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Yearning to be free

People who live on clogged canals are ratcheting up pressure on politicians, who are responding but with questions about who will pay.

By EDDY RAMIREZ
Published March 18, 2005

APOLLO BEACH - Jerry Roberts peers out his backyard window and sees his 36-foot sailboat moored to the dock.

The Apollo Beach retiree would rather be out on the water.

But there is little he can do. It is low tide and the main boating channels that connect Tampa Bay with the residential canals in Apollo Beach are too shallow for sailing.

The scene is reminiscent of other waterfront communities in Tampa and unincorporated Hillsborough where residents also complain about the sludge and muck that block boats, smother wildlife and threaten property values.

"It's terrible," Roberts said. "If we don't dredge these channels soon, all we're going to have left is a mosquito pond."

For years, canal residents have demanded that elected officials follow the example of other local governments in Florida and commit money to dredge and maintain miles of clogged waterways. But dredging can be expensive and Hillsborough County and Tampa have traditionally refused to spend taxpayer money on a project that they say mostly benefits the few people living along the water.

Now pressure on politicians is mounting as communities with canal residents become more organized.

In Hillsborough County, commissioners are working to come up with a solution that may result in a cost-sharing program. In Tampa, where the debate over how to pay for canal dredging has raged for 10 years, city officials are installing sediment traps to reduce the amount of debris fouling the waterways.

"This is an age-old problem that hasn't been addressed," said Marianne Cufone, an environmental lawyer and a member of a group called Save Our Canals.

Since last May, the group of 21 homeowners associations in the Town 'N Country area has lobbied commissioners to spend money and resources on restoring the county's creeks, lakes, stormwater ditches, channels and canals and maintaining them.

Cufone said commissioners could take a cue from Cape Coral, which assesses all residents a $37.50 annual fee to clean and maintain 400 miles of waterways.

"We are not simply focused on making canals navigable," Cufone said. "This is a matter of community pride, health, aesthetics and environmental stewardship as well."

Over the years, so much silt and sand have accumulated at the bottom of many man-made canals and waterways that sailboat traffic is virtually impossible at low tide, when the depth can shrink to as low as 2 feet. Some boats become stuck and have to wait for hours for the high tide to lift them up again.

The water in some areas is so dark and murky and filled with debris that manatees have been chased away and residents won't go swimming for fear of getting sick.

There is no consensus about the source of contamination and sediment buildup. Some residents say inadequate stormwater systems have made much of the mess; officials blame natural factors, such as tidal action.

In South Tampa, canal residents say the city should shoulder the costs of dredging because the stormwater system caused the clogging. As evidence, they note that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection fined the city in 2003 for not doing enough to keep polluted stormwater from seeping into the waterways.

The fine came with an order to install 28 sediment traps by 2008 on the end of stormwater pipes throughout the city to reduce the amount of debris swept into waterways from streets and construction sites.

City workers have installed six traps along the Hillsborough River. Nine have been put in the Westshore area, with 10 more set to be installed this year, said Alex Awad, the city's manager for development and consumer affairs.

The city expects to receive a $1.2-million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to fund additional cleanup. But the grant requires a 45 percent match. The matching funds could come from city coffers, additional grants or residents. The city hasn't yet determined the best source, Awad said.

"They have enough money for the museum and the trolley," said Westshore resident Ellie Montague. "They have to spend the money to clean up these waterways that they are polluting, not (asking) the people who live on them" to pay.

In Hillsborough County, officials are considering an ordinance that would allow waterfront residents to petition the county to hire a consultant to determine the cost.

Then, if a majority of residents agreed on the price tag, the county would levy a special tax on canal property owners to pay for the work. County staff would use the money to secure permits and hire a contractor. The tax would exist for a maximum of 20 years or until the debt is paid.

The county could agree to shoulder some of the dredging costs if studies show that stormwater caused the problem.

Commissioners plan to hold a workshop in the coming weeks to determine whether to move ahead with the ordinance or consider alternatives. The county expects to debate a proposed hike in stormwater fees on April 27. Under that proposal, the county would set aside 10 percent of the revenues to install sediment traps on stormwater pipes, which would keep sand and debris from seeping into canals.

Bob Gordon, Hillsborough's public works director, said the special tax district appears to be the most equitable way for waterfront residents to dredge neighborhood canals. Inland residents who don't use the canals "won't necessarily see the benefits of their tax dollars being used to dredge someone else's canal," he said.

Sarasota and Manatee counties have adopted special taxing districts to dredge and maintain recreational waterways on a rotating basis.

Already waterfront homeowners are cringing at any suggestion that they should have to pay, even partly, to dredge waterways that they say are used by boaters and anglers from inland areas.

Joseph DiPaula, an Apollo Beach canal resident, objects to the idea that only waterfront homeowners should incur another tax. He believes they already pay too much and that boaters who don't live in Apollo Beach should share the financial burden.

"There are people who come out here every Saturday - 20, 30 boats from Lord knows where - and they use these waterways all year round," he said. "(The costs) need to be spread throughout the county."

Others say they have to be practical.

Brian Rayle, who lives along a canal, is the president of an Apollo Beach group called Citizens for a Clean and Navigable Canal. For two years, he and nearly 90 other residents have been trying to persuade the county to assume the responsibility for dredging their neighborhood canal. They say the stormwater ditches along Miller Mac Road collapsed during a 2002 storm and clogged the canals with so much sand that the docks are now high and dry.

But their pleas went unheeded after an independent consultant hired by the county concluded that tidal action, not the county's drainage system, had clogged the canal.

Creating a special tax district to pay for the dredging is not the group's first choice, Rayle said. "But we have to be realistic, and we realize that to move forward, we will have to contribute."

To dredge the Master Canal alone, a contractor has estimated that it would cost $43 per cubic yard, Rayle said. The residents estimate 20,000 to 35,000 cubic yards of sediment buildup must be removed, putting the cost at $860,000 to $1.5-million.

Residents of another Apollo Beach group aren't waiting for the county to act.

The Apollo Beach Waterway Improvement Group has recruited about 100 residents so far to raise money to dredge the community's three main boating channels.

Ten years ago, the group tapped 300 people and raised $65,000 to pay for a hydraulic dredger to remove the sludge that was blocking parts of the channels.

Group president Jim Bothwell told a recent meeting of more than 200 residents that if they raise the money, dredging could begin as early as next winter.

"I'm not sure exactly how we are going to get it done this time," he said, noting that the project will probably be costlier and the permitting process more cumbersome. "But we will get it done just like we did the last time."

Staff writer Janet Zink contributed to this report.

[Last modified March 17, 2005, 08:40:12]