Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Lamar P. Fisher
Department: County Commission
Information
Requested Action
title
MOTION TO DIRECT Office of the County Attorney to draft an Ordinance amending the Broward County Code of Ordinances regarding the Manatee Protection Plan to (i) revise the method for allocating scare boat slips, (ii) require notification of interested parties about boat slip scarcity, and (iii) provide for return of allocations of boat slips to the available pool if the slips are not constructed within a certain time frame. (Commissioner Fisher)
body
Why Action is Necessary
Board action is required to direct the Office of the County Attorney to draft an Ordinance.
What Action Accomplishes
Directs the Office of the County Attorney to draft an Ordinance amending the implementation of the Manatee Protection Plan.
Is this Action Goal Related
No
Previous Action Taken
Summary Explanation/Background
Section 370.12(2)(t)3, Florida Statutes, requires that Florida's coastal counties include a boat facility siting element in a manatee protection plan. Additionally, objective 12-A.3 of the Broward County Comprehensive Plan's Conservation Element requires that new boat facilities will be located on sites that would minimize potential manatee/boat overlap, injury to manatees, and disturbance of manatee habitat.
Accordingly, the Broward County Manatee Protection Plan includes a Boat Facility Siting Plan ("BFSP") guiding the development of boat facilities, including docks, piers, dry storage areas, marinas, and boat ramps. The BFSP's purpose is to minimize the amount of interaction between manatees and boats while balancing recreational and economic uses of waterways with manatee protection.
The BFSP provides for the allocation of boat slips to individual facilities through establishment of a pool of available slips within discrete geographic regions and zones within those regions, allocating boat slips through the County's environmental resource and marine facility licensing processes. To control overall boat facility density in relation to areas of special concern regarding essential manatee habitat and manatee mortality, boat slips associated with facilities that are no longer in operation or that have been renovated to require fewer boat slips result in the unused boat slips being returned to the boat slip pool for the relevant zone. Recently, boat slips within the South Waterway Zone became unavailable as all boat slips within the pool were allocated through the license application process.
Because there are limited boat slips available for future allocation, the BFSP should provide a fair process for future applications, including effective notification to interested parties, and should provide that boat slips not constructed within a certain time frame be returned to the pool for subsequent reallocation.
Source of Additional Information
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
The Fiscal Impact Statement by the Office of Management and Budget will be provided at the time of the public hearing, in compliance with Section 18.5(e)(7) of the Broward County Administrative Code.