INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — After a marathon 10-hour Indian River County Commission meeting, Commissioners again decided to hold off taking a vote on the controversial Oslo Road boat ramp until a Special Call meeting on Oct. 31.
The Oslo Road boat ramp issue dominated the day. Commissioners took a short break for lunch and an hour to get through the rest of its business.
Opponents filled the Commission Chambers to standing room only capacity, though less than two-dozen actually spoke out against the ramp project.
By the end of the day, which came around 7 p.m., Commissioner Bob Solari made a motion to table the issue for three to five years, letting nature take its course.
His motion was modified to table it just until Oct. 31, allowing Commissioners more time to gather information and to visit the ramp site for themselves.
That delay was approved 3-2, with Commission Chair Peter O’Bryan and Commissioner Wesley Davis dissenting.
Oct. 7, 12:28 p.m.
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County Commissions’ attempt to evade public comment about the Oslo Road Boat expansion appears to have backfired.
Two weeks ago, Commissioners called an abrupt halt to public comment on the issue and left the podium after hearing from just two of dozens waiting to speak on the issue. When they returned from their break, Commission Chairman Peter O’Bryan immediately moved on to other business, depriving the public of the opportunity to express their opinions of a project widely believed to be environmentally harmful.
But this morning, when the discussion of the ramp was back on the agenda, an even larger group of protestors and speakers turned out.
A crowd gathered in front of County Building A at 8:30 a.m., and in the Commission Chamber where it was standing room only by the 9 a.m. meeting start time.
“We’re just asking the county to do the right thing here,” says Dr. Richard Baker, president of Pelican Island Audubon Society, one of the organizations fighting the project. “Why spend $1 million of our local tax dollars expanding a ramp most fishermen don’t even want, when it will destroy one of the most valuable habitats in our Lagoon? The Indian River Lagoon and its wildlife and fisheries are already suffering so much. Our commissioners need to follow the public’s wishes on this and protect this very special place.”
At this morning’s meeting, Deputy County Attorney Bill DeBrall gave a presentation presenting the county’s side of the issue, trying to convince the audience the project will be good for the environment, but his comments did not appear to sway those present.
Those who spoke against the project included a who’s who of the area’s scientists and environmentalists including Indian Riverkeeper Marty Baum; Dr. Walter Tabachnick, Florida Medical Entomology Lab, University of Florida (Director); Dr. Grant Gilmore, Estuarine, Coastal and Ocean Science, Inc. (Senior Scientist); Dr. Edie Widder, Ocean Research & Conservation Association (President/Senior Scientist); Steve Cox, Adventure Kayaking; Dr. Aaron Adams, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (Director); Dr. David Cox, Pelican Island Audubon Society; Dr. Katie Tripp, Save the Manatee Club (Director); Dr. Graham Cox, Pelican Island Audubon Society; and Dr. Leesa Souto, Marine Resources Council (Director).
Also present to express opposition to the dredge and fill project in a conservation area were numerous fishing boat captains.
Speakers indicted the project on environmental and legal grounds, noting that the million dollars the County plans to spend on the boat ramp expansion could be spent to help heal the lagoon instead of doing more damage to it.
Lagoon scientists have been adamant for years the dredge-and-fill project would harm the lagoon environment by destroying mangroves, sea grass and critical game fish nurseries and by endangering manatees, a protected species.
The public has been loud in its objections, too, writing numerous letters to the editor, participating in earlier protest rallies and speaking to Commissioners at prior meetings, explaining why the project is harmful to the lagoon and asking that it be stopped.
A laundry list of state and federal agencies long opposed the project as well, saying it was illegal and would damage the environment. More recently, after alleged political pressure on agency officials, St. John’s River Water Management District announced its decision to issue a permit for the project.
An Army Corps of Engineers permit is still pending.
This summer, the Florida Inland Navigation District refused to provide matching funds for the project on the grounds it did not meet public benefit and other criteria.
It is a measure of the project’s flaws that the County’s proposal was the only one out of 60 submitted by 12 counties in the District that was turned down.
Paul Dritenbas, Indian River County’s FIND commissioner is among those who oppose the project.
The County has already spent more than half a million dollars on the effort, which would impact 1.41 acres of wetlands, expand and pave the parking area near the ramp and the section of Oslo Road leading to the ramp, add dock space and dredge the channel connecting the ramp to the Intracoastal Waterway.
With FIND’s refusal to provide matching funds, the remaining $1 million cost would be borne by county taxpayers.