County to advertise new hearing on alternative option of ‘Idle Speed/No Wake’ zone
During a Nov. 18 public hearing, the Sarasota County commissioners learned that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) would want to see a record of “substantial competent evidence” supporting a 300-foot-wide motorboat exclusion zone around the county’s Ted Sperling Park before the agency would issue a permit for such a measure.
The County Code definition of “motorboat” includes jet skis, which South Lido residents have stressed are the main focus of danger to boaters, kayakers and, especially, swimmers offshore of the approximately 150-acre park at the southern end of Lido Key.
Over the past couple of years, especially, they have presented videos and photos to the board members, depicting what they have characterized as reckless behavior of jet ski users.
Nicole Rissler, director of the county’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources (PRNR), told the board members, “FWC truly is the one that’s going to say [whether] the zone [can] be established,” even though three other regulatory agencies would have to issue permits, as well, before such a zone could be enforced.
Those other agencies are the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard.
It is her understanding, Rissler explained — in response to a question from Chair Joe Neunder — that most of the other agencies would follow FWC’s lead in regard to granting the permits.
Thus, by the conclusion of the hearing — in spite of pleas from six members of the public for creation of that 300-foot zone — only Commissioner Mark Smith continued to support the idea.
Commissioner Tom Knight, who had expressed worries about whether the exclusion zone could be enforced, was the first member of the board to suggest that an “Idle Speed, No Wake” zone should be implemented, instead, as the board of the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND), which is headquartered in Venice, had suggested.
However, since the hearing was advertised with the focus on the exclusion zone, Rissler and County Attorney Joshua Moye explained that a new hearing would have to be scheduled on what the commission, on Oct. 21, had reviewed as Option B for creating safer conditions in the waters around Sperling Park.
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis said it likely would be January 2026 before that new hearing could be conducted, based on the items already scheduled for the commissioners during their December meetings.
In the meantime, Sarasota Police Department (SPD) Marine Patrol Officer Mike Skinner told the commissioners that SPD members are working on plans for an undercover operation to try to stop the illegal rentals of jet skis in the park.
WCIND and marine industry association representatives urge different approach
During comments that were part of the hearing, Justin McBride, executive director of WCIND, told the commissioners, “My board is not in favor of [the exclusion zone]. Our charge is to expand and protect boating in Southwest Florida.”
He did note that the board members understand the safety issues at Sperling Park. However, McBride continued, “My office has received calls from concerned boaters,” some of whom have talked about generations of their families enjoying boating at that location. “It’s a traditional and historic place for boating,” McBride pointed out.
It likely would be easier for the county to get the necessary permits for an Idle Speed-No Wake zone, he continued, and it would be more appropriate, in WCIND’s view.
Further, McBride noted, as an example, Lee County has 47 miles of shoreline, all of which is subject to the Idle Speed-No Wake regulation. “There are very, very few conflicts on those beaches” between boaters and people pursuing other water activities, he pointed out.
For another perspective, McBride said, “Lee County has just under 50,000 registered boats, and Sarasota County has just over 25,000.”
In response to a question posed by Commissioner Ron Cutsinger about the “idle wake” designation for a body of water versus a “slow speed” zone, McBride explained that, in accord with state law, “Idle speed is the minimum speed necessary to maintain steerage, so that changes with the tides” and the level of wind.
McBride added, “I would not suggest a slow speed [zone]. I would [zone]definitely go with Idle Speed-No Wake” at Sperling Park.
The second speaker during the hearing, Philip Secord, regional manager of the Marine Industries Association of Southwest Florida, joined McBride in urging the commissioners not to adopt the exclusion zone.
Explaining that the association is one of nine in the state — all representing various regions — he said, “Our position is this: We like access to water.”
The association is “huge on safety,” he stressed, “but we thoroughly believe that locking down the beach from all boats is not necessary. … Boaters, by and large, know how to behave.” He repeated “boaters” with emphasis, clarifying that he was referring to “people who are behind the helm of a vessel.”
