Bimini mooring field info session set
Cape residents and boaters wanting to know more about a proposed “mooring field” in the Bimini Basin will have a second opportunity next week to not only see what is being considered but to offer input.
City staff and its consulting team will meet with the public on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Chester Street Resource Center at 4816 Chester St.
This will be an informal session to give residents the opportunity to provide more input to city staff and Stantec, the engineers on the project, as well as to obtain information to better understand how a mooring field works and how it could benefit the city.
There will also be a presentation to the South Cape Community Redevelopment Agency board so it can provide input as well.
It is the second of two scheduled meetings regarding the mooring field. The first was held April 3, where residents got to see the first renderings of the proposal.
“This meeting will take into account what was received from the initial meeting and present it to the group again, discussing where they are in the process and how it would go forward,” said city spokesperson Connie Barron.
Wyatt Daltrey, planning team coordinator, said the first meeting went very well, as those not normally in the know got a good lesson on mooring fields.
“The general public doesn’t really know how they work and there’s a lot of misinformation about them and what the city can do,” Daltrey said. “It’s really wide open because unless you have a mooring field, there are no rules.”
Daltrey said they are developing a draft ordinance to bring to the Cape Coral City Council. However, there are steps involved, which will be brought up Tuesday.
“The ordinance sets the stage for the mooring field. It’s us creating the rules and from there we go into action developing it,” Daltrey said. “The input is important. What do they want to see there?”
Benefits of these fields were discussed, including the prevention of derelict vessels, pollution control, habitat protection, basin management and oversight, increased revenues and tourism, navigational safety and efficiency in anchoring.
Residents had their concerns, saying that pollution and traffic could actually increase as boaters would dump their bilge and waste in the water instead of having it pumped out, either with another vessel or dock.
They were also concerned about length of stay, derelict boats and the size limits for boats.
Daltrey said he hopes some people who have experience being on mooring fields come to the meeting for their perspective. The first one was attended by a harbormaster from Naples, who Daltrey said was very helpful.
The city is anticipated to adopt a mooring field ordinance in June pertaining to boat anchoring in the Bimini Basin.
Currently, under Florida law, and with no existing mooring field, there is no legal way to regulate boats anchoring within the basin. A mooring field would allow the city to regulate boat anchoring within the designated field once adopted and permitted through various agencies.
The city council will hold hearings on the field on June 4 and June 11, where an ordinance will likely be voted on in time for the summer hiatus.
The field would still have to pass on the state and federal level, an approval process that could take between 12 and 18 months.