If there is one thing we would put in front of every Lake George homeowner planning waterfront work, it is this: the permit is the schedule. Construction is predictable. Permitting is the part that takes months and the part that catches people out.
This is a plain-language guide to who is involved, what they limit, and how to avoid losing a season.
Who regulates what
Lake George Park Commission (LGPC)
The primary authority for anything in the water. LGPC regulation 646-1 is unambiguous: no person shall construct, erect, place, alter, modify, enlarge, or expand any dock, wharf or mooring on the waters of Lake George without first obtaining a permit from the Commission.
Read that list of verbs again. It is not limited to new construction. "Alter" and "modify" catch a great deal of what homeowners think of as maintenance.
Adirondack Park Agency (APA)
Lake George sits inside the Adirondack Park, which brings APA jurisdiction into play for shoreline structures — most significantly for boathouses, where the APA definition sets the envelope: covered structure, direct water access, boat and equipment storage only, no sanitary plumbing, single storey (roof rafters resting on the top plate of the first-floor wall), footprint of 1,200 square feet or less, height of 15 feet or less.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
DEC's Protection of Waters programme becomes relevant where work disturbs the bed of the lake or the bank — excavation, fill, and substantial shoreline alteration. Crib work frequently engages this. Simple decking replacement does not.
US Army Corps of Engineers
Federal jurisdiction over placement of fill in navigable waters. Whether your project triggers it depends on what you are putting where.
Your town
Building permits and zoning come from the town — Lake George, Bolton, Hague, Queensbury, Fort Ann, Putnam, Dresden or Ticonderoga depending on where you are. Several lakeside towns have shoreline overlay provisions that are stricter than the state baseline, and it is a mistake to assume state approval settles the local question.
The numbers you are designing against
| Limit | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dock surface area | 700 sq ft, including the walkway | LGPC |
| Pier width | 8 ft maximum | LGPC |
| Overall width | 40 ft including all projections | LGPC |
| Offshore extension | 40 ft beyond mean low water, or 100 ft from mean high water — whichever is more restrictive | LGPC |
| Height of structures on a dock | 16 ft above mean high water | LGPC |
| Setback from property line | 20 ft, projected into the lake | LGPC |
| Boathouse footprint | 1,200 sq ft or less | APA |
| Boathouse height | 15 ft or less, single storey | APA |
| Attached deck/porch allowance | 100 sq ft combined, not adjacent to a dock | APA |
Note the interaction on height: LGPC allows 16 feet above mean high water for structures on a dock; the APA boathouse definition caps at 15 feet. Where two rules differ, the more restrictive governs. Designing to 16 feet and discovering the APA number later is an expensive way to learn this.
How many docks you are allowed
Dock and mooring counts scale with shoreline ownership:
| Shoreline frontage | Docks permitted | Moorings |
|---|---|---|
| 45–65 ft | One straight pier dock | — |
| 66–150 ft | One dock (straight, T, L or U-shaped) | One |
| 151–250 ft | Two docks, or one E-shaped wharf | Two |
| 251–500 ft | Three docks, or two E-shaped wharfs | Three |
| 501+ ft | Four docks, plus one per additional 150 ft | Four, plus one per additional 150 ft |
Moorings must also stay 20 feet clear of projected property lines at full swing, and must not sit more than 100 feet offshore.
The setback is usually what limits you
Owners fixate on the 700 square feet. On most lots, the binding constraint is the setback.
Every dock needs a minimum 20-foot setback from the adjacent property line extended into the lake — projected on the same axis the property line runs onshore where it meets the lake, or at a right angle to the mean high-water mark, whichever applies.
On a 70-foot lot, twenty feet off each side leaves you thirty feet of usable width. That number, not the square footage, is what your design has to live inside. And because the projection follows the property line's axis, an angled lot line can move your usable envelope substantially sideways from where you assumed it was.
This is the single most common reason a homeowner's sketch does not survive contact with the survey.
How long it takes
Months, not weeks. Longer where multiple agencies are involved, and longer again if the application needs revision.
Add the construction reality on top: the best window for in-water structural work is the winter drawdown, roughly late autumn to early spring. So the sequence for a dock you want to use next summer looks like this:
- Summer / early autumn: site visit, survey, design
- Autumn: applications filed
- Winter: approvals land; crib and structural work in the drawdown
- Spring: decking, railings, finish work
- Memorial Day: you are using it
Calling in April for a July dock is the most common disappointment we have to deliver, and it is entirely avoidable.
Five mistakes that cost people a season
1. Assuming repair does not need a permit
Like-for-like maintenance — decking boards, railings, hardware — is generally maintenance. Rebuilding cribs, changing footprint, adding a section, increasing height: all of those "alter, modify, enlarge or expand". Ask first. A retroactive application is a far worse experience than an ordinary one.
2. Designing to the maximum
A design at 698 square feet against a 700 square foot cap invites scrutiny that a 640 square foot design does not. Leave margin. It costs you very little usable dock and it materially smooths review.
3. Forgetting the town
State and Commission approval does not settle local zoning. Several lakeside towns apply shoreline provisions stricter than the state baseline, and the building permit is a separate process with its own timeline.
4. Losing pre-existing non-conforming status
Many older Lake George structures are larger than current rules would permit for a new build. That status has genuine value and it can be lost through a rebuild that goes further than it needed to. If you own an oversized older dock or boathouse, get advice before you start, not after.
5. Submitting drawings that do not show what the reviewer needs
Plan and section, dimensioned, with footprint, square footage, setback projections, height above mean high water and materials called out. An application that answers the obvious questions on the first pass moves; one that does not generates a request for information and restarts your clock.
What we handle
We do this weekly, which is the main argument for letting us run it. Frontage measurement, setback projection, depth soundings, drawings dimensioned the way reviewers want to see them, filing, tracking, and responding to requests for information — and then building to what was approved, which is what keeps compliance straightforward at the other end.
Treat this as orientation, not advice
The figures above are the headline limits and they are not the whole regulation. Local zoning, pre-existing non-conforming status, and site-specific conditions all modify what you can actually do on your parcel. Before you commit to a design, get someone to look at your specific situation — us, or anyone who works this lake regularly.
Lake George Docks
We design, permit and build docks, boathouses, cribs and shoreline structures across all 32 miles of Lake George, New York — and repair what the lake does to them. Questions about your own shoreline? Call (518) 260-9878 or send us the details.
