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Pinellas commissioner asks board to reassess boating limit at Fort DeSoto
Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long is asking other members of the county board to reconsider last week’s decision to limit boating in part of Fort DeSoto Park.
Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long
Long, who voted with the majority in favor of the limits, said she visited the park by boat over the Memorial Day weekend and now believes the board did not fully understand the issue.
Commissioners voted on May 19 to enact a “vessel exclusion zone,” restricting all watercraft — including boats, kayaks, canoes, paddle boards and jet skis — from entering a lagoon that has formed just to the west of the popular North Beach shoreline at the park. The lagoon was created as a large sandbar, known as Outback Key, that formed in the Gulf more than a decade ago and gradually migrated east toward the park, said Paul Cozzie, director of parks and conservation resources for Pinellas County.
The restriction was intended to prevent collisions between swimmers and watercraft, Cozzie said in a presentation to the county board. The measure was approved by a 5-to-2 vote, with Commissioners Long, Charlie Justice, Ken Welch, Karen Seel and Pat Gerard voting in favor, and Commissioners Dave Eggers and Kathleen Peters voting against it.
No one spoke at a public hearing on the plan during the May 19 meeting, but within days of the vote commissioners received about 30 emails on the issue. Most of the emails were from people who opposed closing the lagoon to boating.
In a May 25 memo, Long said she spent all of Saturday on the water and in particular spent quite a bit of time in the area at Bunce’s Pass, shown on maps of Fort DeSoto Park as just east of Outback Key and the lagoon. In her memo, she said she saw patrol boats in the area, “making an effort to keep some semblance of order out there.”
“Based on my personal observations, I am requesting that the above-mentioned item be brought back for re-consideration at our next [Board of County Commissioners] meeting or as soon as our staff, including Sheriff Gualtieri and his team, have an opportunity to study the issue more thoroughly. It is my opinion that the Board did not fully understand the totality of the issues and the potential liabilities that currently exist at Bunce’s Pass involved with establishing a Vessel Exclusion Zone,” Long wrote.
Long asked commissioners to reassess their actions as soon as possible. Her memo is included in the reports the commission will consider when it holds an online meeting March 28.
Chuck Egerter
May 27, 2020at6:52 pm
Agreed totally with Richard.
Also would ask the question if it is even legal for Pinellas County to do anything about it. For a long time this body of land was just a sandbar. In many ways it’s still is. It is not part of Fort Desoto, and therefore I don’t see how Fort De Soto or Pinellas County would actually have jurisdiction of it. I’m not against policing it and regulations, but I think we should be certain of jurisdiction before we go too far.
Richard Peck
May 27, 2020at3:46 pm
Yes yes yes. There are thousands of boats on the water everyday in TB. If properly policed, Bunces is a perfect location that will accommodate hundreds of boats and people without issues with the general public. Since the North Channel with access to Shell Key was closed up by the ill advised development on Collany Key, boaters have finally established a presence at the other end of Shell Key, which is Bunces Pass at Outback. Police it, patrol it, do whatever necessary to make it safe for all……but please don’t close it to boaters. They’ll just pop up somewhere else. We are a tourism gem; boating is a prime reason for that.
Greg Riehle
May 27, 2020at7:41 pm
I have lately become a regular at Outback. It is extremely welll-policed and I have not seen behavior that puts swimmers at risk. In fact, there aren’t swimmers in the area and there shouldn’t be because the currents around Bunces Pass are very dangerous. There are plenty of excellent places for swimmers on Ft. DeSoto where boats are already prohibited. Let’s save this area for responsible boaters.