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Parking places needed for renourishment
By MELISSA LATTMAN
| Article published on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 |
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BELLEAIR BEACH – To get the city’s almost one-mile of beaches renourished through a state program, Belleair Beach needs to provide 78 public parking spaces, it was announced at the June 1 City Council meeting.
The number of spaces is based on the length of beach to be renourished. Representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection will visit the week of June 15 to discuss next year’s beach nourishment project, said Mayor Lynn Rives.
More than 485 miles, or approximately 59 percent, of the state’s beaches, are experiencing erosion. Beach nourishment is one way to restore eroded beaches. Typically sand is collected from an offshore location, piped onto the beach, and spread out by bulldozers. Nourished beaches provide storm protection benefits for upland properties and help restore shorebird and marine turtle habitats, according to the state DEP Web site.
The parking spaces need to be spread out and within one-quarter mile of the city’s shoreline. The city has enough parking in its northern section because of the marina. The city is short about a dozen spaces south of Morgan Park, said Rives. He met with condominium representatives and found they want beach renourishment, but they don’t want to give up parking spaces, he said.
The council discussed various parking space sources. They also are looking at the purchase of vacant lots and turning them into parking lots.
Vice Mayor Kathy Mortensen suggested a compromise of designating parking spots on city streets and a few from the condominiums. Councilmember David Dumville said part of the issue at the condos is that there is barely enough parking for resident owners.
Almenara condominium president Leslie Notaro said public parking on private property allows people access to private facilities such as pools and adds liability, because if someone gets hurt on private property, the condominium would be liable, she said.
The last time the beach was renourished in 2005 the parking did not come up because there was no contract with the city, Rives said.
The council voted to turn some or all of the residential permit parking in Morgan Park to public access spaces and see if that meets the beach renourishment parking needs. The lot has about 20 spaces and about half are already public spaces, Rives said.
Resident Marcia Davis said she has lived in the city since 1979 and has experienced beach damage from a hurricane going past the area.
“The only mitigation we have is that beach,” she said.
New garbage collection days
Starting in August residential garbage collection will be on Tuesdays and Fridays with recycling pickup on Fridays. Waste Management requested the change of trash pick up days.
Switching Belleair Beach’s residential collection dates is part of Waste Management’s countywide restructuring of collection into north, south and central zones. They are trying to get trash pickup so it is safer for the community, drivers and easier to manage, said Bill Gresham of Waste Management.
The council discussed the feasibility of cost savings. Councilmember Mitch Krach said there has to be some economic savings and he assumed the city would get something in terms of reducing collection fees. Gresham said it would be the same number of trucks and amount of waste.
Council members questioned why they were not told about the change sooner. Waste Management requested that the change start in July; the council asked if they could wait until August to get the word out about the day changes, which Waste Management agreed to do.
Gresham said Waste Management realized about seven to 10 years ago they should go to a zoned-collection but it had to be worked out over many accounts.
Residents and councilors said they liked the current Monday and Thursday pickup especially on Mondays because of the abundance of weekend trash and yard waste.
The city council agreed by a 4-3 vote to the change. Councilmember Dick Crowl said he did not want Belleair Beach as a smaller city to foul-up Waste Management’s restructuring program. The council discussed revisiting the collection dates and rates when the garbage contract comes up for renewal September 30, 2010.
Budget discussion
The city council will have a preliminary budget discussion on June 17 at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
Next year the city will probably have lower property tax revenues. Preliminary county figures show property values in Belleair Beach are down 15 percent.
The city may have a budget shortfall for next year, Rives said.
Alarm registration
Pinellas County Sheriff Sgt. Larry Nalven reminded residents of the new Sheriff’s Alarm Registration Program, which will be enforced as of July 1. Home and business alarms need to be registered. The ordinance does not apply to vehicle alarms. Registration forms are available at city hall, by phone at 582-2870, or online at www.pcsoweb.com/sharp/.
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Article published on Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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