These are the hard edges in Appendix B. They are why a sketch from another lake often does not survive review at Lake of the Ozarks. The text below follows the June 30, 2025 revision.
Walkways and overall width
- Residential dock walkways: 6 feet wide.
- Commercial and multi-family walkways: 8 feet wide.
- Residential dock width: 125 feet maximum.
- Commercial and multi-family dock width: 150 feet maximum.
- Double walkways and similar layouts that block anglers are prohibited.
- Residential slips: 55 feet long maximum. Commercial slips: 60 feet.
- In slips permitted after March 30, 2008, the boat may not stick out past the mouth of the slip.
Setbacks
Residential docks of 10 slips or fewer, and any boat left tied up, stay at least 5 feet off the side property line extended into the lake. External lifts and accessories parallel to the shore use a larger setback: 1.5 times their length if they are 15 feet or longer, and 1 times their length if they are shorter. Perpendicular lifts stay 5 feet inside the line. The lift guide uses the same numbers.
Coves
Measured shore to shore at the dock.
- Coves up to 500 feet wide: no more than one-third of the way across, and no closer than 25 feet to the center, whichever is more limiting, with a maximum of 100 feet.
- Coves wider than 500 feet: no more than 20 percent of the way across, up to 350 feet.
Main channels
Osage, Gravois, Grand Glaize, Niangua, and Little Niangua: the dock, breakwaters, and a 100-foot buffer stay within 25 percent of the opposite shore. The dock and breakwaters themselves are limited to 350 feet. Under 1,000 feet of channel width, the buffer can shrink if no dock exceeds 20 percent of the width.
Arm-by-arm notes: Gravois, Niangua, Osage.
Over 3,000 square feet
A separate rule, not a wider walkway. Engineer’s seal and $0.06 per square foot per year. See the large-dock page.
If your drawing is close to any of these, say so on the new dock request. “We think we are under 100 feet” is a better note than a finished weld.