Bayfront Mooring Field to be Discussed

A public meeting to discuss anchoring options outside the Bayfront Mooring Field will be held Thursday, Nov. 3 from 5 - 7:30 p.m. in the commission chambers.

The conversation will focus on where boats will be allowed to legally anchor once the Bayfront Mooring Field, near Marina Jack, is operational in 2012. The city is encouraging the public to attend and offer input.

Sarasota is one of five locations throughout the state selected by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to participate in a mooring field pilot program. The City of Sarasota is being allowed to draft and implement an ordinance regulating where boaters may legally anchor outside the Bayfront Mooring Field, a city press release said.

The November 3rd meeting is an opportunity for the public to provide input prior to the City’s pilot ordinance being drafted. City and FWC staff will be in attendance to hear suggestions from residents, boaters and other stakeholders on how to regulate the non-mooring field areas, the release said. Once written, the proposed ordinance will go through the standard public hearing process.

The pilot program is scheduled to sunset July 1, 2014, at which time all local ordinances enacted will expire and will be inoperative and unenforceable, unless the program is reenacted by the Florida State Legislature. The five locations selected by the FWC to participate in the pilot program are: Monroe County (Marathon/Key West), St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Stuart.

According to the city, construction of the Bayfront Mooring Field is slated to begin in December, while the pilot mooring ordinance is being drafted and reviewed. The mooring field is expected to be operational by Spring 2012, with 35 mooring balls as approved by the City Commission in August 2010.