Cuda
10-29-2005, 10:19 AM
Boating speed limit considered for North Sarasota Bay
Mayor calls poker run ‘galling – toys of wealthy’ as cigarette boats issue blooms
By: Bob Ardren
Frustrated with what she called inaction by city staff, Mayor Mary Anne Servian grabbed a camera and started a little action herself two weeks ago as dozens of cigarette boats roared up and down Sarasota Bay as part of an event called a poker run.
At least one charity lawn party was drowned out by the noise of the poker run that Sunday, the mayor later told fellow city commissioners. And many members of the Sapphire Shores/Indian Beach Association complained of the noise – as they have been doing for years.
Meanwhile, the boaters left their trailers in the Van Wezel parking lot overnight – after first filling up the Centennial Park boat ramp parking lot – and leaving many of their trailers overnight there, too.
And they climbed the fence into the nearby lawn bowling courts to run hoses out to wash down their boats – draining their wash water into Sarasota Bay.
The mayor’s pictures documenting all this were later passed around to city staff.
“How do we get these folks to act neighborly?” the mayor asked.
Yvonne Lacey thinks she has an idea. A longtime waterfront homeowner on the North Bay, Lacey has enlisted the help of County Commissioner Nora Patterson in hopes of putting “a reasonable” speed limit of 50 miles an hour on boats in North Bay.
Lacy says she and the Sapphire Shores/Indian Beach Association – of which she is a member – have been complaining for more than two years about the noise and damage high-speed cigarette boats make as they run up and down the bay. Association President Dick Clapp confirmed, “It’s been at least two years; I remember discussing it at a semi-annual meeting in 2003.”
“It’s horrific noise,” Lacey explained. “But let’s be clear, our beef is not the once-a-year offshore race, but the testing the rest of the year that goes on so many afternoons on the bay.
“The racers come to Sarasota and use our bay to set up their props and then go race somewhere else. The reason they do it here is because most communities won’t allow it.” She added that many of the cigarette boats are running well over 100 miles an hour during their testing.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Lacey said.
Asked what he thought about a 50-mile-an-hour speed limit, City Manager Mike McNees said, “The only way my boat will ever go 50 miles an hour is on a trailer being pulled by a truck. Fifty miles an hour sounds like a reasonable request to me.”
McNees said the city is asking its parks board to take a look at the possible environmental damage being done by high-speed boats running in the North Bay. “We have three possible regulatory tracks,” McNees said, “environmental, noise and speed – and we’re exploring them all.”
One approach is having legislation passed on the state level to regulate speeds in the North Bay, but Lacey said her research shows it can be accomplished on the county level, and County Commissioner Nora Patterson has offered to champion it there – but only if officially requested by the city.
Servian made the same point in a recent memorandum to city staff: “Rather than wait for a change to state legislation to regulate noise on the water, why not take control and regulate this ourselves?”
That’s exactly what Commissioner Lou Ann Palmer is planning. She said Tuesday that, “We’ll pass a resolution or motion on the matter – whatever staff recommends.”
However, Palmer pointed out she doesn’t want to elminate special events such as the offshore races. “We’ll exempt special events such as the offshore races,” she said. “But we’ll eliminate what’s been going on and on and on for years now.”
The city commission plans to receive Lacey’s and the neighborhood’s request at its Nov. 7 meeting, and if approved along with its staff report, it will go on to the county commission, which has the legal authority to set a North Bay speed limit.
Mayor calls poker run ‘galling – toys of wealthy’ as cigarette boats issue blooms
By: Bob Ardren
Frustrated with what she called inaction by city staff, Mayor Mary Anne Servian grabbed a camera and started a little action herself two weeks ago as dozens of cigarette boats roared up and down Sarasota Bay as part of an event called a poker run.
At least one charity lawn party was drowned out by the noise of the poker run that Sunday, the mayor later told fellow city commissioners. And many members of the Sapphire Shores/Indian Beach Association complained of the noise – as they have been doing for years.
Meanwhile, the boaters left their trailers in the Van Wezel parking lot overnight – after first filling up the Centennial Park boat ramp parking lot – and leaving many of their trailers overnight there, too.
And they climbed the fence into the nearby lawn bowling courts to run hoses out to wash down their boats – draining their wash water into Sarasota Bay.
The mayor’s pictures documenting all this were later passed around to city staff.
“How do we get these folks to act neighborly?” the mayor asked.
Yvonne Lacey thinks she has an idea. A longtime waterfront homeowner on the North Bay, Lacey has enlisted the help of County Commissioner Nora Patterson in hopes of putting “a reasonable” speed limit of 50 miles an hour on boats in North Bay.
Lacy says she and the Sapphire Shores/Indian Beach Association – of which she is a member – have been complaining for more than two years about the noise and damage high-speed cigarette boats make as they run up and down the bay. Association President Dick Clapp confirmed, “It’s been at least two years; I remember discussing it at a semi-annual meeting in 2003.”
“It’s horrific noise,” Lacey explained. “But let’s be clear, our beef is not the once-a-year offshore race, but the testing the rest of the year that goes on so many afternoons on the bay.
“The racers come to Sarasota and use our bay to set up their props and then go race somewhere else. The reason they do it here is because most communities won’t allow it.” She added that many of the cigarette boats are running well over 100 miles an hour during their testing.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Lacey said.
Asked what he thought about a 50-mile-an-hour speed limit, City Manager Mike McNees said, “The only way my boat will ever go 50 miles an hour is on a trailer being pulled by a truck. Fifty miles an hour sounds like a reasonable request to me.”
McNees said the city is asking its parks board to take a look at the possible environmental damage being done by high-speed boats running in the North Bay. “We have three possible regulatory tracks,” McNees said, “environmental, noise and speed – and we’re exploring them all.”
One approach is having legislation passed on the state level to regulate speeds in the North Bay, but Lacey said her research shows it can be accomplished on the county level, and County Commissioner Nora Patterson has offered to champion it there – but only if officially requested by the city.
Servian made the same point in a recent memorandum to city staff: “Rather than wait for a change to state legislation to regulate noise on the water, why not take control and regulate this ourselves?”
That’s exactly what Commissioner Lou Ann Palmer is planning. She said Tuesday that, “We’ll pass a resolution or motion on the matter – whatever staff recommends.”
However, Palmer pointed out she doesn’t want to elminate special events such as the offshore races. “We’ll exempt special events such as the offshore races,” she said. “But we’ll eliminate what’s been going on and on and on for years now.”
The city commission plans to receive Lacey’s and the neighborhood’s request at its Nov. 7 meeting, and if approved along with its staff report, it will go on to the county commission, which has the legal authority to set a North Bay speed limit.