Lake Conroe Docks, Boathouses and Bulkheads: What the River Authority Permits Below 201 Feet

Who controls the shoreline below 201 feet on Lake Conroe?

The San Jacinto River Authority, which built the lake in a joint venture with the City of Houston and runs the dam. Its rules for the lake, effective June 1, 2015, define Authority Land as property it owns or controls to run the dam and reservoir, including land that is, may be or has been under the lake, and the land next to it up to a contour line 201 feet above mean sea level. That line is the lake's normal level, which the authority calls its normal conservation pool.

So under those rules the ground below the 201-foot line, and anything built out over the water from it, is the authority's to permit. The rules say the right to build and keep docks, bulkheads and other structures there "is not an inherent right that comes with the control or ownership of waterfront property." Building or keeping one without a valid permit is a violation, and the authority can make the owner remove an unpermitted structure at the owner's own cost.

What does a dock, boathouse or lift need before it is built?

A residential license from the authority. The rules call a privately owned dock, pier, wharf, floating structure or any other structure for mooring or storing a boat a private structure, and the authority's residential page lists what an owner sends in: a residential license agreement signed by the homeowner (a contractor's or builder's signature is not accepted), and plans drawn to scale with accurate measurements, showing where the structure sits on the property and how far it is from the neighboring lots. Where the subdivision requires it, the plans also need approval from the homeowners association, property owners association or architectural control committee.

The authority then approves the structure or says why it will not. Once it is approved, the owner pays the fee, and the authority issues a construction permit to the owner and the contractor, which must be on display for the whole job. Applications, questions and payments go through the authority's customer portal, which it launched in 2024. The license can be revoked, so it is a permission the owner keeps up rather than a right that comes with the deed.

What is the yearly fee for a dock on Lake Conroe?

The authority's rate schedule, adopted by its board on September 1, 2010, sets the residential structure fee at $0.188 per square foot per year, with a $60 minimum a year. Its guide to measuring a structure explains how the square footage is taken: the part that reaches out over the water past the bulkhead is measured at full pool, whatever level the lake is at that day, and the boat slips count even where no deck covers them.

A structure cut into the owner's land, meaning surrounded by land on three sides, is not measured and pays the $60 minimum. A structure that is partly cut in pays on the part that extends past the bank. The guide's own worked examples come to $141.00 a year for a dock built out over the water and $116.40 a year for one that is partly cut in.

What does a bulkhead permit on Lake Conroe take?

Its own permit, separate from the dock license. The authority's rules make it a violation to install, reinstall, replace or change a bulkhead in the lake or on its land without one, and its bulkhead page asks for an existing survey of the property, with metes and bounds, by a registered professional land surveyor; the proposed bulkhead marked on that survey; construction plans; the materials identified; and the bulkhead's placement against the property lines shown clearly. Where the bulkhead would sit on the authority's property, the owner must also show permission for that encroachment.

Any later change or addition to a permitted bulkhead goes back to the authority's operations department for approval. Dredging, digging or filling in the lake or on its land needs a permit of its own, and the rules require any dredging, filling or bulkhead work to meet the regulations and permits of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Galveston District as well. The authority's list of lake facts puts the average bulkhead at an elevation of 203 feet above mean sea level, two feet above normal pool.

Does the river authority keep the lake at a level that suits a dock?

No. Its rules say the authority is under no obligation to keep the lake at any particular level so that private structures can be built or used, and its dock and bulkhead pages say the same. The general manager may also limit building or use by permit when the lake level changes, for public health and safety, or in an emergency.

The lake does move. The authority's own records put its lowest level at 192.68 feet on December 2, 2011, 8.32 feet below normal pool, and its highest at 206.24 feet on August 28, 2017. How far the lake is lowered ahead of storms, and who decides, is on the page about Lake Conroe's water level and the lowering policy.

What is the 207-foot flowage easement?

It is the band of land around the lake that the water can rise into during a storm. The authority's list of lake facts gives the flowage easement as 207 feet above mean sea level, the area the lake level can rise into during a rainfall event, six feet above normal pool. Its rules treat that band differently from the land below 201 feet: Authority Land generally does not include flowage easements and similar rights to cover land above 201 feet for a time.

For a buyer, the easement is a second line to find on the survey. The lot's elevation against 207 feet says whether that part of it lies where the lake can rise in a storm, and the lake's record of 206.24 feet came within a foot of the line.

Structures built inside the authority's easements have their own process. On July 24, 2025 its board amended its policy on encroachments on easements around the lake: an owner can ask the authority to sign an easement encroachment agreement, filed in the county's official records, for a structure already there or for permission to build in the easement. The minutes give the total reimbursement as ,015 for a revocable agreement and ,970 for an irrevocable one, and record the general manager saying the aim is to clear the owner's title.

What else near the water does the river authority permit?

Septic systems. Under its rules, an on-site sewage facility within 2,075 feet of the lake is regulated and permitted by the authority, under an order its board adopted on February 26, 2004, and sewer lines over the lake or on its land fall under the same chapter of the rules as docks. For a lakeside house on septic, the system's permit is the authority's to ask about.

What should a buyer ask for before buying a house with a dock?

The paper for each structure. That means the authority's license and construction permit for the dock, boathouse or lift, the bulkhead permit, the owners association or architectural committee approvals where the subdivision required them, a record that the yearly fee is paid, and any easement encroachment agreement recorded against the lot. The survey should show the 201-foot line, the 207-foot line and where every structure sits against the property lines.

Ask for these during the option period, the days after signing when a buyer can still back out for the option fee, so a structure with no permit on file is found while the buyer can still walk away.

What does this page leave open?

What a bulkhead costs to build or repair: the authority publishes no figure, and this page has no source for one. It also leaves open whether any one structure is licensed and paid up, which the authority's records and the seller's papers answer, and what the Army Corps of Engineers requires for a particular job.