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Tag: Palma Sola Causeway

Horses not allowed on Gulf beaches

Horses not allowed on Gulf beaches

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Beach, Environment, Featured, Outdoors.

HOLMES BEACH – While motorists were noticing a long, white horse trailer parked among the boat trailers at the Kingfish boat ramp Monday morning, beachgoers were even more surprised to see three horses on the beach near 45th Avenue.

A photo posted on the “Island Ratz Unite” Facebook page prompted a brief exchange between two members: “Wonder if we’re going to have to pass a “no horses in the bike lanes” ordinance now? LOL!”

The response: “They WERE in the bike lane this morning around 10:30 by the curve.”

Horses are not allowed on the beach on Anna Maria Island or at Kingfish boat ramp, Holmes Beach Police Sgt. Michael Pilato said, adding that someone called the police about the incident. A code enforcement officer was dispatched, but the horses were gone by the time the officer arrived on the scene, he said.

If you see horses on the beach or at Kingfish boat ramp, contact Holmes Beach Code Enforcement at 941-708-5833.

The Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department staff that maintains the beaches and boat ramps has been notified, said Michael Elswick, division manager for the Natural Resources Division.

“We’ll keep an eye out for this type of thing within the parks,” he said, meaning Coquina Beach and Manatee Beach. “Outside of the county-run beach parks, this would be an issue for Island municipality code enforcement.”

One horse- and dog-friendly beach

The only beach where horses – and dogs – are allowed is the Palma Sola Causeway on Manatee Avenue West in Bradenton.

The riders may have been discouraged from going to the causeway Monday because the causeway was under a no-swimming advisory earlier this month, Manatee County Marine Rescue Chief Joe Westerman said.

The Florida Department of Health issued a no-swim advisory for the Palma Sola Bay South beach after tests on July 8 and July 10 confirmed that enterococcus bacteria from fecal matter in the water exceeded EPA guidelines.

The advisory was lifted on Monday, said Tom Larkin, director of the Manatee County Environmental Health department.

A story in The Sun on July 6 uncovered concerns about horse waste at the causeway causing poor water quality and destroying seagrass. Officials from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department, Keep Manatee Beautiful and Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity expressed concerns about the issue.

https://amisun.com/2019/07/06/concerns-raised-over-horse-waste-in-bay/

 

Concerns raised over horse waste in bay

Concerns raised over horse waste in bay

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Beach, Environment, Outdoors.

PALMA SOLA BAY – With red tide fresh in local memory and blue-green algae hanging around since May, everything that produces nutrients that feed harmful algae blooms is under the microscope.

That includes the horse waste floating in Palma Sola Bay.

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Pinellas County Commission in June to ban recreational horseback riding in Tampa Bay along the Sunshine Skyway Bridge causeway to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus from animal waste and to protect seagrass.

Some of the same horses that are rented at the Skyway also carry tourists up and down beaches on the Palma Sola Bay causeway and swim in the bay.

“We need cooperation from the public who bring horses and dogs to the bay,” said Darcy Young, director of planning and communications for the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.

Palma Sola Bay has seagrass beds on both sides of the causeway as of last year’s survey, Young said, including in the northeastern section where most commercial horseback rentals occur.

“It’s possible, even likely, that the horses are walking on it,” she said, adding that people trample seagrass too.

“Bacteria, parasites and viruses can lead to poor water quality,” Young said. “If the situation gets bad enough in a concentrated area, you do start to worry.”

Horses are vegetarians, and don’t produce the same bacteria that carnivores – like dogs – do, said Charlie Hunsicker, director of the Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department.

“But horse poop is horse poop,” he said. “Whether or not it’s generating harmful levels, we don’t know.”

Concerns raised over horse waste in bay
Horsesurfing takes horseback riding in the bay to another level. – Cindy Lane | Sun

Jennifer Hoffman, executive director of Keep Manatee Beautiful, said the organization’s members are concerned about the impact the horses may be having on water quality in Palma Sola Bay, and rely on the Manatee County Healthy Beaches Program to advise of any issues.

The Florida Healthy Beaches Program lists good water quality in Manatee County except for Palma Sola Bay on May 13 and June 11, due to enterococcus bacteria from fecal matter. Enterococcus also can be a result of runoff or sewage spills in the bay.

Other bacteria like leptospirosis, which can be carried by horses and dogs – also allowed on the causeway – can be spread to people through contact with water, especially cuts in the skin, and from soil containing urine from an infected animal, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity also has discussed the horses at the causeway.

Horses and dogs historically used the causeway beaches long before companies began using it for commercial purposes, Co-chair Ingrid McClellan said.

While there have been issues with the companies that rent horses on the causeway leaving waste on the shoreline, companies now scoop it from the shore, McClellan said.

“We have signs saying, ‘leave only hoofprints behind,’ ” she said, adding that representatives from one of the horse rental companies told the group that horses do not defecate in the water.

Manatee cause of death uncertain

Waste in the bay was blamed on social media on July 5 for the death of a juvenile manatee photographed at the boat ramp at Palma Sola Bay with the title, “Palma Sewar at its finest.”

The Manatee County Utilities Department confirmed no spills of untreated sewage in Palma Sola Bay in the 48 hours following the appearance of the manatee carcass, Hunsicker said.

