INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — An unknown person or persons vandalized the Oslo Road Boat Ramp over the weekend, causing a fair amount of damage and hazard to visitors and the environment.
“Someone poured oil on the dock to make it hard for people to launch their boats,” said County Commissioner Tim Zorc. “There were roofing nails and broken glass scattered around on the parking area.”
Zorc said county parks and recreation personnel were on scene today, wiping up the oil so that it doesn’t end up in the lagoon and picking up nails and shards of glass.
He said a police report will be filed.
The ramp has been the focus of considerable controversy in recent years as the county has pushed a dredge and fill project that environmentalist say would destroy mangrove wetlands and seagrass and endanger manatees.
In the face of determined opposition, the County Commission recently voted to put the ramp expansion project on hold for at least three years, but then stirred more controversy by authorizing county staff to continue pursuing a permit for the project from the Army Corps of Engineers.
It is not known if the vandalism is related to the controversy.