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• Travatine Island, a county-owned spoil island off Park Boulevard with deepwater access to the Intracoastal Waterway. “The site has two extremes – one side is very good mangrove forest in an estuarine ecosystem, but the other is spoil from dredging the Narrows and is covered in exotics,” he noted. Large enough to accommodate 150 parking spaces for boat trailers or a similar number of boat racks, the island also may be developed with ancillary services like a restaurant or bait shop.
“It’s a great location on Boca Ciega Bay but there may be some concern from neighborhoods to the east because people like looking out at the island,” Stowers said.
• The Stauffer Chemical Company site in Tarpon Springs, which is in the final stages of obtaining US Environmental Protection Agency approval for a plan to clean up chemicals left from phosphate ore processing. “When that occurs, Stauffer wants to have someone on board and working toward the ultimate remediation and build out,” Stowers said. “We’ve met with them a couple of times and continue to review the situation.”
The 130-acre site on the Anclote River could be developed with a combination of recreational and working waterfront uses, including large boat repair that is being crowded out of other sites. “It lends itself well to those uses because it has protected deep water and plenty of land,” Stowers said.
Other uses proposed for the site, depending upon input from a potential private partner, include restaurants, soccer fields, a skateboard park and bike motocross trail, and a fishing pier with boardwalk.
In the state’s most densely populated county, the site’s Superfund status has an advantage in that residential construction would never be allowed, he adds. “The negatives of the site are there, but it would be dumb to never build anything. Scientists believe that they can make appropriate remediations and there will be an ongoing monitoring program.” According to federal law, any potential liability would remain with the Stauffer Chemical Company.
Expansions at two current sites, including the War Veteran’s Park near Tyrone Boulevard and the Belleair Boat Ramp, also were named as priorities by the task force. Funding for construction that would accommodate an additional 54 boaters is currently budgeted for War Veteran’s. An additional 35 parking spots may be feasible with appropriate environmental review.
The Belleair site could accommodate up to 60 additional parking spots but would require a new seawall and extensive fill, and neighborhood opposition is likely.
Education, Partnerships Also Emphasized
Not all of the task force recommendations focused on expanded sites. New signage and better education for boaters is expected to improve the efficiency of major sites so that more boats can be launched from current ramps.
Additionally, marina acquisition was not limited to direct purchase, as was proposed with the Tierra Verde property. Other options include partnership agreements that would allow the operator to take advantage of an expedited permitting process. Another alternative may be the acquisition of development rights which would ensure long-term public access while the current owner continues to operate the facility.
Ongoing talks with cities which actually control the largest portion of waterfront land within the county also are underway.
“We’ve had meetings since then with several of the cities and we’re talking about possibly providing financial help for expanded public access,” he said.
Public-private partnerships on the three proposed sites also are likely, particularly for high-dry boat racks and ancillary activities like restaurants or bait shops, he adds.
“We’ve talked to a couple of groups in the last few months who are coming to us and saying they’d like to partner, including some national and worldwide companies,” Stowers said. “Others are local people who’d like to stay in business and the best way to do that is to expand in some way.”
Regulations Reviewed
Planning and regulatory issues also were addressed, and the Countywide Future Land Use Plan – currently being updated – is likely to incorporate a commitment to the protection and preservation of public boat access.
For instance, the land use plan may include a “no-net-loss” policy requiring that any future development that eliminates public boat slips replace a certain percentage of them. A waterfront overlay in the land use plan could potentially provide justification for tax relief for marina operators. Property values are currently assessed on a “highest and best use,” which often means upscale condominiums. Any changes to the land use plan, however, must be initiated through the local government with jurisdiction over the property.
Tax deferrals for marinas, which also were approved by the 2005 legislature, are not likely to become an important tool, according to the task force report. Complex annual filings and substantial questions about how the process would work make it unlikely that marina owners would take advantage of them.
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