Commentary: Let’s hear it for mooring fields!

Among the members of the Boca Grande Community Panel, there are some who have voiced concerns that the Boca Grande Bayou is in grave danger of being overrun by refugee live-aboard boaters from Sarasota.

In April of 2004, the Community Panel polled members of the Boca Grande community on a host of issues.

About 950 residents responded.

Residents were asked their opinions on issues such as restricting parking on the Gilchrist medial. This notion was favored by fewer than half – 46 percent – of those responding. Not quite a consensus.

Just 22 percent favored time controls on downtown parking. Not even close to a consensus.

Support for “design changes in traffic flow and pedestrian walkways in the village” was just 37 percent. No consensus here, either.

The term consensus is important. As the panel noted in a letter sent along with the survey in 2004, “we also need to demonstrate consensus when we present the final community plan to Charlotte and Lee counties.” Consensus.

Further, “we are interested in your ideas and opinions regarding a number of issues raised in this survey,” the letter went on to state. “You are in charge here …”

Defining consensus can be tricky. But agreement by fewer than half on an issue is a pretty clear indication that we aren’t even close to anything resembling consensus.

Which is the case with time controlled parking downtown, restricting Gilchrist parking and, my favorite, “design changes in traffic flow … in the village.”

But when you have more than three-quarters of those living in a community agreeing on something, you might not have consensus by definition, but you are getting pretty close.

In the survey, 77 to 80 percent of island residents essentially agreed with the following statement:

“I would favor a Marine Park zoning district in order to facilitate consistent local enforcement of existing federal, state and county regulations in waterfront areas. It would deal with marine sanitation and live-aboard issues, jet ski areas and hours of operation, removal of abandoned and derelict vessels and perhaps establish decibel levels for boats.”

The Community Panel has discussed a number of options, including a marine overlay district (as mentioned in the survey question) as well as the establishment of a “mooring field” to better regulate the use of the bayou by boaters.

We agree.

As former panel chairman Bayne Stevenson noted, “we need to advance initiatives to get a marine district overlay and be able to control the anchorage in the bayous.”

Pointing to Fort Myers Beach and its mooring field, Stevenson said, “we need to see their mooring field example and use it as a starting point.”

If you are a full-time cruiser who enjoys calling at the Boca Grande Bayou, this is good news.

And implementing a bayou mooring field will send a message to the boating community that Boca Grande residents truly are a welcoming bunch.

Creation of a regulated mooring field is relatively easy. We would simply need to get the approval of the United States Coast Guard, the federal government and the state of Florida.

Considering the years it has taken the feds to sign a simple document transferring ownership of the Range Light property to the Florida Parks Service, getting Uncle Sam to sign on to a mooring field ought to be a piece of cake.

So what does a mooring field mean to Boca Grande and the boating community?

By law, a county-created mooring field can’t just be a bunch of moorings scattered someplace wet.

First, we would need to convince Lee County to provide “an adequate, safe and potable supply of water” for those moored in the bayou.

Next, the county would need to construct men’s and women’s lavatories adjoining the mooring field. Showers are also included in this requirement.

Nothing beats a hot shower after a long day of passage making.

Oh, yeah, there’s more to this mooring thing.

The county would also have to build a pump out station for the boaters. Some community panel members have voiced concerns that the boats in the bayou are dumping sewage. A sewage pumping station across from the Pink Elephant should put these fears to rest.

Garbage is always an issue with full-time cruisers. Tends to add up during those long weeks at sea. But our new mooring field would solve this problem because state law mandates that our new mooring field provide garbage disposal facilities and a garbage management system. I think this means a bunch of Dumpsters.

But the good news for boaters, and for Boca Grande, doesn’t end here.

Under state law, our nice new little mooring field would be required to have a manager who would supervise the boats as well as the toilets, showers, the pump out station and the garbage collection.

Further, under the law, the manager would be required to have an office on-site.

Toilets, showers, pump out facilities, garbage collection and a manager to keep everything operating smoothly.

And with a manager on-site, the problem of derelict boats would likely vanish.

Of course, all of this would likely cost money. But what’s a little money compared to the benefits of a regulated bayou?

Building the baths, showers and pump out station and manager’s office, depending on design, could cost up to $1 million. Construction costs in Boca Grande tend to get a little salty.

Then there’s the issue of land. Buying an acre of bayou-front land, if an acre can be found, would probably run at least an additional $2 to $3 million.

Problem is, Lee County’s broke. Further, Lee County has never been eager to pay for anything (iguana trapping, for instance) when Boca Grande is involved.

Hence, we’re likely looking at another one of those fun-filled Municipal Service Benefit Units. The good news is that an MSBU would give us a degree of local control over our new mooring field.

The bad news is that we would likely wind up paying for our new mooring field in the form of an assessment. This is essentially a tax that isn’t a tax. The only difference is … well, there actually is no difference.

A rough estimate here is that this floating KOA would cost each Boca Grande home or property owner about $2,300. Of course, that’s just for the first year. There would obviously be some annual maintenance costs as well as a weekly paycheck for the mooring field manager.

But keeping live-aboard boaters out of the bayou is well worth the expense.

Oh yeah, there’s something else. While Florida law contains provisions for municipalities like Lee County to regulate live-aboards, in reality there are no live-aboards any more.

If questioned, all boaters now know to respond that they are full-time cruisers as opposed to live-aboarders. Sort of a fatal loophole.

But, hey, it’s still probably a good idea.

Gary Dutery is editor of the Boca Beacon.