Secord added, “We believe that there should be some [option] in the middle,” between “ ‘Yes, you can do what’s happening today’ ” to “ ‘Absolutely not.’ ”
The association supports the Idle Speed-No Wake option, he said.
Although he added that he did not wish to get into a discussion about jet skis, Secord did explain, “The ‘jet’ is the tiller; it’s the rudder. … If you have a jet ski, you have to learn out to use it. You can’t just come in and rent one.”
A focus on ‘the bad actors’
Following the Nov. 18 presentation by Rissler of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, Commissioner Tom Knight noted that the enforcement information she had received from the applicable agencies was “not really unified like I thought we would see.”
Referring to FWC’s position about the need for “competent substantial evidence,” Knight asked Rissler, “How many 911 calls have we had out there for bad actors?” referring to the park.
She did not have that information, she replied.
Yet, Knight pointed out, such data would be important to FWC’s decision-making process.
One of the speakers during the hearing was able to provide details.
Celine O’Connor, a full-time South Lido resident, said she and others who live on the island began collecting data in 2022. Since then, nearly 400 law enforcement reports had been generated by calls about safety issues at Sperling Park, she told the commissioners.
Further, Knight noted — as he had during the Oct. 21 discussion, when the board members agreed to this week’s hearing — that the people renting jet skis to the public at Sperling Park “aren’t from here; they’re from Orange County.”
He has commented on the fact that local government actions in communities north of Sarasota County had prompted those individuals to come to Sarasota County to engage in the business of renting jet skis. Past discussions at the County Commission dais — and among the Sarasota city commissioners — have noted reports that people even rent their own personal jet skis to individuals at Sperling Park and at the city’s 10th Street Boat Ramp.
Further, Knight told Rissler, “I’m getting a lot of calls from people,” complaining about the potential loss of their ability to anchor their boats on the Sperling Park shoreline.
Then, referencing the slides she had shown them about the four agencies’ views on enforcing the proposal before the board that day, Knight asked her what she had perceived the agencies’ positions to be in discussions that she and her staff had conducted with agency representatives.
“I can tell you this,” Rissler began: “The partnership with the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) and the Sheriff’s Office and our staff and our security team over the past year has been significantly improved across the board.”
She added that the law enforcement officers with whom she and her staff have been meeting “have been working very diligently” on ideas about how to improve the situation on South Lido.
Chair Neunder pointed out, “South Lido used to have a lifeguard stand there [in the park]. That was my stand.”
Neunder has mentioned in the past that he had a summer job as a county lifeguard when he was in his teens.
“Our lifeguards on the beach are not law enforcement,” he continued on Nov. 18, “but they are a presence.”
Acknowledging that, in the course of the discussion about the proposed exclusion zone, “This is really out there,” he did ask Rissler, “Why did we pull a lifeguard off South Lido? It is a public beach. … That is somewhat of an authoritative presence,” he continued. If someone did “something bad,” Neunder added, a lifeguard has a radio that can be used to summon assistance.
Moreover, Neunder talked of the strong currents offshore. (Rissler has noted that the confluence of the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota Bay and Big Sarasota Pass can create challenging conditions for swimmers offshore of the park.)
County Administrator Lewis told Neunder that he had asked the same question. Lewis then explained that the lifeguards are part of the Emergency Services Department, not Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources.
He also pointed out, “There is the position that if you put a lifeguard on a [beach], you’re encouraging people to swim, and that beach is posted ‘No Swimming’ …”
Further, Lewis noted, “We have so few lifeguards as it is …” Thus, “We put them where we want people to swim.”
During the public hearing, Wendy O’Neill, a South Lido resident, presented the board members a video showing jet skiers offshore of the park. One slide noted that when a Sarasota Police Marine Patrol boat appears, “Everything is calm.” As soon as the boat leaves, another slide said, “The party continues.”
Jet skiers versus the park’s goals
Another speaker during the hearing Gina Nerlino, a full-time Lido resident, also stressed the danger of being in the water off Sperling Park as a swimmer.
Moreover, she told the commissioners, “I’ve been involved myself in at least 10 saves where jet skiers have been dislodged, many of whom do not know how to swim themselves.” A number of them appeared to be younger than 14, she said.
