Several residents of Hialeah, including many Cubans, attended the City Council to request a solution that would allow them to keep their boats next to their homes, after receiving notifications giving them a 60-day deadline to remove them, according to a report from Univision 23.
The complaint focuses on the restrictions for docking boats on properties classified as duplexes.
The affected individuals are requesting that the authorities take into account the available space in each home and the financial difficulties involved in moving the boats to an external parking area.
One of the neighbors interviewed by Univision, identified as Miguel, reported that he received a notification regarding the boat he keeps in the vehicle access of his house.
"I have lived in that house since 1998 and I have always had a boat in my driveway. This is not a boat that bothers anyone on the entire block," he stated.
“It allows us to keep the family together, reduces our stress, and helps us with our mental health,” they added when explaining what the vessel represents for their family.
His neighbor Juan Carlos, who was also interviewed, received a similar notification the next day and stated that he cannot afford to store the boat outside of his property.
“What should I do with the boat? Should I put it at the bank's doors and tell them I can't pay the 20 thousand dollars and to keep their boat?”, they asked.
Another resident featured in the report deemed it unfair that classifying a residence as a duplex prevents one from keeping a boat without assessing whether there is enough space to park it.
Complaints from June regarding leaks in townhouses
On June 11, 2026, El Nuevo Herald published the complaints of Miguel Pita, Joanki Peña, and Eddy Dennis to the Council regarding the ban on parking boats in townhouses, established in an ordinance approved in 2024.
Pita then recounted that she had been living in the same house for over 19 years and had kept her boat there. "Don't tell me that you can't change the law you created," she urged the council members.
Peña warned at that time that he would have to sell his boat if he didn't get an exemption, while Dennis pointed out that he couldn't afford external parking.
In that June coverage, Mayor Bryan Calvo stated that he had voted against the regulation when he was a councilman and had sold his own boat to avoid fines. He also suggested that exemption requests be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
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