Bobcat
05-21-2014, 06:39 AM
Neighbors call for no-motor boat zone
BY ROBERT SILK Free Press Staff
rsilk@keysnews.com
ISLAMORADA -- The summer weekend raft-up parties off a private Lower Matecumbe Key beach will likely soon have to move into deeper water.
At a town hall meeting at Florida Sea Base last week, the more than 40 residents of the Port Antigua, White Marlin Beach and Sandy Point neighborhoods who were in attendance reached a consensus that the area within 300 feet of their half-mile-long beach should be closed to all motor boats.
They asked that exceptions be made only so that the owners of the five properties on the beach that have private docks can traverse in and out.
"The village needs to be bold. We can't be timid here. We got to do something," beachfront resident Mike McLoad said at the May 14 meeting.
The four Village Council members who attended said they are ready to move forward with a closure, though Village Attorney Roget Bryan said he'll have to do a bit more research before determining exactly how it can be handled within the confines of state statutes.
Carving out the passage avenues for dock owners will likely be the biggest legal challenge, Bryan said.
If the council does implement the no-motor zone in the coming few months, it would put an end to a nearly yearlong conflict with many residents of Port Antigua, White Marlin Beach and Sandy Point, who have been critical of the village for not moving faster to rein in the raft-up parties.
The residents have complained that as many as 1,000 people gather within just a couple hundred feet of the shoreline on summer holiday weekends, where they play loud music, defecate in the water and damage the bay bottom with large boats and too many anchors.
The problem has grown quickly in the past couple years, they say, with the Lower Matecumbe locale becoming more widely frequented as an alternative to the Whale Harbor sandbar and other offshore party spots.
Council members say they have acted slowly due to jurisdictional complications that involve the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Furthermore, they had been deterred by divisions within the three neighborhoods.
Any step the village could take, the council stressed at the town hall last week, would involve restrictions that would also apply to the residents.
Indeed, those divisions surfaced at the town hall meeting. Some of the residents were most concerned about safety, others about noise. Among the suggestions they broached were a ban on drinking in the vicinity of the beach, new noise rules and a closure that would last only during the summer, rather than all year.
Attendees also sought ways to close off the 300-foot zone to revelers but not to residents who want to motor to the private beach.
Village officials told them that wouldn't work.
"There is going to be something given up in exchange for legislation passing," Bryan said.
Ultimately, the Port Antigua, White Marlin and Sandy Point residents decided that they could accept the boating exclusion on themselves in exchange for a bit more safety and quiet. In a show of hands, the large majority of attendees supported the 300-foot no-motor boat zone.
The proposed restriction, though, might not only apply to the water off those neighborhoods.
Chuck McWhirter, who lives across the highway on beachside Sunset Drive, asked the council to create a 300-foot no-motor zone there as well in order to stop the partiers from spilling over.
The council members, especially Mike Forster, were amenable to the idea.
"Whatever we do here, we're going to have to do there," he said.
The council's consideration of the new no-boating zones comes as the village is also looking to limit land-side waterfront partying.
Just two weeks ago, council members voted to ask the Florida Department of Transportation to block off approximately two-thirds of the Indian Key and Tea Table fills to parking.
rsilk@keysnews.com
BY ROBERT SILK Free Press Staff
rsilk@keysnews.com
ISLAMORADA -- The summer weekend raft-up parties off a private Lower Matecumbe Key beach will likely soon have to move into deeper water.
At a town hall meeting at Florida Sea Base last week, the more than 40 residents of the Port Antigua, White Marlin Beach and Sandy Point neighborhoods who were in attendance reached a consensus that the area within 300 feet of their half-mile-long beach should be closed to all motor boats.
They asked that exceptions be made only so that the owners of the five properties on the beach that have private docks can traverse in and out.
"The village needs to be bold. We can't be timid here. We got to do something," beachfront resident Mike McLoad said at the May 14 meeting.
The four Village Council members who attended said they are ready to move forward with a closure, though Village Attorney Roget Bryan said he'll have to do a bit more research before determining exactly how it can be handled within the confines of state statutes.
Carving out the passage avenues for dock owners will likely be the biggest legal challenge, Bryan said.
If the council does implement the no-motor zone in the coming few months, it would put an end to a nearly yearlong conflict with many residents of Port Antigua, White Marlin Beach and Sandy Point, who have been critical of the village for not moving faster to rein in the raft-up parties.
The residents have complained that as many as 1,000 people gather within just a couple hundred feet of the shoreline on summer holiday weekends, where they play loud music, defecate in the water and damage the bay bottom with large boats and too many anchors.
The problem has grown quickly in the past couple years, they say, with the Lower Matecumbe locale becoming more widely frequented as an alternative to the Whale Harbor sandbar and other offshore party spots.
Council members say they have acted slowly due to jurisdictional complications that involve the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Furthermore, they had been deterred by divisions within the three neighborhoods.
Any step the village could take, the council stressed at the town hall last week, would involve restrictions that would also apply to the residents.
Indeed, those divisions surfaced at the town hall meeting. Some of the residents were most concerned about safety, others about noise. Among the suggestions they broached were a ban on drinking in the vicinity of the beach, new noise rules and a closure that would last only during the summer, rather than all year.
Attendees also sought ways to close off the 300-foot zone to revelers but not to residents who want to motor to the private beach.
Village officials told them that wouldn't work.
"There is going to be something given up in exchange for legislation passing," Bryan said.
Ultimately, the Port Antigua, White Marlin and Sandy Point residents decided that they could accept the boating exclusion on themselves in exchange for a bit more safety and quiet. In a show of hands, the large majority of attendees supported the 300-foot no-motor boat zone.
The proposed restriction, though, might not only apply to the water off those neighborhoods.
Chuck McWhirter, who lives across the highway on beachside Sunset Drive, asked the council to create a 300-foot no-motor zone there as well in order to stop the partiers from spilling over.
The council members, especially Mike Forster, were amenable to the idea.
"Whatever we do here, we're going to have to do there," he said.
The council's consideration of the new no-boating zones comes as the village is also looking to limit land-side waterfront partying.
Just two weeks ago, council members voted to ask the Florida Department of Transportation to block off approximately two-thirds of the Indian Key and Tea Table fills to parking.
rsilk@keysnews.com