Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published June 17, 2008

John M. Madden will give up playing with his noisy 22-inch motorboat in the lake behind his Margate condominium, but that might not be enough to keep him afloat.

That's because the retired Boston police officer and great-grandfather plans to continue taking out his quiet, 22-inch battery-powered remote-controlled motorboat, he said Monday.

The noisy boat might have violated the city's code and resulted in fines of up to $250 a day. But playing with the quiet boat might violate Coral Gate Condominium documents that say no one may put a chair on the grass next to the lake or put a motorboat in the water.

Doing so could get him fined by his condo association, and at least one owner plans to press to enforce the bylaws.

"He can do it in his bathtub all day long but when he does it on common property he's offending the 467 other people who are obeying the rules," said Doreen Zappala, a former board president who fears Madden, 84, might fall and injure himself, making all the owners liable for damages if he or his family sues.

On Friday, city code compliance officers attempted to take decibel readings of the noisy boat to see if it violates city code. Madden requested the test, promising to quit using the boat if it did. The officers couldn't get a good reading before the boat conked out. Madden said he would take it for repairs and junk it if they cost too much.

He learned over the weekend the cost to repair the $300 boat would be $100. He doesn't want to pay, so on Sunday he plans to donate it to a remote-control club that operates at Markham Park in Sunrise. The club can use it for spare parts.

But he plans to continue using the battery-powered boat in the lake.

Madden said the rules Zappala cites don't apply. He said his doctor told him he must sit in the sun or he will faint, so he needs the chair, and the rule against motorboats means real boats, not toys.

Little boat stirs up a fuss among Margate condo neighbors