The 4th meeting of the Shell Key Advisory Committee was a lively event designed to give the general public and advisory committee members a final chance to provide input for the 2007 Plan update. Commissioner Ronnie Duncan chaired the meeting and Commissioner John Morroni was also in attendance.
There was again a roughly 50/50 representation of citizens who are for and those against the planned updates. Several people spoke passionately and eloquently as they expressed their views.
My favorite quote of the evening comes from St. Pete resident, Ed Silverberg – who spoke with passion about his desire to have Shell Key remain a free and open resource for his family to enjoy. When a sign was raised indicating his time was up, Mr. Silverberg responded:
“Please let me finish. Please, I’m begging you.”
A close second favorite is this quote…:
“Beer is part of nature…It’s alive!”
– Rob Picarillo
All in all, my impression was once again that people on both sides make good points.
I must say, though, that I am always a little surprised to hear the tales of filth and trash that supposedly plague the island. It’s not that I doubt the veracity of those stories. It just goes contrary to every experience I have had on the island. I have almost never seen any “piles” of trash on the island at all. Yes, I see the occasional bit of trash and flotsam, but people just don’t leave piles of trash on the island – even on the busiest days (see my memorial day weekend blog).
And human waste? Again, I have been camping on this island for 25 years and I have never, ever encountered human waste – and *almost* never encountered dog waste. Perhaps I have not been unfortunate enough to encounter it. But as one observant citizen stated on Wednesday: “Any dog owner knows that the life span of dog feces is 4 days”. On most days, there are no campers and very few dogs. From my experience, I would say that human and dog feces are very rare on the island. The notion that there is a health crisis on Shell Key seems completely unfounded to me.
After the public comments, I and the advisory committee were given time to make our points and I delivered my comments about our desire to define the criteria by which the success or failure of the camping compromise will be judged.
After I spoke, David Raynard showed his antithesis to the holiday police videos. Dave’s video showed the more wholesome side of the good natured people that visit Shell Key.
Mr. Raynard also made the case for employing “conservationism” as opposed to “environmentalism”. “It’s about Food” he said as he explained his belief that bird numbers are dropping because the Shell Key Preserve ecosystem is evolving to have less food for seabirds. His argued that we should address this issue instead of concerning ourselves with “moral” issues.
Monique Abrams, an Audubon Society volunteer spoke on behalf of preservation chair, Dave Kantz and presented a fair and conciliatory attitude toward the boaters in the room. “Nobody’s trying to close the island to the boaters; we just want people to go out there who are respectful of the natural environment.” said Ms. Abrams.
We did not hear a lot of new ideas at this meeting, although I did repeat our contention that we should consider a 6 month pet ban rather than the current “zero-tolerance” solution.
After the meeting, Lorraine Margeson explained that dogs can still pose a hazard to wintering shorebirds. However I would like to further explore this possibility. Perhaps with some modifications, it could work.
My personal impression was that both commissioners present were attentive to the reports of problems on Shell Key. But I also saw a strong deference to the recreational boaters’ views.
Thursday’s St. Pete Times quoted Commissioner Duncan as saying “It’s a little on the strict side…I think there’s a way to come at that particular issue and find a middle ground.”
Does this mean these hope for a 6-month dog solution?
My guess is that this plan will pass when the County Commission votes on it October 2nd. But it sounds to me like some issues have yet to be fully defined.
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