The carcass was retrieved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Marine Patrol and transported to the boat ramp, but it is not known if the manatee died in the bay or was retrieved from elsewhere, he said.

Palma Sola Causeway missing bollards

Missing bollards mystery stumps scenic highway management

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Manatee County.

MANATEE COUNTY – The mystery of the missing bollards on the Manatee Avenue causeway continues to haunt county law enforcement and members of the Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity.

For the past several months, members of the scenic highway group have noticed several bollards being removed on the south side of Manatee Avenue along the Palma Sola Causeway. Co-Chair Ingrid McClellan said she’s found several of the missing bollards floating in the water along the shoreline after they’ve been removed and tossed into the waves. Now McClellan and the other scenic highway members are banding together with law enforcement to find the culprit.

Palma Sola Causeway bollards trailer
A photo taken along the Palma Sola Scenic Highway shows a small watercraft trailer being driven through where bollards were removed to retrieve an ultralight aircraft. – Submitted | Ingrid McClellan/Joshua Linney

While people have been observed using the newly-cleared space where bollards used to be as a makeshift small craft launch, information is still sought to show the bollards actively being removed. The area is patrolled primarily by the Bradenton Police Department along with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

In the meantime, Manatee County Property Management and Public Works employees have come up with a harder-to-remove barrier to keep watercraft launches along the causeway limited to designated areas. In places where bollard removal is common, the wooden pieces have been replaced with trash cans. The cans are encased in a concrete base that is set several inches into the sand to discourage would-be vandals from removing them.

Palma Sola Causeway bollards trash can
In some places where bollards continue to go missing, Manatee County employees are replacing the missing wooden pieces with trash cans with cement bases. – Kristin Swain | Sun

At McClellan’s request, a new tactic is being used to keep bollards in the ground once installed. County workers are installing rebar along the bottom of the wooden bollards, buried under the sand so that it will be more difficult, if not impossible for vandals to remove the bollards. This new approach is being taken as bollards are replaced along the Palma Sola Causeway.

McClellan said she hopes the vandal is stopped soon to help prevent more work for county employees along with eliminating the additional costs to replace bollards.

Anyone with photos or videos of the bollards being removed is asked to please share the information with The Sun or McClellan at arborist@manateebeautiful.com.

ultralight

Low plane flights cause buzz on Island

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Anna Maria Island, Community News, Featured.

Updated March 8, 2018 – Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer reports that after the publication of this story, the pilot, Hans Brown, agreed to comply with FAA regulations requiring him to fly “1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft,” and, at Tokajer’s request, 300 feet seaward of the buoys marking no-vessel zones in the Gulf of Mexico off Anna Maria Island.

A small ultralight aircraft flying up and down the Gulf beaches of Anna Maria Island is attracting attention from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Holmes Beach police, Palma Sola Scenic Highway officials and beachgoers, some of whom duck when he flies overhead.

A plane advertising itself online as a “bucket list” experience, including “several low passes, several water-skims and several splash-n-go’s,” flies over Bradenton Beach at sunset. – Cindy Lane | Sun

The “trike,” which flies “low, slow, up close and personal” according to the Air Adventures website advertised on the aircraft, www.letsfly.info, frequents the Anna Maria Island Gulf beaches at sunset, typically a tranquil time that draws many to the water’s edge.

Some have reported the low – and loud – flights to law enforcement authorities.

FAA

The FAA is investigating reports that the plan is flying too low.

“We are taking a look to determine how this company is operating,” FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac told The Sun, citing regulations on minimum safe altitudes:

  • 91.119, Minimum safe altitudes. Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes: (b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft; (c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
  • 103.9, Hazardous operations. (a) No person may operate any ultralight vehicle in a manner that creates a hazard to other persons or property.
  • 103.15, Operations over congested areas. No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons.

Palma Sola Scenic Highway CME

The plane’s website shows photos and videos of the plane taking off and landing on the Palma Sola Causeway, a state road and right of way and a designated scenic highway, with regulations about advertising and commercial activity, said Ingrid McClellan, of the Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity.

The organization is investigating Air Adventures, better known as “1-833-lets-fly,” and pilot Hans Brown.

“You can’t do a walk-up business. If they are selling online and it’s reserved and paid for online it’s allowed, but they can’t walk up and spend X amount of dollars for a ride,” she said, noting that the Surferbus and BeachHorses operating on the causeway do not violate the regulations.

Scenic Highway officials are drafting a letter expressing concern to the Bradenton Police Department, which has jurisdiction over the causeway, McClellan said.

Holmes Beach Police Department

The plane has landed illegally on the Gulf beach, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer told Holmes Beach commissioners last week.

While the pilot and plane are both licensed, he said, police will be monitoring his flights and using decibel meters to determine whether he is violating the Holmes Beach noise ordinance.

Tokajer said the pilot told him he plans to pick up passengers at the Kingfish Boat Ramp, instead of at the Palma Sola Causeway or the east side of the Manatee Avenue bridge at the northern kayak launch.

Kingfish Boat Ramp is a Manatee County park leased from the Florida Department of Transportation, and while it is policed by the Holmes Beach Police Department, no specific city ordinances ban picking up passengers there, City Attorney Patricia Petruff told commissioners.

Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach officials have not yet publicly discussed the issue.

– Kristin Swain contributed to this report