Yet another South Lido resident, David Rayner, told the board members that the proponents of the motorboat exclusion zone had created an online petition through Change.org that had netted 251 signatures.
“If jet skis can’t beach and relaunch,” he pointed out, “there is little incentive to stay in Big Pass, making doughnuts and demonstrating other reckless boating behavior.”
Rayner also reminded the commissioners that the county purchased the park property in 1977 to save it from commercial development. A sign at the park bathhouse lists the park goals, he continued. Those “are to maintain an environmentally sensitive area and open space to serve the passive recreational needs of county residents and visitors. Park users may enjoy bathing … in the waters of the Gulf and [Big] Pass,” he read, which — he noted — the sign describes “as a dynamic estuarine environment of unusual diversity.”
Rayner told the commissioners, “Whoever erected the ‘No Swimming’ signs forgot to remove this historic sign. Notably,” he said, “it does not describe the park as being a free marina or jet ski rental facility.”
Adding that he had gone on a “ride-along” on one of the Police Department’s Marine Patrol vessels, Rayner talked of how the mere presence of that boat “chilled reckless jet skiers and boaters.”
If the commissioners approved the exclusion zone, he said, “Debate over speed and/or reckless behavior will be moot.”
Stressing the need for enforcement
Following the speakers’ remarks, Commissioner Smith told his colleagues, “I grew up here in Sarasota,” adding that he “spent a good deal of [his] teen time” on South Lido. “It was very passive there. It is a nature preserve.”
Yet, Smith continued, because sand has been accreting on the bay side of the park, “The boaters have invaded that nature preserve.”
“The safety concerns, to me,” Smith added, “are the most compelling reason … to support [the proposed exclusion zone].”
Big Pass has plenty of room for boaters to moor, Smith pointed out. “I don’t think we’re harming the boating community as much as we’re protecting the folks in the park and the swimmers.”
After Smith offered his remarks, Commissioner Knight expressed support for the creation of the “Idle Speed, No Wake” zone. However, noting that a Sarasota Police Department officer was present for the hearing, Knight asked whether the man could address the board on the enforcement aspect of that regulation.
The officer, Mike Skinner, explained that state law allows local governments to come up with ordinances such as the one under consideration that day. Idle speed zones, slow speed zones and exclusionary zones all are enforceable, he said.
Then, referencing the earlier remarks of McBride with WCIND, Knight said that, given the regulatory issues that Rissler of PRNR had addressed during her presentation, “I think there’s more opportunity for us to make that safer out there” at Sperling Park by implementing a “Idle Speed, No Wake” zone.
He could be wrong, Knight continued, but he felt that choosing option would lead to better enforcement. “That takes away a lot of bad actors,” he added, “especially the wave runners.”
“I have a tendency to lean with Commissioner Knight on this,” Commissioner Teresa Mast said. If the board members agreed to start out with the “Idle Speed, No Wake” zone, she continued, then they could see how enforcement works. “Does it minimize the bad actors?”
“We want everyone to be able to enjoy this park and the waterways,” Mast added, but the commissioners also wanted to provide relief to the South Lido residents who have had to contend with the park problems.
Commissioner Cutsinger concurred with Knight and Mast, adding, “It seemed very clear” that FWC would not approve a permit for the proposed exclusion zone.
Chair Neunder did ask Skinner questions about the jet ski rentals at the park. “I want to protect the small businesses that do it the right way,” Neunder said, “as opposed to the very sneaky, bad actors that appear to be popping up in our community.”
Skinner explained that state livery regulations allow persons to rent jet skis to individuals, but those with livery licenses must have insurance and they must go through a checklist with anyone renting a jet ski.
The Police Department does work to educate people about the state regulations, he continued. However, when police officers show up, “fly-by-night” persons handling jet ski rentals disappear, Skinner said. Thus, the Police Department is working on an undercover operation to ty to stop illegal rentals, he added.
Commissioner Cutsinger ended up making the motion to direct staff to schedule a hearing on the Idle Speed, No Wake zone, and Knight seconded it