Members of the Boca Grande Community Panel said last week that steps need to be taken to provide more “local control” over live-aboard boaters and derelict vessels.
“We want to be on the right side of the curve in terms of anticipating possible problems the island may face,” said Bayne Stevenson, community panel chairman. “One is the recent decision in Sarasota. I was up there not too long ago, looked out over the anchorage and estimated there were at least 100 boats there. Boca Grande is very similar to what Sarasota used to be. A lot of those boats could come down here when word gets out that there’s free anchorage.”
He continued, “The spinoff from that (allowing live-aboards) for Sarasota has not been positive at all. We need to advance initiatives to get a marine district overlay, and be able to control the anchorage in our bayous. We’re much more vulnerable than people realize … we don’t have decent room to accommodate a large anchoring population. Local control needs to be addressed.”
Panel member Lynne Seibert agreed, and said that they also need to check into current problems on the Bayou, located across from the Pink Elephant.
“There’s a couple of boats in there that need to be checked into, they’re not maintained,” she said. “Derelict vessels are a problem. We need to find out who is responsible and how to get ordinances enforced. Some of those boats have been unattended for months and months at a time. Pretty soon you’re going to have those areas packed with freeloaders, with no room for cruisers and tourists.”
In May of 2004 the Lee County board of county commissioners approved Amendment AC-7-4 to the Lee County Administrative Code concerning derelict and/or abandoned vessels in the coastal waters of Lee County. This amendment made provisions to allow the county to remove abandoned vessels.
Panel member Dave McHugh said that other mooring issues in surrounding area waters are currently going through the court system. He said that one argument is based on the fact that state laws say that you cannot change navigation rules, and that navigation includes mooring.
“I think a little closer to home is Fort Myers Beach,” Stevenson said. “We need to see their mooring field example and use it as a starting point.”
Seibert said that Sarasota had also seen problems with a bad element coming to the area to anchor.
“Live aboards in Sarasota have seen all kinds of ne’er-do-wells, drinking and fighting. We can’t have a big concentration like that in a little community like this.”
A member of the audience, resident Skip Perry, who served on a sub-committee that discussed this subject said, “Boaters regulate themselves. We already did exactly what is happening right now, figuring out whose jurisdiction it is. The derelict boats that were there at that time were registered. They were allowed to be there. It’s not the same to compare us to Sarasota and Marco Island.
We tried this and fell flat on our face. The tourism and boat industry IS Florida. You’ll get a lot of flack.”
Seibert addressed Perry’s statement.
“A lot of them up don’t have cars, Skip, they’re basically bums,” she said. “They won’t pay $10 for a mooring ball in Sarasota, they’re going to come down here. We have two very constricted areas here that are in the books as an anchorage.”
As part of a policy adopted by Lee County commissioners, the county’s Division of Natural Resources is in the process of identifying abandoned boats and having them removed from public waterways.
Under the program, the last registered owner of a boat believed to be abandoned will receive a certified letter from the county ordering that the boat be removed. If five days pass and no reply has been received, the county will have the boat removed.
When boats are located that are believed to be derelict or abandoned, the registered owners of the boats receive certified letters from the county asking them to contact the Natural Resources Division concerning the status of the boats. If no contact is made, the boats will be removed.
Lee County does not have an ordinance prohibiting live aboard boats. The last law seeking to regulate live aboard boaters was rescinded in the mid-1990s.
The panel determined that they would contact Marina Jacks on Sarasota Bay, check with Charlotte County in reference to mooring issues they have had and will look into the marine park zoning district in Sarasota. They will also find out from Lee County whether it would be possible to obtain that type of zoning.
“We need to talk to the appropriate people on the facts,” Smith said. “It would be a prudent move to get people up to speed if you think it’s a potential firestorm you’ll have to deal with.”
