Nonprofit ManaSota-88 endorses draft ordinance in advance of Nov. 18 public hearing
With a public hearing on a proposed new regulation for Ted Sperling Park scheduled on the Sarasota County Commission agenda for Nov. 18, former sheriff and first-term Commissioner Tom Knight last week expressed concerns to his colleagues about the enforcement issue.
Later that day, he indicated in a Facebook post that he is reluctant to support the ordinance that would create a motorboat exclusion zone within 300 feet of the park, which is on the southern end of Lido Key.
A staff memo included in the Nov. 18 agenda packet, in regard to the hearing, points out, “ ‘Knowing’ violations of [the regulation] may be criminal violations punishable as a second-degree misdemeanor, which means up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail. … Officers could issue citations for such violations.”
On Oct. 21, the commissioners unanimously voted to conduct the hearing on that exclusion zone. The other option that staff had given them called for restricting motorboat operations to idle speed within 300 feet of the park’s boundary. That day, none of the board members expressed support for what was listed as Option B.
As Commissioner Teresa Mast put it, Option A “[is] the only thing that has some teeth in it.”
While Commissioner Knight has made his concerns known, ManaSota-88, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public health and environmental organization based in Nokomis, has offered full support for the proposed motorboat regulation, which would apply to jet skis, as well. “The restrictions are needed due to the dangerous user conflicts between motorboats and swimmers at South Lido Park,” a ManaSota-88 newsletter said.
The organization also pointed to environmental concerns that would be addressed by passage of the ordinance:
For years, South Lido residents have pleaded with the county commissioners for action that would stop what they have described — and illustrated in videos and photos — as the dangerous behavior of jet ski operators offshore of Ted Sperling Park. They also have emphasized what appear to be illegal rentals of the equipment within the county park.
The hearing is set as the next-to-last item on the Nov. 18 agenda. It will follow the commissioners’ board reports, as well as two discussions. One of the latter will focus on applications that county staff has received for the federal grant funds that the board members approved in April for the dredging of major waterways. The Sarasota City Commission is one of the applicants, as The Sarasota News Leader has reported.
The commissioners are conducting all of their regular meetings at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice, which stands at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail. Before the end of the year, operations have to cease at the downtown Sarasota Administration Center, on Ringling Boulevard, as county government operations will be relocating next year to a new facility off Fruitville Road.
‘Law enforcement’s input’ needed
During his report to his colleagues as part of their regular meeting on Nov. 5, in Venice, Commissioner Knight said, “We really need to get law enforcement’s input on our actions,” in regard to Sperling Park. He added that he wants to know how the agencies that would have to enforce the ordinance view it. He indicated that Marine Patrol officers with whom he had spoken “have some concerns.”
Referencing comments during the Open to the Public comment period that morning, Knight also noted, “I think we’re hearing the other side of [the issue] now …”
During the Open to the Public comment period, David Scott of the Southgate community in Sarasota said he had heard of the proposal to ban boats from getting any closer than 300 feet of the park’s shoreline.
“That would be a terrible, terrible mistake,” Scott stressed. “The reason that it’s popular for boating,” he said of the park, “is because it’s one of few places in Sarasota where there’s a sandy beach out of the wind.” The waves and the wind are too strong on the Gulf side of South Lido, he indicated.
Much of the property bordering Sarasota Bay is private, Scott continued. Moreover, with oyster beds and seawalls in other areas, he pointed out, very few sandy areas of shoreline are available where boaters can pull up so people can get out into the water.
“There’s also access to restrooms there [at Sperling Park],” he noted, and it is convenient to pick up and put off passengers at that beach.
“If you do anything,” Scott said, “enforce the ‘No Wake’ zone within 300 feet of shore. There’s already laws in place for that, so enforcement, I think, is the key …
Addressing his colleagues during his board report, Knight asked, “Are we punishing the masses for the actions of the few?”
He had visited the park, Knight said, adding that “the bad actors out there aren’t even from our community.” They had been displaced from other jurisdictions, he continued, after local government officials had adopted regulations similar to the one that the commissioners will consider next week.
He added that he believes the majority of the individuals who use rented jet skis at Sperling Park are not among the people whom Visit Sarasota County seeks to attract to Sarasota County, who contribute to the county’s economy. People at Sperling Park are “creating chaos on our waters.”
Knight also referenced the June death of a Baltimore Orioles Minor League player. Luis Guevara was on a jet ski offshore of the park when witnesses reported that he was struck by another jet ski that had become airborne.
When the County Commission conducts the Nov. 18 hearing, Knight continued, he would like for Nicole Rissler, director of the county’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department (PRNR), to have information from the affected law enforcement agencies about their views of the proposed new regulation.
His primary concern, Knight reiterated, is whether the agencies that would be charged with enforcing the 300-foot exclusion zone would do so.
While he does not make a practice of talking about his “former life,” he said, referring to his three terms as Sarasota County sheriff, Knight nonetheless told his colleagues that, at times during those years, he talked with county commissioners about the difficulties of enforcing ordinances that were under consideration. He even had offered them statements to the effect of “I can’t and won’t enforce that.”
Perhaps county staff could ask representatives of the agencies to be present for the Nov. 18 hearing, to make their thoughts known, Knight suggested.
When County Administrator Jonathan Lewis asked whether Knight wanted representatives from the Sheriff’s Office, the Sarasota Police Department and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) — all of whom have jurisdiction in the waters surrounding Ted Sperling Park — to be present, Knight did propose the potential that a law enforcement representative of the “work group” with which Rissler and other members of the PRNR staff had discussed the proposed regulation could send a letter to the board in advance of the hearing, making clear the agencies’ views.
After Lewis asked whether a letter from each of the agencies, stating that agency’s opinion about the proposed ordinance, would suffice if a person from that agency could not be present, Knight indicated that that would be fine. “I just think it’s important that we have their buy-in …”
Knight’s motion passed on a 5-0 vote.
In a post on the Facebook page set up for his use as a commissioner, Knight summed up the action thus:
“In my commissioner comments I addressed the issues at Ted Sperling Park (at South Lido Beach) which has experienced dangerous situations due to reckless boaters and jet skis in the area. Some would like the commission to pass zoning or an ordinance restricting the use of watercraft, but I believe you can’t legislate stupidity and it’s wrong to punish the masses for the actions of a few. As a 34-year law enforcement officer and former Sheriff, I am confident this is a law enforcement issue. With more intensive enforcement by marine units, it is likely we can make this a much safer place while preserving freedoms for responsible boaters.”