float along, or essentially be anchored — but instead of a traditional anchor, it has hydraulic legs that go to the sea floor and stabilize it.
Neighbors are complaining that the project may be damaging the sea floor, RE Miami Beach reports. They are also complaining that it interferes with their privacy and quality of life.
There has long been tension between people who live on their boats, some of which are poorly maintained and unattractive, and people with waterfront homes, who are entitled to certain "riparian rights," or rights that come with the shoreline, such as the view.
However, state law governs anchoring in public waterways, and boats are allowed to anchor so long as they are not in a channel.
Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola has been exploring ways to regulate and possibly prohibit the floating homes, according to RE Miami Beach.
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