Getting Mooring Field
a long process
By Merili McCoy - Commissioner's Corner
Once upon a time there was a little island
that some people called The Rock, while others called it Paradise.
Either way, everyone loved it and lots of people came to visit it.
Sometimes they would find Paradise Rock very pleasant and decide never
to leave. Since it was an island, they naturally had a lot of boats.
One day, one of the locals was on a Cuban
coffee break (the islanders drank a lot of that stuff....they called it
a "buche"), thinking about this little island with so many boats.
Since he was employed by the City Government and in charge of port and
dock spaces for all those boats, he realized the little island was in trouble.
His name was Chuck Hamlin. He decided to take the problem to the city fathers
and mothers. And, thus, begins a long, long tale.
More than 15 years ago, Chuck Hamlin,
Director of the Key West Port and Transit Authority and the Port and Transit
Authority Board came to address the great boat breakdown, and the potential
environmental hazards. Island docking spaces were finitely
limited and future water quality would be stressed. As one of the
solutions, they suggested a mooring field for boats be established in the
deeper water off the Seaplane Basin adjacent to Trumbo Point.
The City initiated this as an environmental need, but on State property.
Raymond Archer picked up the cause when Hamlin retired, and has been with
it ever since. Everyone knows Raymond has a Ph.D in Patience and
Persistence.
The Florida State permitting process is
labyrinthine. Fish and Wildlife were involved, the Department.
of Natural Resources was very supportive and the Department. of Environmental
Regulation required a multitude of difficult studies to be performed.
The DNR and the DER have since combined into the Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP). State agencies do this sometimes, it keeps everyone
on their toes. The Department of Community Affairs was equally concerned
with mandates, regarding control of water quality and numerous regulations.
Finally, in 1995, a management plan was drawn up and signed among the owners
of the basin, the State of Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement
Trust Fund (sometimes called the Eye-Eye Board) and the City of Key West.
In 1993, prior to this permit, the United
States Coast Guard recognized the State of Florida's and the City
of Key West's right to establish and manage this field. The DEP issued
permit No. 443021579 on Dec. 29, 1995. It expires this year on the
same date. The City has applied for an extension. Another one
of those keep-you-on-your toes things.
The Mooring Field is in the form of a
triangle located off Trumbo Point. The base of the triangle is between
Sigsbee Park and Fleming Key, the hypotenuse is parallel to the shallow
waters, which include Rat Key, between Sigsbee Park and Trumbo Point housing,
while the point is off the area where the old seaplane hangers are located.
A total of 149 sites were permitted. (150 would have required two
mountains of permits!) The city moms and dads were ecstatic!
The City had funding problems, as often
happens, and a grant was applied for and received in 1997 for $70,000.
The city was able to match it with another $70,000. Last year, 81
anchors were installed, and are now ready to use. The city planned
to install the balance of the anchorages as the rentals accrued from the
first anchors. These anchors are permanently installed in the ocean
bottom and give a secure anchorage without dragging.
The city went through a careful study
and rate-setting process for the anchorage rental fees. The fees
will be $8 per day for year round and $12 per day for transients.
The goal is to have as many yearly tenants as possible due to our housing
crisis. Included, at no extra charge, is dingy docking, regular pump
outs, parking on Barracuda Pier, water and garbage pickup. The city plans
to add rest room facilities and showers on Barracuda Pier as soon as possible.
Sounds good, you say? It's about time? Where do I go to sign
up? Well ... not exactly.
In 1999, the DCA, the DEP and the City
of Key West signed a tri-party agreement to move Houseboat Row into Garrison
Bight at Dolphin Pier. This meant that parking for houseboats would
be in the area next to Dolphin Pier which was where the dingy pier was
going to be for the mooring field. Dingys are small boats that get
mooring field tenants back and forth to their boats. The City figured
the adjacent Barracuda Pier (both piers are alongside Garrison Bight bridge,
on your right as you go into town) could support floating docks for the
Mooring Field dingys and the Mooring Field parking. Seemed like a
plan.
Whoa, said the DEP. We want extensive
studies before you put those darn dingys there, like a serious count of
sea grass blades in the mooring field. No, said the city, we already
did that when we got the original mooring field permit. After much
correspondence a compromise was reached. This is a practice
I don't fully favor ... all those trees cut down for all that paper. Anyway,
according to Assistant City Manager John Jones, the city was to perform
three sections of sea grass study, one meter square each. Two sections
were in the Mooring Field and one pilot section outside of the field.
The city must do this twice a year to determine any damage from the field.
The DEP will choose the section locations. This is a crucial procedure.
The City assumed a permit was not needed
for Barracuda Pier. Docking already existed along this sea wall;
but it needs floating docks next to it because the pier is so high.
The State maintains the water is too shallow, yet it is the same depth
as the adjacent Dolphin Pier where the houseboats will go.
Currently, they are hesitant to give us this permit and are asking us to
find another location. Like North Roosevelt Boulevard maybe?
Once we get this permit from the DEP,
assuming we eventually do, the Army Corps of Engineers will have to review
and give us another dock permit. We are expecting problems here because
of a lawsuit started by environmental groups on behalf of the manatee.
The environmental values of the mooring
field are several. Boats will no longer dump waste in surrounding
waters, for we will be pumping them out on a regular basis. Anchors
in shallow waters will no longer drag, destroying bottoms and sea grass.
The city will receive revenues. Boats will be tied up securely, instead
of higgledy piggledy everywhere, like in mangroves or wherever
their anchors fall. Environmental groups are anxious to see this
in place, and finally boats will be safer to themselves and others.
John Jones (who will get his Ph.D In P
and P any day now) feels, if we cannot get our permits and thus utilize
the existing mooring field, we might have to sever our partnership
with the State II Board. Simply put, we would be unable to perform
our responsibilities defined in the management agreement. We
might consider accepting our investment losses in the mooring field
anchors and turn it over to the State and let them assume management;
or we could sit down with the State and work it out over a buche, island
style! That would be a nice ending to the tale of Paradise
Rock and the LBBs (Little Bitty Boats). |
