- April 23, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Community members who organized against the county government's plan to give away a county-owned boat launch won a victory before the County Commission Feb. 1: The county will keep the land instead of turning it over to private owners who would have used it to add a seawall.
"This is a piece of property begging for a design solution with input from the surrounding neighborhood."
— ANDY DANCE, county commissioner
The commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Joe Mullins dissenting, to keep the boat launch but have the county's staff improve safety measures at the property.
It remains unclear to what extent the county — which wants to limit its liability at the unmaintained property and prevent flooding in the area — will work to protect or enhance access for the waterfront pastimes like kayaking.
The property lacks parking and is not suited for launching large trailered boats, but it's sufficient for kayaks, canoes, paddle boards and small jon boats that can be carried by hand.
Commissioner Greg Hansen said at the Feb. 1 meeting that the seawall proposal had originated with him.
A resident had come to him over a year ago to ask if anything could be done to keep the area from flooding, so Hansen had consulted with the county's staff. The county then contacted the two property owners who own the homes north and south of the launch — Richard Marchewka and John Dougherty — with the suggestion that the county divide the 7,654-square-foot parcel between them, with the condition that they add a seawall.
The men agreed, and the commission considered the proposal at its January meeting.
But Commissioner Andy Dance said the proposal warranted public input, so the county advertised it to the community. The backlash was swift, coming in the form of online petition.
By Feb. 1, Hansen was ready to scrap the idea of turning the land over to Marchewka and Dougherty, and proposed a motion that the county keep the land and build the seawall itself.
But multiple residents told commissioners that they used the launch to take their kayaks out and go fishing with their grandchildren.
A seawall, depending on its design, could impede those activities, and Dance thought committing to one would be premature.
"This is a piece of property begging for a design solution with input from the surrounding neighborhood," he said. "These accesses are extremely valuable to the public."
The Pamela Parkway launch isn't the only unmaintained county-owned water access point: There are 11 others. Dance suggested a workshop to develop strategy for dealing with them, perhaps with grant money from the Florida Inland Navigation District.
He noted that the county has not conducted a hydraulic study on the area, so it's not clear to what extent a seawall would help: A nearby property owned by the School Board, for instance, isn't walled, and the water could potentially enter the neighborhood there even if the county built a wall at Pamela Parkway, Dance said.
Mullins said that a seawall would work and said that if the School Board property also needs one, then the school district should add it. He said he was concerned about the county's liability at the Pamela Parkway site.
"If you put a seawall, it's going away; if you don’t, it’s going to need a lot of work," Mullins said. "And that’s what Bings Landing is there for, and some of the other ones."
But residents who spoke soon at the meeting said Bings Landing isn't sufficient: It already becomes so overcrowded on nice spring and summer days that cars with trailers overflow the parking lot and pack the shoulder up and down A1A.
Dance urged the commission not to make a rash decision.
"There’s a lot of issues that need to be looked at here, and that’s part of what having this discussion is about," he said.
County staff will work on options to improve safety at the site.
