BRADENTON BEACH – In what was described as a potential public/private partnership to protect the city’s dinghy docks and control derelict vessels, City Attorney Ricinda Perry presented an offer to city commissioners from a local marina.
“I was approached today by the marina, the former Bazzy marina, who said, ‘Why don’t you throw mooring balls out there?’ ” Perry said at the Feb. 1 city commission meeting.
A harbormaster and a pump-out comes at an extreme cost, which is why the city had dropped the idea in the past, Perry said.
“So today the marina said, ‘Would you be interested in us helping you with the mooring balls? And what we can do is basically act as your harbormaster, provide the pump-out service and deal with the people that are paying?’ “ Perry said, adding, “And something else to think about is the amount you charge people, which they would enforce for us. Which would make it so a particular clientele would be able to afford that mooring ball.”
Perry said the city doesn’t have the resources or staff, but with the help of the marina, the mooring field could be a revenue source for the city and the marina, and would potentially clean up the area.
She told commissioners if they were not opposed to the idea, she would put the item on a work meeting agenda.
Commissioner Ralph Cole said, “There’s a lot of pros and cons to this. When we talked about it before, we talked about the cost and how the city was going to maintain it. That would have been really difficult for the city to maintain it.”
Cole said he would like to know the details and the cost involved.
Derelict boats have been an issue in the harbor, and a priority for Bradenton Beach police.
“The police have done a very good job,” Cole said. “We had 47 derelict boats out there at one time, and it takes time to clean all this stuff up.”
“To remove a derelict vessel is extremely expensive,” Perry said. “We can regulate those people who are living on them. Do we want people there who have slammed into our floating dock so many times? I love the private partnership that targets those who are living out there.”
A discussion of the mooring field offer as well as the potential expansion of the city’s boundary jurisdiction on the water, which is currently at 500 feet from shore, will be considered by the city commission in the future, according to Mayor John Chappie.
