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Gulfport to discuss mooring field

The public is invited to talk Thursday about putting tie-up buoys in Boca Ciega Bay, an area the city harbormaster calls "an unregulated free-for-all.''

By CASEY CORA
Published August 30, 2006

GULFPORT - Residents are once again being asked to consider the prospect of installing a mooring field in city waters.

A public discussion on the issue is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Gulfport Casino, 5500 Shore Blvd. S.

The meeting is designed to answer questions regarding the size, length of stay, funding, location and user demographics of mooring fields. In mooring fields, boaters don't anchor their vessels. They tie up to a buoy anchored into the sea bed, creating a waterborne parking lot.

Thursday's discussion is an extension of talks that began more than two years ago.

Aided by an engineering firm in 2004, the city investigated the idea of leasing an area from the state to construct a mooring field with a dinghy dock and onshore laundry and shower facilities.

Based on resident opposition, the city voted against the plan in 2005, said City Manager Thomas Brobeil.

"They were worried we were establishing a floating RV park," he said.

But citizen chatter and the persistence of some residents at public meetings have prompted the City Council to reconsider the issue.

Al Davis and his wife, Cindy, Gulfport residents and boaters, sat on a city-designated focus group as proponents of the mooring field. They consider boater access to public waters a Florida legacy.

"I wouldn't go to Martha's Vineyard to avoid boats," Al Davis said.

Coastal development in Pinellas County is pushing boat slips and licensed marinas toward extinction, leaving boaters with fewer options to park their crafts.

A mooring field would invite vessels to the city, creating an influx of fee-paying, law-abiding boaters that Davis said would boost local business and promote the city's image as a funky waterfront enclave.

Heavy regulation of the mooring field would assuage concerns from funding to sanitation, he added.

Council member Bob Worthington said removing problematic vessels, like those that drift ashore or sink altogether, costs residents of Gulfport and Pinellas County alike.

"Too many vessels are removed at taxpayers' expense," he said. "We know we need control over it."

One potential location is in a small, city-controlled portion of Boca Ciega Bay, said Jim O'Reilly, the city's director of leisure services.

Davis hopes the mooring field would be installed close to the downtown business district, but "certainly farther than a Frisbee toss to the beach."

O'Reilly estimated the number of spots at 50, but said that was tentative. He said city officials won't offer any definites until after the public hashes out concerns at the workshop.

"From the city's standpoint, it's being investigated and we're developing information," he said.

If there is enough interest and a new plan can be created, the City Council would vote on the issue.

"Right now, we have an unregulated free-for-all out there," said Denis Frain, the city's harbormaster.

[Last modified August 29, 2006, 22:20:48]